In autumn 2024, new Publication Forum evaluation panels will be appointed for the term 2025–2028.
If you are a researcher working in a Finnish university or research institute and you are interested in being a panellist, please fill in the application form no later than 15.6.2024. On the form, the candidate is asked to provide background information, such as degree and discipline, as well as justifications to support the choice.
Selection criteria
The panellists are chosen from amongst academics with experience in research, scholarly publishing and research evaluation. In appointing the panellists, the main concern is to ensure that the expertise of the panels covers the research fields they are responsible for. Attention is also paid to a fair representation of women and men, advanced and early career researchers, as well as different organisations in the panels. The panellists are representatives of the national scientific community in their respective field of study, and they are also expected to consult their background communities. Membership of the editorial board of a journal or publisher is not an obstacle to becoming a panellist, but panellists are required to declare their affiliations.
About half of the current panel members will continue in the term 2025–2028. New panellists are especially wanted from those fields for which there is not enough expertise among the continuing panellists. A list of those fields can be found here. However, researchers from any field can apply.
The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies has also requested proposals from universities, government research institutions, academies and learned societies. These proposals are taken into account in the selection of the panellists, but a researcher can apply, even if no organisation or society has recommended them. An automatic e-mail is sent to all researchers proposed by organisations and societies, asking them to fill out the application form. Only researchers who have filled out the application form will be considered in the selection of panellists.
The candidates will be informed about the selection in October 2024.
Panel work
Work of the new panels will begin in early 2025. The panels evaluate regularly new and previously non-evaluated publication channels. New publication channels are proposed by the research community and they are also identified from the publication data collection of research organisations. The panels also go through feedback received from the research community. In addition, a re-evaluation of level 2 and 3 publication channels will be carried out in 2026. The re-evaluation is carried out every four years, and in the intervening years the panels can only make individual corrections to levels 2 and 3.
Those wishing to become a panellist should be prepared to spend a few hours a month on evaluation work, and keep in mind that the re-evaluation for levels 2 and 3 requires more work during the second year of the panel term. Panelists are expected to actively participate in the evaluation work throughout the panel term. The evaluation of channels is deadline-bound so the panellists are also expected to be able to commit to the evaluation schedules.
The panels meet twice a year, in spring and autumn. In 2026, an extra meeting can be organised to support the re-evaluation of levels 2 and 3, if necessary. The meetings last 1-3 hours and are held remotely online or, if needed, at the House of Science and Letters in Helsinki. The panellist's background organisations are responsible for their travel expenses.
Publication Forum
Publication Forum is a classification system implemented by the Finnish scientific community that supports the quality assessment of research output. It is based on the level classification of scientific publication channels, carried out by expert panels, covering all disciplines. The members of the 23 discipline-specific evaluation panels decide on the level classifications of the publication channels.
The objective of the classification is to make visible and promote the quality of Finnish research and publishing on forums that are recognised reliable and high-level by the research community. Since 2015, the classification has been used as a quality indicator of the research output produced by universities within the university funding model established by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Publication Forum operates under the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. The panels are appointed and instructed by the Publication Forum steering group which is composed of experts representing the academic disciplines as well as The National Library of Finland, Ministry of Education and Culture, Research Council of Finland, FUN Finnish University Libraries' Network, CSC – IT Centre for Science, Universities Finland UNIFI and Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. The Publication Forum secretariat is responsible for the preparation and coordination of the steering group’s and the panels’ work.
More information on the JUFO panels.
Contact: julkaisufoorumi@tsv.fi
Image: Anne Haapanen, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
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