Book publishers Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan were downgraded to level 2 from the beginning of this year. However, monographs published with these publishers will remain at level 3.
Book publishers Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan have been downgraded from level 3 to level 2 in the JUFO classification since the beginning of this year. The decision of the Publication Forum's steering group was based on feedback from the research community, according to which there is more and more variation in the quality assessment of Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan publications.
However, these publishers are significant high-level publication channels in many humanities fields so the steering group has given the panels the opportunity to upgrade the individual highest-level book series of these two publishers, as well as other level 2 book publishers, to level 3. In addition, the steering group decided that Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan monographs will remain at level 3 (pdf, in Finnish). The decision was made to support the tradition of publishing monographs in the fields of humanities and social sciences, and to respond to the concern raised by the panels about the classification of monographs published outside of book series.
The classification of Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan monographs to a different level with the publisher has been implemented in the VIRTA Publication Information Service. In practice, C1 type publications (books) linked to these publishers are automatically classified to level 3. Other publications linked to these publishers, especially A3 (book chapters) and C2 (edited books), are classified to level 2, unless they are published in a book series that is classified to level 3. The change applies to publications with a publication date of 1 January 2024 or later.
Work on the classification of book series continues
The panels will continue to work on the classification of book series during 2024. The panels aim to make the first decisions on the level 3 book series during the spring of 2024. Proposals for level 3 book series were collected in 2023, and there is still time to make new proposals. The proposals can be made with this form until 25th March 2024.
After the spring, proposals for level 3 book series will be processed in the same way as for other new publication channels. Proposals for new level 3 book series are therefore made using the same Suggest new channels form that is used to propose new publication channels to level 1. It should be mentioned in the proposal that it is a suggestion for a level 3 book series. The panels go through the proposals annually at their autumn meetings and review the classification of the book series as a whole every four years in conjunction with the level 2 and 3 re-evaluation.
Image: Polina Zimmerman, Pexels
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