Alternative Publication Metrics

Dear Colleagues,

As scholarly publishing evolves, the way research is evaluated needs to evolve as well.

For decades (centuries even for some journals) an article was considered ‘high quality’ if it was published in a ‘good journal’ and other researchers ‘cited’ it. As scholarly publishing has evolved so has the: unit of publication—article, book, data-set, source-code, blogs, presentations, etc.; mechanisms to discuss research—books, journals, main-stream media and a multitude of social media outlets, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, to name a few; and the elements to be credited—article, book, author, referee, grant-id, funder, institution, etc.

Do the metrics we use today, as indicators of quality, truly represent the on-going discussion and efforts regarding how we value and measure the impact of scientific research?

This Special Issue of Publications aims to provide an overview of the current systems of assessing scholarly activity through to the innovation of new metrics and their impact on the scholarly literature. Manuscripts submitted for publication can be articles, research reports, case studies or reviews of relevant literature. All submissions will undergo the journal's regular peer-review process and editorial procedures.

Ms. Barbara Meyers Ford
Dr. Jason Wilde
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Publications is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.