Practical steps to increase the visibility of an

academic journal:

A case study of the European Journal of Tourism

Research

1

Stanislav Ivanov, Ph.D.

Academic director

International University College, Dobrich

Editor-in-chief

European Journal of Tourism Research

Email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu

Agenda

• Journal visibility prerequisites

• Journal visibility activities

• Case study: European Journal of Tourism Research

2

Journal visibility prerequisites

• Journal language

– English, other major international language, local

language.

– the supremacy of English in scientific literature

– the role of language in increasing the readership

• Journal scope

– narrow vs. broad journal scope

– no-scope journals – annual books

3

Journal visibility prerequisites

• Editorial board

– Institutional editorial board (members from the

institution only)

– Editorial board from Bulgaria only

– International editorial board – degree of

internationalisation

• Contributing authors

– authors from the publishing institution only

– authors from Bulgaria only

– international authorship – degree of

internationalisation

4

Journal visibility prerequisites

• Peer-review process

– house review vs. external review

– blind vs. non-blind review

– double-blind review

• Access to journal content

– open vs. closed access journals

– print vs. electronic journals

• Journal periodicity

– regular vs. irregular periodicity

– annual vs. more frequent periodicity

5

Journal visibility activities

• Journal website – separate journal domain,

subdomain/webpage in the main domain of the publisher

• Inclusion in electronic databases:

- aggregators: EBSCO, ProQuest, CABI

- online platforms: IngentaConnent, DeepDyve

- abstract databases: Scopus (8 journals from Bulgaria),

ISI Web of Knowledge

- journal directories – Directory of Open Access Journals

(www.doaj.org) (31 journals from Bulgaria)

6

Journal visibility activities

• Conferences – leaflets, complimentary hard copies,

sponsorship, patronage, special issues

• Social media – Academia.edu, ResearchGate, Facebook,

Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

• Search engines – Google Scholar

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Case study: European Journal of

Tourism Research

• Basic information

- Established in 2006

- Publisher: International University

College, Bulgaria

- First issue in 2008

- 1 volume per year consisting of 2

issues

- Current issue: 4(2)

- Types of publications: Research

articles, Research notes, Case

studies, Doctoral dissertation

summaries, Book reviews 8

Case study: European Journal of

Tourism Research

• Journal language: English

• Journal scope: tourism, hospitality,

leisure and event

• Editorial board: 52 members from 26

countries. Four editorial members

from Bulgaria

• Contributing authors: journal is open

to all researchers. IUC lecturers are

not stimulated to publish in the journal

in order to avoid conflict of interest

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Case study: European Journal of

Tourism Research

• Peer-review process: double blind

review

• Access to journal content:

– closed access journal

– print and online version at

http://ejtr.vumk.eu

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Case study: European Journal of

Tourism Research

• Journal visibility activities:

- Aggregators: EBSCO Hospitality and

Tourism Complete, ProQuest

Research Library, CABI Leisure,

Recreation and Tourism

- Online platforms: DeepDyve

- Abstract databases: Scopus

(forthcoming)

- Facebook page

- Google Scholar (via CABI)

- Conference patronage, sponsorship

and special issues 11

Case study: European Journal of

Tourism Research

• Why Scopus?

- Huge number of end users leading to

higher visibility of the journal

- Ease of use

- Wide journal coverage

- End-users’ trust in the system – peer

evaluation of journals prior to inclusion

in Scopus

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THANK YOU!

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