Recently, the Scientific Publications company was considering regulatory changes for scientists from Kazakhstan. Most of the requirements for the minimum number of research articles have been slightly modified. But it is worth noting that a large number of important and necessary changes were made at the legislative level, for example, equating 2 articles of the KKSON to 1 article of Scopus. This contributes to a more efficient implementation of the scientific goals of the authors and, moreover, can save a large amount of resources for researchers. How? This is what we will cover in the blog.
How to publish an article KKSON? Main difficulties
Journals KKSON (List of publications recommended by the Committee for Quality Assurance in Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the publication of the main results of scientific activity) – publications of the "ministerial list" of Kazakhstan. That is, these are journals recognized within the framework of the state, the publication in which contributes to the realization of the scientific goals of the authors. Publications in editions from this list are necessary for:
- Implementation of the requirements for the number of articles to defend a dissertation if the author has 1 Scopus/Web of Science publication + 3 KKSON.
- To obtain the academic title of associate professor (associate professor) – articles in Scopus / Web of Science + 10 KKSON.
- To obtain the academic title of professor – a total of 28 articles (3 of them Scopus / Web of Science) + the rest are allowed as KKSON.
That is, in order to achieve only basic scientific goals and significant career advancement, a scientist needs to publish dozens of scientific articles from the KKSON List, which in turn is characterized by a number of difficulties:
- The "ministerial list" of KKSON journals includes only about 120 publications in all thematic areas. This is 10-15 journals for each subject area. This indicator is critically low considering the number of researchers from Kazakhstan.
- Due to the fact that the demand for publication in KKSON journals is very high, and their number is minimal, the burden on reviewers and editors is enormous. Therefore, lines of review in such publications can last for years.
- In addition, given the large amount of content, KKSON journals are often denied publication. This further tightens the material placement lines.
- Most KKSON journals are oriented towards their inclusion in scientometric databases, therefore, they publish only high-quality research not lower than the Scopus/Web of Science level. From the practice of the company "Scientific Publications": audit of the material, its structuring, advising on making the necessary corrections and support until publication in KKSON journals costs approximately $ 400-500.
As you can see, the publication of a KKSON article is a very difficult, financially costly and lengthy process. Is there a way out?
Solution to the problem. How to comply with legislative norms faster and cheaper?
Often, scientists who needed an article in more concise lines chose to publish the article in Scopus/Web of Science instead of KKSON. Previous legislation considered 1 additional publication in Scopus/Web of Science as 1 in KKSON.
To date, 1 publication in Scopus/Web of Science = 2 KKSON
What benefits does this offer for scientists from Kazakhstan? A researcher can publish 1 article in Scopus/Web of Science as a co-author more quickly and cheaply. Thus, it will be counted as 2 KKSON publications:
- Within the framework of international databases, more than 44 thousand scientific publications Scopus and 22 thousand scientific publications are indexed. Web of Science journals, which gives much more space for choosing the required publication than KKSON.
- Regulatory requirements in which 1 Scopus/Web of Science = 2 KKSON does not take into account specific scientometric indicators of publications. Therefore, recently included publications with low metrics are also suitable for realizing this goal.
- From the practice of our company, publication in the Scopus database in recently included editions averages 6-9 months, which is significantly faster than in KKSON. Moreover, for cooperation, we choose mainly recently included publications that show a positive trend in the development of scientometric indicators.
- The implementation of the "Publishing in Scopus" service with the help of the "Scientific Publications" company costs approximately $1,000, when publishing in co-authorship – $200 per scientist. This is more than twice the price of a single publication in KKSON. At the same time, the scientist will be counted two scientific articles!
Financial side of the issue: Scopus or KKSON?
Let's simulate the situation: a scientist needs 28 scientific articles to be awarded the title of professor. He has already published 3 of them in the journals Scopus/Web of Science with the required indicators by quartile and/or percentile. Another 25 articles and two publication cases are needed:
- In this case, the scientist focuses on the publication of KKSON: 25 * 400 = $ 10,000
- In this case, the researcher chooses a co-authored publication in Scopus. Remember that 1 Scopus = 2KKSON, so 13 articles are enough. Do not forget to divide the amount between all members of the team of authors (permissible number is up to 5 authors): 13*1000 = 13000/5 = $2600
To achieve the same scientific goal, the scientist from the first case (KKSON) overpays almost 4 times more than when publishing in Scopus as a co-author.
Therefore, we recommend that scientists from Kazakhstan choose the most profitable option - "Publication in Scopus in co-authorship." In order to find out more information about the service, get advice and a free audit of your material, contact our specialists. We will contact you during the working day!
