Books of University of Tartu Press were added to the database of Thomson Reuters

As from July 2013, several books and collections of scientific articles published by University of Tartu Press have been included in the databases of Thomson Reuters “Conference Proceedings Citation Index” (CPCI) or “Book Citation Index” (BkCI).

According to Martin Hallik, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Tartu, it is an acknowledgement of University of Tartu Press and the reform implemented there, as a result of which stricter quality control is applied to scientific publications by means of peer reviewing. “In the future, the Estonian scientific community does not need to turn to foreign publishing houses to publish collections of articles just because of a classifier. We are able to guarantee that University of Tartu Press is capable of offering international peer reviewing at high level, and the publications published here are acknowledged also by competent indexing databases,” Martin Hallik explains the advantages arising from the changes.

Thomson Reuters assessed the sample package submitted by University of Tartu Press, which comprised ten monographs and collections of articles, and it declared that all of them were suitable for including in the database. Currently, it includes only books written in a foreign language, but it cannot be excluded that publications in Estonian will be included as well.

According to the currently valid criteria, the articles published in collections indexed in CPCI receive category 3.1 of Estonian Research Information System ETIS. Thus, it is now also valid in case of collections of articles published by University of Tartu Press, which comply with the requirements of the database. A list of the respective publications will be seen on the web page of University of Tartu Press as all publications will go through the assessment procedure of Thomson Reuters.

As to high-level peer reviewed academic monographs and collections of articles, Thomson Reuters filled the gap in 2011 with the “Book Citation Index”, which is a relatively new database. According to Ivo Volt, Editor-in-Chief of University of Tartu Press, it helps balance the part of indexing databases in the field of the Humanities and Social Sciences, which traditionally are rather of monographic science production. The criteria for adding books have been explicitly expressed. The database does not include dissertations, except if these are published as part of a book series or as an edited and peer reviewed monograph.

In November 2012, the University of Tartu made a proposal to the Estonian Research Council to involve BkCI in the criteria of ETIS classifiers so that the articles published in collections indexed in the database would automatically receive classifier 3.1. By today, the Estonian Research Council has supported this proposal and has submitted this to the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

Additionally, University of Tartu Press has actively started to develop open access to research information. Some of the monographs and collections of articles published by University of Tartu Press are available on an open access platform OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) and indexed in DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books).

More information:
Martin Hallik, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, e-mail: martin.hallik@ut.ee, phone: +372 737 6201, +372 51 53 853.
Ivo Volt, UT Press Editor-in-Chief,  e-mail: ivo.volt@ut.ee, phone: +372 5271764.

Egle Merbach
Senior Specialist for PR of the UT
Phone: +(372) 737 5509