Decision on level of individual publications

Last updated 13.2.2024

In the case of individual articles or books, the rating factors include the publication type awarded to the article or book in question in the data collection procedure of the Ministry of Education and Culture as well as the series, conference or book publisher used as the publication channel. The Publication Forum level in force in the year in which the publication came out will be used to determine the level of the article or the book.

In the university funding model, the coefficient of the relevant Publication Forum level is applied only to the peer-reviewed scientific or scholarly articles in journals, conferences and compilations, as well as to scholarly books. These correspond to the publication types A1-A4 and C1-C2 as defined in the instructions for the Ministry of Education and Culture publication data collection.

  • A1 Journal article (refereed), original research
  • A2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic review
  • A3 Book section, chapters in research books
  • A4 Conference proceedings
  • C1 Book
  • C2 Edited book, conference proceedings or special issue of a journal

The publications classified under types A1-A4 and C1-C2 must have registered ISSN or ISBN numbers. The publication channel of these publications is automatically determined in VIRTA Publication Information Services based on its ISSN or ISBN number.

The Publication Forum category of peer-reviewed articles in journals and compilations (A1-A3), monographs (C1) and edited books (C2) is determined principally on the basis of the ISSN number of the article which links it to the level awarded to the journal/series.

The level of the book publisher is used to rate books or articles in compilations for Publication Forum purposes only in cases where the publication does not come out in a series of publications or such series has not been classified. An exception to this are C1-type publications linked to book publishers Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan, which have been classified on a different level with the publisher since the beginning of 2024.

The level of peer-reviewed conference papers (A4), is primarily determined on the basis of the level of the conference listed under the established name of the event. If the conference has not been rated the articles will receive a Level according to the serial or monographic series in which the articles have been published. If the proceedings do not appear in a series, the Level is determined by the publisher.

Weight of publications in university funding model

In 2017-2024, publications are weighted in the universities' funding model according to the type of publication. In addition, peer-reviewed publications (publication types A and C) are weighted using the coefficients based on the Publication Forum level of the publication outlet, as shown in Table 1. The coefficients of non-peer-reviewed publications (publication types B, D and E) are shown in Table 2.

Peer-reviewed publications (publication types A and C) that are openly available are additionally weighted by a factor of 1.2 in the years 2021-2024. For example, an open access A1 article in a level 3 channel receives a weighting factor of 4.8.

Table 1. Coefficients for A- and C-type publications are determined by the publication type and the Publication Forum level.
Publication type Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
A1 Journal article (refereed), original research 0,1 1 3 4
A2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic review 0,1 1 3 4
A3 Book section, Chapters in research books 0,1 1 3 4
A4 Conference proceedings 0,1 1 3 4
C1 Book 0,4 4 12 16
C2 Edited book, conference proceedings or special issue of a journal 0,1 1 3 4
Table 2. Coefficients for B-, D- and E-type publications are determined by the publication type.
Publication type Coefficient
B1 Non-refereed journal articles 0,1
B2 Book section 0,1
B3 Non-refereed conference proceedings 0,1
D1 Article in a trade journal 0,1
D2 Article in a professional book (incl. an introduction by the editor) 0,1
D3 Professional conference proceedings 0,1
D4 Published development or research report or study 0,1
D5 Textbook, professional manual or guide 0,4
D6 Edited professional book 0,1
E1 Popularised article, newspaper article 0,1
E2 Popularised monograph 0,4
E3 Edited popular book 0,1