J Korean Med Assoc.  2018 Sep;61(9):524-531. 10.5124/jkma.2018.61.9.524.

Recent advances of medical journals in Korea and and further development strategies: Is it possible for them to publish Nobel Prize-winning research?

• Huh S

• KMID: 2420362
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2018.61.9.524

Abstract

Many medical journals from Korea have advanced to the international level since 1996. This study aims to present the current status of Korean medical journals in scholarly literature databases and to suggest strategies for further development. This study focused on the 261 member journals of the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE). In 2018, 29 journals from Korea were indexed in Medline, of which 22 were KAMJE journals. Since 2008, Korean medical journals have been deposited in PubMed Central. As of 2018, the number of journals deposited in PubMed Central has soared to 116, including 103 KAMJE journals. Ninety KAMJE journals were indexed in Scopus. The average 2017 impact factor of the 40 Science Citation Index Expanded-indexed KAMJE journals was 2.17. Furthermore, 35 journals have been indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index. To promote more medical journals to the international level, the following strategies are suggested: first, recruiting high-quality manuscripts with meticulous review and editing; and second, adopting digital standards of scholarly publishing, including full-text XML, to broaden accessibility. Medical journals from Korea have experienced tremendous success in terms of indexing in international literature databases. To promote journals to the highest level, physicians and researchers should be able to read, submit, cite and use the journal articles in a straightforward and diligent manner. With appropriate development strategies, it may be possible for a Nobel Prize to be awarded based on research published in medical journals in Korea in the near future.

Keyword

Journal; Impact factor; Scholarly communication; Publishing; Republic of Korea

MeSH Terms

Abstracting and Indexing as Topic
Awards and Prizes
Korea*
Nobel Prize
Republic of Korea

Figure

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  Figure 1 Medline-indexed journals according to country [cited on July 15, 2018].

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  Figure 2 PubMed Central-indexed journals according to country [cited on July 15, 2018].

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  Figure 3 PubMed Central-indexed journals published by societies or institutes limited to immediate free access and all deposition according to country [cited on August 12, 2018].

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  Figure 4 Diagram of the three aspects of scholarly journal publishing that are true today and are not going to change much in the near future. Reproduced from adopted from: Huh S. Blood Res 2018;53:95-100, according to the Creative Commons license [14].

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  Figure 5 Change of the language of main text of articles in KoreaMed from 2006 to August 2018 [cited on August 8, 2018].

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