The HCM City Open University on May 6 held a seminar called “Scholarly exchange on the inclusion of Vietnamese scientific journals in WoS and Scopus citation systems.” — Photo Courtesy of HCMCOU

HCM CITY — A scientific seminar has helped enhance publishing capacity, share experiences in international integration, and shape sustainable development strategies for Vietnamese scientific journals according to international standards.

The HCM City Open University (HCMCOU) on May 6 held a seminar called “Scholarly exchange on the inclusion of Vietnamese scientific journals in Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (WoS) and Elsevier’s Scopus citation systems.”

The seminar serves as an in-depth academic forum, gathering representatives from reputable scientific journals both domestically and internationally, along with experts, administrators, and experienced editors in the field of scientific publishing.

It also contributes to realising policies aimed at improving the quality of scientific research and promoting comprehensive integration into the global knowledge ecosystem.

Speaking at the seminar, HCMCOU rector Nguyễn Minh Hà said the seminar is part of a series of events celebrating the university's 35th anniversary.

It also aligns with the university’s development strategy to build and promote a specialised journal of the university to participate in internationally recognised citation systems such as WoS and Scopus.   

In today’s era of deep integration in higher education, developing scientific journals that meet international standards has become a strategic task, he said.

“It not only affirms the research standing of higher education institutions but also enhances the quality of education, research, and knowledge transfer.”

Renowned international citation systems like WoS and Scopus serve not only as gateways for research to reach the global academic community but also as vital indicators of a journal’s quality, transparency, and international integration capacity.

However, the path to being recognised and maintaining a position within these systems is long and demanding.

“It requires serious investment, perseverance, professionalism, and above all, collaboration and knowledge-sharing among institutions,” he said.

Hà said he looked forward to listening to and engaging in fruitful discussions - especially the valuable experiences shared by editors-in-chief of reputable Vietnamese journals that have successfully joined international citation databases such as WoS and Scopus, all within the context of the country’s legal framework and available resources.

The HCMCOU has been making unceasing efforts to improve the quality of its Journal of Science since it was established in 2006.

With seven specialised journals covering areas such as Economics and Business Administration, Engineering and Technology, Social Sciences, and Computational Structures, the university is striving to build a professional academic ecosystem that is transparent, compliant with publication ethics, technologically advanced, and well-connected internationally.

“Our ultimate goal is to be part of prestigious global indexing systems,” he said.

Nguyễn Trọng Hoài, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies (JABES) of the University of Economics HCM City (UEH), said JABES (formerly known as Journal of Economic Development – JED) was established in 2018, with JABES-E in English and JABES-V in Vietnamese.

JABES pursues the orientation of ‘sustainable development and innovation’ in accordance with UEH's strategy.

It is an international peer-reviewed quarterly journal addressing the development of business and economics.

Hoài said it is necessary to join the Việt Nam Citation Index (VCI) with a technology platform for journal management that is invested in and systematically built to gather Vietnamese scientific journals in both Vietnamese and English versions.

“It needs to establish a Vietnamese Publishing House that meets international standards to gather Vietnamese scientific journals in the Vietnamese context but complying with international standards” he said.

Encouraging and sponsoring Vietnamese scientific journals with a strategy to join Scopus are also needed, he added.

Representatives from the journals VJCS and METS shared their experiences in bringing their journals into prestigious international citation systems and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). — VNS