An empirical examination of the Journal Scoring System of the IX. Section of Economics and Law of HAS based on data obtained from 2020 and 2021

Abstract

During the habitus examination of the IX. Section of Economics and Law of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, it can be observed that almost half of the points of all scientific publications along with the references made to them (between 250 and 300 points) must be obtained by publishing in domestically and internationally listed journals (120 or 160 points). Within this, a minimum requirement has been formulated for internationally listed articles (35 and 40 points). International journal articles of the same category (A, B, C or D), co-author number and length will receive between 33% and 200% more points than domestic articles. Empirical sampling research demonstrates that social scientists receive on average 35% more points for an article of the same category and size but with a different number of co-authors, suggesting unreasonably low scoring. Points obtained in this way prove to be low and do not reflect the extra work that needs to be done when writing an international article, hence authors are not motivated to write international articles. However, for international rankings, international visibility and publication-based funding of foundation universities, articles published annually in indexed journals (Scopus or Web of Science) would be necessary.