How to successfully list a journal in the Social Science Citation Index or Science Citation Index Expanded

Received: November 9, 2017 • Revised: November 27, 2017 • Accepted: November 27, 2017 Corresponding Author: Sun Huh (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8559-8640) Department of Parasitology and Institute of Medical Education, Hallym University College of Medicine, 1 Hallimdaehak-gil, Chuncheon 24252, Korea Tel: +82.33.248.2652 Fax: +82.33.241.1672 email: [email protected] Korean J Med Educ 2017 Dec; 29(4): 221-228. https://doi.org/10.3946/kjme.2017.68 eISSN: 2005-7288 C The Korean Society of Medical Education. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Is the Korean Journal of Medical Education eligible to be indexed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) or the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)? How does an editor prepare for application? Although Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) has disclosed its selection criteria, the quantitative criteria are not clearly expressed, such as the relative value of the impact factor, total number of citations, multiple nationalities of authors, and multiple nationalities of editorial board members [1]. Of all of the items to be considered during the selection process, the uniqueness of the aims and scope is the most difficult item for the journal editor to prepare for the application. Although a journal’s competency might fulfill all of the other criteria, the uniqueness or novelty of its aims and scope is the most difficult item to clearly and concisely explain because specific manuscripts might be submitted to at least one journal already indexed in the SSCI or SCIE. Therefore, I suggest a relatively more quantitative checklist for the self-evaluation of journals that apply to the SSCI or SCIE, based on the Clarivate Analytics’ journal selection process and the reasons for rejection received by numerous editors (Appendix 1). Then, I assess the status of the Korean Journal of Medical Education to determine its eligibility as a SSCI or SCIE journal.