All journals introduced in the Catalogue ofLlithuanian Scientific Journals are peer-reviewed. Information on journals was provided by their editorial boards. The Abstracts & Indexing section was supplemented with information from the Ulrich’s database. The CrossCheck marking means that an editorial board of a journal employs the plagiarism prevention service offered by crossref.
Acknowledgements. The council of the Association of Lithuanian Serials would like to express its gratitude to editorial boards of all journals that partook in this initiative for the especially smooth collaboration.
The Lithuanian Scientific Journals
ISBN 978-609-95241-1-5
© The Association of Lithuanian Serials, 2012
INTRODUCTION
Raimundas Kirvaitis
President of the Association of Lithuanian Serials
During the twenty years since the restoration of independence, Lithuanian scientific journals made an enormous step forward towards greater quantity and improved quality. In this respect, the current decade was especially significant as the best scientific journals of Lithuania became recognised by the global scientific community.
Challenges of journal publishing are well known to editors of scientific journals and their assistants. Not to mention the search for financial resources, which became especially difficult with economic downturn, a proper attention must be given for other issues. First of all, to ensure a sufficient portfolio of articles, a journal must be recognised by Lithuanian and foreign researchers of the relevant scientific field. The primary selection of submitted articles aims to eliminate cases of graphomania and plagiarism. As demonstrated by this catalogue, many editorial boards of Lithuanian scientific journals use the CrossCheck screening tool to make sure no analogous or similar article was published somewhere else in the world, which might be unnoticed by editors or reviewers. Although very helpful, screening with CrossCheck takes editors and reviewers only part of the way. It is obvious that Lithuania is too small to guarantee an impartial review in a narrow scientific field. Consequently, articles in languages other than Lithuanian need to be accepted and printed, which necessitates services of a high-level usually English language editor. Without a doubt, all journal editors are familiar with difficulties related to timely performance of reviewers. Such challenges could be easier overcome with the help of a representative and international editorial board of the journal. Still, even once reviews are received, some time should be allotted to article authors to consider reviewer comments. Only then technical staff can proceed with layout design and descriptions for databases.
Editors and publishers of numerous journals realised that various issues can be easier and more effectively resolved through the Association of Lithuanian Serials. The Association not only disseminates information regarding Lithuanian scientific journals on the global scale but also assists publishers in resolving practical issues as well as organises qualification improvement seminars and conferences, to which celebrities of the publishing world and representatives of databases are invited. Also, it circulates information regarding globally available platforms for publishing as well as collection and processing of statistical data. Together with other stakeholders, the Association pursues active participation in drafting, discussing and approval of the Code of Ethics for Lithuanian publishers and authors of scientific journals.
This Catalogue of Lithuanian Scientific Journals is published in Lithuanian and English. It presents 14 journals from the field of Humanitarian Sciences, 34 — Social Sciences, 13 — Physical Sciences, 2 — Biomedicine, 12 — Technologies, as well as 4 interdisciplinary scientific journals. The total of 79 Lithuanian scientific journals is listed in this publication. The Catalogue will be distributed at international publishing exhibitions and international conferences organised in Lithuania and abroad.