Karolinska Institutet Journal List (KI-JL)

• Provide a qualitative assessment of scholarly publishing channels and complement the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in various applications, such as merit evaluation, assessment, resource allocation, and communication. 
• Fulfill KI’s commitments as a member of CoARA.
• Serve as a tool for updated publishing guidelines at KI.
• Support researchers in assessing journal quality prior to publishing and peer review assignments, for example, to easily avoid journals with questionable scientific practices.
• Contribute to ensuring that journal quality has greater impact when evaluating publishing agreements and costs.
• Create an indicator of journal quality that is independent of proprietary products from commercial actors.
• Establish a common process and ongoing discussion about developments in scholarly publishing at KI.

• 10 November 2026 – 10 January 2027: Consultation period.
• TBC: Webinar on the consultation.
• April 2027: Decision by the Research Committee on the proposal for KI-JL 2027.
• May 2027: Adoption of KI-JL 2027 by the Faculty Board.

Inclusion Criteria

KI‑JL consists of the journals indexed in KI’s Bibliometric System, which in turn is based on data from PubMed and Web of Science:

• in which KI authors have published and verified publications from 2018,
• or that appear in the Norwegian and Finnish registers’ panels within medicine and health sciences at level 0, or at level 2 or higher during the previous 3 years,
• or that are proposed by the panel, based on motivated suggestions received during the consultation period.

Principles for Level‑Grading

The level‑grading of journals in the KI‑JL is based on an overall assessment according to criteria related to:

• Reputation
• Innovation and originality
• Peer review
• Impact and utilization
• Organization and communication
• Open science

The level‑grading is also based on the assessments from the Norwegian and Finnish registers of publishing channels.

Journals may be included in KI-JL in three ways:

1. A researcher at KI has published at least once in the journal since 2018,
2. The journal appears at Level 0, or Level 2 or higher, in the national journal lists of Norway or Finland from their medical panels,
3. The journal has been proposed for inclusion in a consultation.

In addition, all journals must be included in KI’s bibliometric system, which is based on indexing in Web of Science and PubMed. Most journals on the list are ones where KI researchers have previously published, only a small number come from the Norwegian and Finnish lists or by proposal. 

The subject classification from the Norwegian list only exists for journals assessed by the Norwegian panels. The MeSH classification only exists for journals indexed in PubMed. KI-JL also includes journals not in the Norwegian list or PubMed, and therefore some will lack subject classification. 

According to a decision made by the KI President, Level 3 should consist of 5%, Level 2 of 15%, and Level 1 of 80% of KI-JL. These percentages refer to the volume shares of all articles in all journals in KI-JL at Levels 1–3. 

From KI-JL 2027 onwards, volume shares are calculated based on all articles published in the preceding three years. For KI-JL 2026, volume shares were calculated based on all articles published since 2018.

Note that journals publish varying amounts of articles, so this does not mean that 5% of the journals will be at Level 3; rather, Level 3 consists of journals that together publish 5% of all articles published by all journals on Levels 1-3. 

Also note that all articles are included in the denominator, not only those published by KI researchers. Since global publication volumes influence these shares, KI’s own publication share at Level 3 will not necessarily be 5%. 

The panel has used the Norwegian and Finnish lists as a starting point and relied heavily on their assessments when they have assigned the same level for Levels 0, 1, and 2. 

All journals proposed for Level 3 were assessed independently by at least two panel members, and the panel discussed uncertain cases collectively to reach consensus. The panel used the same criteria that are now published. 

KI is a member of the Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment (CoARA) and a signatory of the Agreement for Reforming Research Assessment. CoARA aims to develop how research is assessed for researchers, projects, and research institutions. 

According to the commitments of CoARA, peer review should be prioritised over irresponsible assessment based on purely quantitative indicators. Since KI-JL is developed using expert assessment based on quality criteria and may be used as an alternative or complement to quantitative citation indicators such as the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), its development aligns with KI’s commitments as a signatory of CoARA. 

From 2028 onwards, a fixed annual cycle is planned for updates to KI-JL. The consultation period will then take place in the spring. KI-JL will be finalised in November-December each year in preparation for the following calendar year.

KI-JL will be revised once per year because the publishing landscape continually changes. KI researchers will have the opportunity to contribute via an annual consultation period.