This document discusses several initiatives related to peer-reviewed scholarly publications: 1) The TSV Label for Peer-reviewed Scholarly Publications, which labels publications that meet standards for peer review in Finland. Over 200 Finnish publishers now use the label. 2) A pilot project encouraging Finnish open access journals to apply for the Directory of Open Access Journals. As a result of this project, the number of Finnish journals in DOAJ increased. 3) The Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication, which aims to promote dissemination of research in multiple languages and support national publishers and journals. It argues that science benefits from multilingual communication.

1. 1
Label for peer-reviewed scholarly Publications,
DOAJ-TSV-pilot & the Helsinki Initiative on
Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication
Janne Pölönen
NORF Publisher workshop 25 August 2021

2. Label for Peer-reviewed
Scholarly publications

3. ▪ TSV introduced the label in 2014 in collaboration with
scholarly publishers.
– support good peer-review practices among the Finnish
scholarly publishers
– promote transparency in academic quality assurance
▪ Publishers use the label to mark articles and books that
have been peer-reviewed according to the required
Label standards
▪ Facilitates identification of peer-reviewed publications
– Researchers, students & libraries
– Citizens & policy-makers
– Evaluators & administration
Promotion of quality peer-review among
Finnish journals and book publishers
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4. Requirements
▪ TSV will grant user rights to Finnish scholarly publishers
committing themselves to the terms and conditions of the label
use and other relevant guidelines.
– Peer-review instructions issued by the Finnish Association of
Scholarly Publishing
– Responsible conduct of research guidelines published by the
Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK).
▪ Publishers are required to transparently describe their own
peer-review process on the publication’s website and declare
their adherence to the TSV label requirements.
▪ The label should be printed in the publication in a way to
unambiguously indicate which texts have been peer-reviewed.
▪ Publisher violating these terms and conditions will risk losing the
right of use.
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5. Peer-review process
▪ Manuscript has been subject to a review by two reviewers
invited to assess and write an opinion on it at the request of the
editorial staff in charge of the publication criteria
▪ The reviewers are PhD level researchers or other experts
external to the editing board and independent in relation to the
manuscript to be reviewed. The process can be carried out
either anonymously or openly.
▪ The process will focus on the comprehensiveness of the data
and the mastering of the theoretical framework, reliability and
accuracy of the research implementation as well as the
originality and novelty of the research problem or the research
frame and results in relation to earlier research, according to the
quality standards of the discipline in question.
▪ The publisher must send the referees' comments to the
author(s) of the manuscript.
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6. Documentation
▪ The publisher must keep regular hardcopy or electronic records
of the key review information and documents related to the
published and unpublished manuscripts accepted for the review
process
– Dates when the manuscript was received and sent
– The publication proposal by the authors
– Names of authors, manuscript, and reviewers
– Reviewers’ reports
– Editorial decisions on the publication made by the editors
▪ This is not public data and will not be regularly reported to TSV.
However, the publishers will commit themselves to providing
TSV or National Board of Research Integrity the documents
related to an individual book or article if asked to do so.
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7. More than 200 Finnish peer-reviewed serials
and book publishers use the label
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43
105
143
167
186
204 217
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
▪ The label already covers 68 % of the Finnish universities total output of peer-
reviewed articles and monographs published in Finland
▪ More info in English on the TSV Label website:
https://www.tsv.fi/en/services/label-for-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications

8. DOAJ-TSV-pilot

9. ▪ Pilot-project carried out 2019-2020 to encourage Finnish Open Access Journals
to apply to DOAJ: https://blog.doaj.org/2019/09/02/new-pilot-to-encourage-
finnish-open-access-journals-to-apply-to-doaj/
▪ DOAJ, TSV team & volunteers
– Translated instructions
– Contacted journals
– Communicated criteria
– Organised workshops
– One-on-one counselling
▪ 336 peer-reviewed serials in Finland, 177 are OA and currently 50 in DOAJ
▪ We are planning to do a similar project with Sherpa/Romeo next year
Promotion of OA among the Finnish journals and publishers
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10. Helsinki Initiative on
Multilingualism in Scholarly
Communication

11. 1. Support dissemination of research results for the full
benefit of the society.
• Make sure researchers are merited for disseminating research
results beyond academia and for interacting with heritage,
culture, and society.
• Make sure equal access to researched knowledge is provided in
a variety of languages.
2. Protect national infrastructures for publishing locally
relevant research.
• Make sure not-for-profit journals and book publishers have both
sufficient resources and the support needed to maintain high
standards of quality control and research integrity.
• Make sure national journals and book publishers are
safeguarded in their transition to open access.
3. Promote language diversity in research assessment,
evaluation, and funding systems.
• Make sure that in the process of expert-based evaluation, high
quality research is valued regardless of the publishing language
or publication channel.
• Make sure that when metrics-based systems are utilized, journal
and book publications in all languages are adequately taken into
account.
Recommendations

12. Science is multilingual
Figure 1: According to the World Health Organization, a total of 10,728 papers were published
from the day of the novel coronavirus outbreak (now known as COVID-19) to April 28th, 2020.
Up to 85% of the articles has been published in the English language. Source:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/covid19/2020/06/18/long-read-science-needs-to-inform-the-public-that-
cant-be-done-solely-in-english/
• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted globally the need
for multilingual and interdisciplinary scholarly
communication not only between researchers, but also to
reach decision-makers, professional and citizens.

13. National publishers
Publisher shares of peer-reviewed articles in journals, conferences and books, as well as monographs of
14 Finnish Universities 2016-17 (N=48,177). Source: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00084
• Especially in non-English-speaking countries,
national journals and book publishers play a
unique role in scholarly communication by making
research results available in national languages to
all sectors of society.
*Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, Sage and ACS
*

14. • 53% of 25,365 SSH researchers in 7 European countries
published in 2013-15 peer-reviewed articles in more than one
language. Yet many evaluators and funders think that research
of any value to science and society is published in international
English language journals.
Rewards and incentives

15. More information
Read and sign:
www.helsinki-initiative.org
Email:
helsinki-initiative@tsv.fi
Hashtag:
#InAllLanguages

16. Thank you for your attention!
Questions or comments?
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