Towards a new paradigm for ‘journal quality’ criteria: a scoping review

‘Journal quality’ is by nature, a dynamic and multidimensional concept that is influenced by many factors. So far, no studies have been conducted to examine the architecture of this concept in depth. The aim of this scoping review was to map out the current status of research in this broad area, identify as many ‘journal quality’ criteria as possible from the fragmented literature, and develop a conceptual framework for this concept. We used the six-stage scoping review framework developed by Arksey, O'Malley (2005), and Levac (2010). A total of 116 documents met the eligibility criteria and 203 ‘quality criteria’ were extracted. The identified ‘quality criteria’ were grouped into five themes: ethical, content structure and technical, scientific rigor, editorial structure, and promoting and indexing. Although this study found gaps in empirical research, it provides a valuable basis for future research in this field. Furthermore, it is a first step towards improving the transparency of ‘journal quality’ criteria in order to develop a ‘quality rating’ or ‘quality evaluation’ system.