Comparative evaluation of Hungarian and foreign scientific journals

Abstract

As an introduction the article analyzes the most important factors determining the quality of a scientific journal, with special emphasis on the timelag between the submittal and the publication of manuscripts. The present survey compares this timelag in the function of time, in cases of selected journals published in Hungary and abroad. The results indicate that, compared with the analyzed foreign journals, the rank of the Hungarian Actas - with the exception of Acta Physica - is unfavourable. In order to improve their quality a more effective selection of manuscripts and the shortening of the editing and printing processes are suggested.