"Werkwinkel" included in the recently published standardized register of academic journals

We would like to inform our collaborators, authors, colleagues from the Advisory Board and friends that "Werkwinkel" has been included in the recently published standardized register of academic journals, as announced in the latest communiqué from the Ministry of Learning and Higher Education in Warsaw.

Our journal has been placed on the ministerial register with an overall score of 9 points (out of a possible 9). This is a significant achievement for such a young academic journal: published only since 2006, it is currently in the phase of carving its niche within the field of publications dealing with Dutch and South African studies. It is also still in the process ocreating a community of collaborating authors, and gaining experience from one issue to the next.

Werkwinkel’s inclusion in the register and its having been awarded such a high score is as important for scholars publishing in the journal as it is for the future parametric evaluation of our academic unit, the AMU School of English (Instytut Filologii Angielskiej, or IFA for short).

Academic journals applying for inclusion in the register are evaluated by special groups appointed by the minister. In the case of Polish academic journals within the sphere of the humanities and social sciences, the evaluators look at the frequency and regularity with which issues of each given journal appear, whether suitable peer review procedures are in place with respect to submitted articles, whether the journal has a generally accessible website with abstracts, etc. In addition we had to submit data regarding our method of archiving reviews, information regarding the percentage of articles per single issue by authors from outside the unit responsible for publishing the journal, the percentage of articles which received negative reviews and were consequently not published, the average length of printed academic articles, etc. We were able to submit our application in time thanks to the diligent work of our secretary, dr. Ewa Dynarowicz.

Today we can boldly label this a success, but it is the kind of success which entails an obligation to maintain our position, and to attain an even higher place in future. It is also worth mentioning here that we have set our sights on international accreditation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who in some way – whether as author, reviewer, editor or sub-editor – contributed to our achievement.

Many thanks also to our publishing house – in particular Mr Tomasz Adamski, whose professionalism, sound advice and commitment have proved invaluable.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the IFA administration; chiefly Prof Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, for believing in us and our "Werkwinkel". IFA’s financial support has made the publication of the journal possible.

Yours faithfully

Prof Jerzy Koch

The complete register of accredited journals can be viewed here