To implement the main research purposes of researchers, the necessity of publishing in Scopus is prescribed at the regulatory level. In most cases it is the publication of an research in journals with a Q2-Q3 rating. Today we are considering how to select a Scopus journal for your publication, what quartile is required and how it is defined and will provide a list of free Scopus Q2-Q3 journals for publication in the legal sciences.

What is Scopus Journal?
Scopus - an international, peer-reviewed journal that publishes current and relevant international science. They are all indexed as part of the international Scopus database. It demonstrates the quality of the content published and the publication's editorial credentials.
Notably, before becoming part of the Scopus scientometric database, a publication must pass several checks and meet at least minimum criteria for quality and international credibility. In addition to this, it is not enough to get into the database itself, you need to maintain your level at all times. Without this, the journal is very much at risk of being expelled from Scopus soon.
How do journals get into Scopus?
For journals that wish to become part of Scopus, there are several rigorous checks that include steps:
- Submission of the publication for evaluation.
- Checks.
- Clarifications.
- Review of the decision.
- Communications.
The verification process involves specialists from the scientometric database, the local council, the SCAB commission and other experts. The average number of journals included in the Scopus database is around 80-100 per month. It is only a third of all publications that submit to the database (about 33%).
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How to choose a journal to be published?
Selecting a journal to publish on Scopus is one of the most important steps in the publication process and essential for achieving a scholar's scientific purpose. Previously, we told you about a strategy to ensure that you don't make the wrong choice of scholarly publication.
As a reminder, one of the main criteria for choosing a Scopus journal is scientometric indicators and their dynamics. The main Scopus metrics:
- CiteScore quartile and percentile - ranked measures of influence in the Scopus database itself.
- CiteScore, CiteScore Tracker, CiteScore Rank - indicators of the authority of a Scopus publication in its subject area, which determine its ranking position. Calculated according to the features of the metric on a monthly or annual basis.
- SNIP - a standardised indicator irrespective of the subject area.
- SJR - an indicator of the image of a Scopus scientific publication.
- Level of quotation and self-quotation - determines how frequently a source is referred to by other scholars and in what way (organically or through metric flip-flopping).
There are other metrics for assessing Scopus journals, but it is the quartile metric that researchers most frequently consider.
What is quartile in Scopus?
The Scopus quartile, as we defined earlier, is a ranking indicator that divides all the journals in the database into approximately 4 equal parts (for each subject area). Within this research we will consider the main differences between Q2 and Q3 according to CiteScore:
- Q2 - a category of scientific publications in Scopus that is recognised as authoritative, but is not yet at the top of publications in a particular subject area (in our case the legal sciences). Generally, such journals receive quite a lot of content and there is a very high risk of not accepting the research.
- Q3 - the golden mean for scientific publishing. It is easier to publish the research in these journals than in Scopus Q2. Such a publication is suitable for realising the researchers' main scientific purposes. Thus, it is recommended that you consider this category of publication.
Scopus Q2-Q3 free journals in the legal field
"Scientific Publications" has compiled a list of free Scopus journals in the Law field to meet the authors' main research purposes.
|
Name |
ISSN |
Quartile index (Q) |
Knowledge category |
|
Sur |
1806-6445 1983-3342 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law Sociology and Political Science |
|
Revista de Internet, Derecho y Politica |
1699-8154 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law Sociology and Political Science Computer Science (miscellaneous) |
|
European Journal of Legal Studies |
1973-2937 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
International Journal for Court Administration |
2156-7964 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
Revista Catalana de Dret Public |
1885-8252 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law Public Administration |
|
Historia Constitucional |
1576-4729 |
Q2 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Arts and Humanities History Social Sciences Law Social Sciences Political Science and International Relations Political Science |
|
Revista Derecho del Estado |
0122-9893 2346-2051 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
ACDI Anuario Colombiano de Derecho Internacional |
2027-1131 2145-4493 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
Baltic Journal of Law and Politics |
2029-0454 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law Sociology and Political Science |
|
Oslo Law Review |
2387-3299 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
Hasanuddin Law Review |
2442-9880 2442-9899 |
Q3 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law |
|
Studies in Social Justice |
1911-4788 |
Q2 (Scopus CiteScore) |
Social Sciences Law Gender Studies Sociology and Political Science |
Scopus free journals: how to check?
In our work, we take the approach that each publication case is unique, thus in addition to the publication's business model, ego indexing and quartile index, the following should be considered:
- The subjects of the researches that Scopus journal focuses on. It is particularly relevant in the legal field. Indeed, there are many types of sub-disciplines in this category of knowledge. For example, Scopus indexes journals from law and medicine, philosophy of law, criminology etc. They all have their specifics and target audiences, designed to select specific content.
- Timing and percentage of researches accepted. Focusing exclusively on free Scopus journals, academics forget that such journals can develop issues for years to come. In addition, there is a high rejection rate for publication. To produce the research for such publications, you have to be sure of the quality, relevance and international impact of the research.
- Dynamics of change in the scientometric indicators of journals. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon in the scientometric world for a journal to stop indexing in Scopus before the author's research has been published. It is frequently almost impossible to identify such adverse trends without specialist advice.
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To choose a high-quality publication for the publication of your research, contact the experts at "Scientific Publications" for advice. We are very responsible for the process of selecting a Scopus journal, submitting scientific research and making any necessary revisions.
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We would remind you that the material came out recently «Another Scopus journal exclusion (February 2023)»