Thông tư 27/2025/TT-BKHCN quy định về bài báo khoa học và đánh giá, xếp loại tạp chí khoa học Việt Nam do Bộ trưởng Bộ Khoa học và Công nghệ ban hành

CIRCULAR

REGULATIONS ON SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES AND ASSESSMENT, GRADING OF VIETNAMESE SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

Pursuant to the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation dated June 27, 2025;

Pursuant to Decree No. 55/2025/ND-CP dated March 2, 2025 of the Government on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP dated October 14, 2025 of the Government elaborating and providing implementation of the law on Science, Technology and Innovation on information, statistics, assessment, digital transformation and general issues.

At the request of Director General of National Agency for Science and Technology Information and Statistics.

The Ministry of Science and Technology hereby issues a Circular on scientific articles and assessment and grading of Vietnamese Scientific Journals

Chapter I

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Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides for selection of scientific articles and assessment, classification of Vietnamese scientific journals.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals performing selection of scientific articles, publication, assessment, grading of scientific journals, and other relevant organizations and individuals in Vietnam

Article 3. Term interpretation

For the purpose of this Circular, the terms below shall be construed as follows:

1. Scientific article means a paper presenting the results of original research or scientific analysis, published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, aiming to contribute new knowledge to the community.

2. Scientific citation database means a system that stores bibliographic data and citations of scientific articles, allowing tracing of citation relationships among articles, authors, journals, organizations, or research fields.

3. APA, IEEE, Chicago, Vancouver standards are international standards that regulate the citation and presentation of references in scientific works, ensuring consistency and transparency of source citations.

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Article 4. Public disclosure of scientific articles on the national information system on science, technology, and innovation

1. Within 03 months from the date of publication, scientific journals shall update bibliographic information of scientific articles; and full-text information for scientific articles funded by the state budget or scientific articles published on journals funded by state budget, on the National Information System on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

2. Scientific journals not funded by state budget are encouraged to update the full-text scientific articles on the National Information System on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

Chapter II

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

Article 5. Principles for selection of scientific articles

1. The content of scientific articles must ensure academic integrity, legality, and be checked using plagiarism detection tools.

2. Comply with regulations on scientific integrity and professional ethics as prescribed in Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP dated October 14, 2025, of the Government elaborating and providing implementation of the law on Science, Technology and Innovation on information, statistics, assessment, digital transformation and general issues.

3. Comply with the submission regulations of the respective scientific journal.

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1. The basic structure of a scientific article includes the following components:

a) Title (in Vietnamese and English);

b) Author(s) and contact information;

c) Abstract (in Vietnamese and English);

d) Keywords (in Vietnamese and English);

dd) Introduction/Problem statement;

e) Materials and/or research methods;

g) Results and discussion;

h) Conclusion;

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k) Statement of scientific contributions (if any);

l) Declaration of conflicts of interest (if any);

m) Acknowledgments to funding agencies and/or relevant organizations or individuals (if any);

n) References formatted according to one of the international standards: APA, IEEE, Chicago, or Vancouver.

2. Based on the provisions in Clause 1 of this Article, scientific journals shall issue regulations on the structure of scientific articles according to their specific disciplines and target readers. Publishing scientific articles in English with attached appendices (title, abstract, keywords in Vietnamese) is encouraged to support international ranking processes.

Article 7. Scientific citation

1. Scientific articles are calculated in term of their citation index and use frequency for the purpose of assessment and grading of scientific journals and other relevant purposes.

2. Scientific citations in articles are authenticated through the DOI.

3. The agency in charge of information, statistics, and assessment of science and technology affiliated to the Ministry of Science and Technology shall develop and manage the scientific citation database.

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1. The scientific citation database is established to collect, store, analyze, and provide information about the quantity and quality of scientific articles to serve the assessment and grading of scientific journals and other relevant purposes.

2. The scientific citation database includes the following information:

a) Information about scientific articles: article title, author name(s), ORCID identifier (if any), affiliation, keywords, research field, publishing journal, year of publication, number of volumes, number of pages, citation list, and cited articles;

b) Information about scientific journals: journal name, press agency, managing authority, publisher, publication period, publishing frequency, ISSN, e-ISSN, research field, publication language, total number of scientific articles, impact factor, CiteScore, FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact), and other parameters

3. The scientific citation database is a component of the National Information System on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

4. A citation recorded in the scientific citation database must satisfy the following conditions:

a) It appears in the reference section of an article, formatted according to the international citation standards specified in Point n of Clause 1 of Article 6 hereof, with complete bibliographic information indicating the source of the cited document;

b) It can be verified, crosschecked, and authenticated using academic analysis tools or electronic article management platforms.

5. The scientific citation database is used as a ground for:

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b) Supporting the analysis of research trends, impact, and outreach scope of the journal;

c) Providing data for grading, funding, planning, and development of the Vietnamese scientific journal system.

Chapter III

CRITERIA, METHODS FOR ASSESSMENT AND GRADING OF SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

Article 9. Rules for assessment and grading of scientific journals

1. Ensure scientific rigor, objectivity, transparency, and fairness throughout the entire process of assessing and grading scientific journals.

2. Based on the criteria stipulated in Article 36 of Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP dated October 14, 2025, of the Government elaborating and providing implementation of the law on Science, Technology and Innovation on information, statistics, assessment, digital transformation and general issues (hereinafter referred to as "Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP”).

3. The assessment and grading of scientific journals shall be conducted annually or ad hoc as requested by the state regulatory authorities.

Article 10. Criteria for assessment of scientific journals

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Total score: 100 points

The scoring method to assess whether a journal meets scientific standards based on the criteria specified in Article 36 of Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP shall comply the following regulations:

a) Academic content criteria (25 points)

Over 75% of articles are academic research papers, scientific reviews, or academic discussions/peer comments: 15 points.

Use of citation and reference systems in accordance with international standards APA, IEEE, Chicago, Vancouver: 5 points.

Having title, abstract, and keywords in English:  5 points;

b) Editorial board criteria (15 points)

At least 50% of members are independent experts outside the journal’s governing body: 5 points.

Editorial board has appropriate expertise and publicly discloses its membership:  7 points.

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c) Peer review process criteria (20 points)

Transparent submission, review, decision, and revision processes that are publicly disclosed on the journal’s website: 8 points.

Fees (or fee waiver) for submission, processing, editing, and publication are posted on the journal’s website: 2 points. 2 points.

Blind peer review is applied with at least two independent reviewers per article: 10 points;

d) Publishing standards criteria (10 points)

Adherence to registered publishing frequency, valid ISSN code; regulations on scientific publishing standards according to international practices: 5 points.

Public policies on plagiarism detection, article retraction, conflict of interest, and copyright handling; rejection of articles violating copyright, fraud, fabricated data, or citation manipulation: 5 points;

dd) Transparency and accessibility criteria (10 points)

The Journal’s website regularly updates complete information (aims & scope, editorial board list, peer review policy, submission guidelines, author instructions): 5 points.

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e) Publishing standards criteria (20 points)

The journal must be indexed in the National Information System on Science, Technology, and Innovation or one of the international scientific databases such as Scopus/Web of Science (WoS): 20 points.

2. Journals are considered meeting scientific standards when achieve a score of over 75 points and satisfy the criteria specified in points a, c, and e of Clause 1 in this Article.

Article 11. Method for grading scientific journals

1. The grading of scientific journals is conducted for journals within the same specialized field that have been recognized as meeting scientific standards in accordance with Article 10 hereof.

2. Scientific journals are graded based on their impact factor.

a) The Impact Factor (IF) of a scientific journal is the total number of citations in the calculation year to articles published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of articles published in those two years.

b) The formula for calculating the impact factor is as follows:

IF =

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Total number of citable articles published in the previous two years

c) The grading of scientific journals may also be based on other indices such as CiteScore and FWCI.

- Citation Score (CiteScore) reflects the average number of citations received per scientific article published in the journal; it is calculated based on the number of citations to articles in the journal over four years divided by the number of articles published during the same period.

- Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) is the ratio of the actual number of citations a scientific article receives to the expected number of citations for similar articles in the same field, document type, and publication year. FWCI = 1 indicates average citation impact; FWCI > 1 indicates above-average citation impact; FWCI < 1 indicates below-average citation impact.

2. The journal grading method specified in this Article serves as the basis for categorizing scientific journals into Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 4 according to Clause 2 of Article 39 of Decree No. 262/2025/ND-CP. Journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science shall automatically be Grade 1.

Article 12. List and results of assessment and grading of scientific journals

1. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall compile a list of Vietnamese journals that publish scientific articles; conduct assessments based on the criteria stipulated in Article 10 hereof to issue the List of journals meeting Vietnamese Scientific Standards before April 30 annually.

2. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall grade the journals on the List of journals meeting Vietnamese Scientific Standards based on the method prescribed in Article 11 hereof and announce the results before April 30 annually starting from 2027.

The List of Scientific Standard Journals and the results of the assessment and grading shall be issued annually by the Ministry of Science and Technology and publicly available on the National Information System on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Article 13. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from December 15, 2025.

2. If documents cited in this Circular are amended or replaced, the newer documents shall apply.

Article 14. Responsibility for implementation

1. Ministries, ministerial agencies, Governmental agencies, People’s Committees of provinces/cities, and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Decision./.

2. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall assign their affiliated agencies in charge of information, statistics, and assessment of science and technology to implement this Circular.

3. Shall any problems arise during the implementation process, promptly report to the Ministry of Science and Technology for research and appropriate amendments./.

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MINISTER




Nguyen Manh Hung