Talk:The Polish Review

The Polish Review notability

The Polish Review, published since 1956 by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, has very often been used as an unquestioned reliable source on Wikipedia (please see: [1]).

The "Polish Review" article would benefit from expansion but should not be deleted, any more than the "Slavic Review" articlle ought to be.

Nihil novi (talk) 22:48, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

@Nihil novi: The issue is we have Wikipedia:Notability (academic journals) and I don't see which criteria the Polish Review meets. Slavic Review meets it as it is indexed in the Social Science Citation Index (C1B on the linked notability essay for academic journals). Polish Review does not seem to be indexed in any major database. Another quick test is citations on Google Scholar, which roughly orders things by citations (not 100% accurate, but a rough estimate). Slavic Review's top article has over 1000 cites, and few others 500, many are 100+. Polish Review top is 30, then we have few with ~10, and most under two digits. Polish Review unlike Slavic Review does not have a Scimago ranking page: [2]. Polish Review is not in the relatively inclusive Scopus where Slavic Review is of course indexed [3]. I was actually thinking of submitting a paper there - then I realized that due to lack of recognition it is not a high priority venue for me to publish, and that also likely correlates with not being notable :P But I did find Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (1 November 2006). Fifty years of Polish scholarship: the Polish review, 1956-2006. PIASA Books. ISBN 978-0-940962-69-9., through it has the same publisher, I think as the preface at least seems to discuss history of the journal, it may be sufficient to argue for borderline notability due to the fact that getting even a few paragraph about the journal is more coverage than most (even well indexed) ever get. My last thought is that I'd like to know why despite ~70 years of history this journal editors/publishers never managed to include it in any good indexes. Ping User:Randykitty. Also ping User:Buidhe who replied on my talk (feel free to copy your post from there?). PS. Polish Review is indexed in the Copernicus Index [4] and few others according to [5]; I'll stress that it is not indexed in anything considered "good" in my field (i.e. international sociology, where SCOPUS is the minimum and SSCI the recommended level of being indexed). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:57, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. Information about The Polish Review on the inside front cover of its latest quarterly issue, vol. 64, no. 4, 2019, includes:

"The Polish Review is abstracted in Historical Abstracts, ABC POL SCI, American History and Life, Index of Articles on Jewish Studies, MLA International Bibliography, and International Political Science Abstracts. It is also listed among the journals recognized by the American Historical Association.... The Polish Review is published by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America in cooperation with the Polska Akademia Umiejętności in Kraków, Poland."

I have found Polish Review articles on Google search.

PIASA holds an annual conference in the U.S. or at universities in Poland.

Nihil novi (talk) 02:54, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

@Piotrus: You are doubtless aware that citation frequency is an imperfect guide to the originality and reliability of research. Two examples immediately come to mind. Gregor Mendel's laws of heredity (1865) were ignored for decades before they were "rediscovered" in the early 20th century. Conversely, Sir Cyril Burt's identical-twin experiments, long much cited, eventually proved fraudulent.

Also, consideration perhaps should be given to context. I expect that Slavic Review publishes a good deal on Russia and the Soviet Union, which have for some centuries been of more interest to readers than has Poland, which has been a less prominent actor on the world's political and military stages.

Nihil novi (talk) 01:39, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Dear NN, you make good common sense arguments. My main concern, however, remains that this article may not meet the Wikipedia:Notability (academic journals). Now, I say may, not 'does not', which is why I tagged it instead of nominating it for deletion. You made, as I said, some very good comments, and hopefully the third person who comes around will conclude this article should stay. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 03:10, 23 March 2020 (UTC)