On the morning of May 6th, 2025, at the Tradition Room, Vo Van Tan Campus, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, a scientific seminar titled “Sharing Experiences in Participating in WoS and Scopus Citation Systems for Vietnamese Academic Journals” was held. This event was part of a series of activities celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the University’s establishment (June 15th, 1990 – June 15th, 2025). It served as an important forum to promote academic exchange, share practical experiences, and shape strategies for international integration for Vietnamese academic journals, while also enhancing collaboration and selecting reputable publishers.
The seminar brought together representatives from prestigious academic journals both domestically and internationally, as well as experienced professionals, managers, and editors in the field of academic publishing. Its main objective was to enhance academic capacity, share effective integration strategies, and provide development orientations for Vietnamese journals to align with global standards—thus realizing the policies to improve research quality and integrate into the global knowledge ecosystem.
Participants at the event included, from Ho Chi Minh City Open University: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Ha – President of the University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuan – Editorial Director of the University’s Scientific Journal. From the guest side: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoai – Editorial Director of the Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City; Prof. Dr. Le Quoc Hoi – Editorial Director of the Journal of Economics Development, National Economics University; Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hung – Editorial Director of the Journal of Materials and Emerging Technologies for Sustainability, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Dinh Nguyen – Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, along with many lecturers and representatives from other institutions.
In his opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Ha, President of Ho Chi Minh City Open University, emphasized the strategic importance of developing internationally standardized academic journals in affirming a university’s research stature and promoting training, research, and knowledge transfer quality. He also introduced the University’s Scientific Journal, which includes 7 specialized journals, 2 of which have been indexed in ACI, and expressed a commitment to pursuing international standards, leveraging advanced technology, and expanding cooperation.
Following that, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuan – Editorial Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Open University Journal of Science shared impressive statistics about the internationalization of the editorial team and authors of the university’s journals, especially in the fields of Economics – Business Administration, Social Sciences, and Engineering. These figures reflect the great potential of the journal system in international integration.
The highlight of the seminar was the lively exchange session between journal representatives and experts. The speakers shared practical lessons about the process of preparing application documents for WoS and Scopus, including meeting scientific content standards, editorial procedures, citation metrics, as well as issues related to formatting and journal management. Common challenges and solutions were also openly discussed. Vietnamese journal representatives raised many specific questions about evaluation criteria, how to improve article quality, and how to select appropriate publishing partners. Experiences from journals that have successfully joined these prestigious citation systems brought profound perspectives and useful orientations, especially for journals of Ho Chi Minh City Open University that are on the path toward international integration.
The seminar created an effective academic forum where Vietnamese academic journals had the opportunity to learn from each other, gain knowledge from experts, and better prepare to join prestigious international scientific citation systems such as WoS and Scopus. This contributes to enhancing the position of Vietnamese science on the global knowledge map.
Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus are two prestigious scientific databases that play a crucial role in supporting research and academic analysis. The inclusion of academic journals from Ho Chi Minh City Open University in these two systems not only enhances the University’s academic standing but also contributes to enriching the global knowledge base. Through actively absorbing insights and experiences from experts, the University is creating strong momentum for future development. This is an important step to connect the University’s research with the international academic community and to expand opportunities for cooperation and development in various fields.