MMU Press Explores Ways to Strengthen Scholarly Publishing

MMU Press participated in two scholarly publishing engagements at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), gaining insights into journal quality, international indexing and scholarly book publishing in October 2026.

MMU Press attended Journal Editors’ Day 2026: Pathways to Journal Excellence and Visibility, co-hosted by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Penerbit UKM and Elsevier. The programme brought together representatives from Elsevier, MyCite and the scholarly publishing community to discuss ways to improve academic journals and expand their reach.

Topics included journal quality and sustainability, challenges faced by journals from the Global South, Malaysia’s scholarly publishing landscape, digital discoverability and the requirements for international indexing. A panel discussion also shared perspectives on journal indexation practices in different countries.

MMU Press was also invited to a session on scholarly book indexing in Scopus, featuring Tracy Chen from Elsevier. Her presentation, Expanding Scholarly Book Coverage: Perspectives from Scopus, covered the selection and evaluation of scholarly books for Scopus, common review outcomes and challenges in assessing different types of academic publications. The session also allowed university publishers to exchange views on improving book quality and visibility.

The discussions provided MMU Press with useful references for its ongoing work in journal development and scholarly book publishing, particularly in strengthening editorial standards, improving discoverability and preparing publications for international indexing. The engagements also gave MMU Press an opportunity to exchange experiences with other publishers and learn more about current expectations in scholarly publishing.