The case for the evolution of the All Sciences Journal Classification (ASJC) system
The case for the evolution of the All Sciences Journal Classification (ASJC) system
This Working Paper sets out the case for the modernisation of the All Sciences Journal Classification System (ASJC), with particular emphasis on the classification of journals in the Medicine subject fields.
The ASJC was developed by a team at Elsevier Science some 25 years ago and it is widely used on a global basis. However, it has not kept pace with many changes in international academic publishing.
These include the growth in multidisciplinary journals; the inclusion of Arts and Humanities, Law and other Social Science subject journals in bibliometric systems; and the diversity of academic publishing vectors, including Books, Theses, Patents and Conference Proceedings.
The paper also describes a series of experiments with machine learning and artificial intelligence tools by colleagues in the Elsevier Data Science Teams to assess the merits of automation of classification of journals.
Many journals prove difficult to classify with ML/AI tools, and human expert evaluation and judgement is likely to find a continuing role in any future iterations of the ASJC
Academic subject classification, All Sciences Journal Classification, Scopus, web of science, MEDLINE, Ulrich’s Periodicals, Article level classification, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence
University of Southampton
Rew, David
36dcc3ad-2379-4b61-a468-5c623d796887
28 July 2025
Rew, David
36dcc3ad-2379-4b61-a468-5c623d796887
Rew, David
(2025)
The case for the evolution of the All Sciences Journal Classification (ASJC) system
(Essays on the Art and Science of Academic Journal Editorship and Publication)
University of Southampton
36pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
This Working Paper sets out the case for the modernisation of the All Sciences Journal Classification System (ASJC), with particular emphasis on the classification of journals in the Medicine subject fields.
The ASJC was developed by a team at Elsevier Science some 25 years ago and it is widely used on a global basis. However, it has not kept pace with many changes in international academic publishing.
These include the growth in multidisciplinary journals; the inclusion of Arts and Humanities, Law and other Social Science subject journals in bibliometric systems; and the diversity of academic publishing vectors, including Books, Theses, Patents and Conference Proceedings.
The paper also describes a series of experiments with machine learning and artificial intelligence tools by colleagues in the Elsevier Data Science Teams to assess the merits of automation of classification of journals.
Many journals prove difficult to classify with ML/AI tools, and human expert evaluation and judgement is likely to find a continuing role in any future iterations of the ASJC
Text
Modernising the ASJC David Rew for the UoS ePrint Server 28.07.2025
- Author's Original
More information
Published date: 28 July 2025
Additional Information:
David Anthony Rew, MA MB MChir (Cambridge) FRCS (London)
Honorary Consultant Surgeon to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, UK and to the Clinical Informatics Research Unit.
Subject Chair for Medicine to the SCOPUS Content Selection Advisory Board, Elsevier BV, The Netherlands, 2009 to the Present
Former Editor in Chief, The European Journal of Surgical Oncology, 2003-2009
Keywords:
Academic subject classification, All Sciences Journal Classification, Scopus, web of science, MEDLINE, Ulrich’s Periodicals, Article level classification, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 504370
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504370
PURE UUID: 33b2ae29-f65a-4a19-801b-fdb61108ac4f
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Date deposited: 08 Sep 2025 16:58
Last modified: 09 Sep 2025 02:05
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