CHRONICLE. Round table "University scientific periodicals in the field of media and communications - current problems and prospects"

On October 20, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., in the New Conference Hall in the Rectorate of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", the National Round Table was held on the topic: "University Scientific Periodicals in the Field of Media and Communications - Current Problems and Prospects". The round table is organized under the project "University Scientific Periodicals in the Field of Media and Communications - Current Problems and Prospects" (Agreement 80-10-42 of 23.05.2025 with the head: Prof. DSc Andreana Eftimova) at the Scientific Research Fund of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". The event marked the International Week of Open Access to Scientific Information, which this year takes place from October 20 to 26 and is entitled "Who Owns Our Knowledge?" The motto of the week is a statement by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which reads: Our call today is principled, life-saving and urgent. People around the world need states, international organizations, scientific and medical institutions and professionals to ensure the widest possible exchange of scientific knowledge and the widest possible access to the benefits of scientific knowledge. This is key to any effective public health policy. It is essential for the fight against climate change (https://www.openaccessweek.org/).

The forum was attended by 30 participants from 11 institutions - the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Faculty of Science, Education and Arts, the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, the Faculty of Pedagogy, the Faculty of Slavic Philology and the Institute for Big Data for an Intelligent Society (GATE) of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", the University Library at Sofia University, the Institute of Bulgarian Language at BAS, Shumen University "Bishop Konstantin Preslavski", the Publishing House of the New Bulgarian University, the Library of NBU, South-Western University "Neofit Rilski", the National Library "St. Cyril and Methodius" (NBKM), UniBIT, IEFEM - BAS, the Institute for the Study of Arts at BAS.

Among the participants were editors-in-chief and representatives of the teams of the publications "Medialog", "Media and Language", "Public Communications" series, "Visual Arts" magazine, "Philology" magazine, publications of the Institute for the Study of Arts, "Bibliosfera" magazine, "German and Scandinavian Studies" magazine, "Social Work" magazine, "Literature" magazine, "Language World" magazine, "Library" magazine of the NBKM, "Publisher" magazine, "Europe and the Orient" magazine of IEFEM.

In the first part of the round table, an introductory report was made by Prof. DSc. Andreana Eftimova, organizer of the round table, which outlined the problems facing scientific periodicals related to the editorial and publishing process (editorial standards and strategies for ensuring high quality of content, for effective and ethical communication with authors, reviewers and readers, etc.), the software used for publishing scientific periodicals with open access, indexing and referencing in scientometric databases, policies for protecting Bulgarian scientific production, digital repositories and libraries, etc. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilyana Yavrukova, Director of the Bulgarian University Library, presented in detail the professional software OJS and the capabilities of the digital object identifier (DOI). Prof. Maria Endreva from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Humanities at Sofia University commented on and compared the functionalities of two professional software - Scholar One and OJS based on her editorial and publishing work as editor-in-chief of the journal "German Studies and Scandinavian Studies". Assist. Prof. Bilyana Zhivkova and Asst. Prof. Dr. Danko Georgiev from the University of Shumen presented the publication of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications – “Public Communications Series”. Diana Gurlichkova, Master of the program “Traditional and Digital Publishing”, PhD student in Media Language and Style and editor in the journal “Acta Medica”, touched upon the problems of paper mills and the simulation of scientific research and authorship as current topics commented on at a similar forum in Romania, and Senior Asst. Prof. PhD. Yordan Karapenchev, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Media and Language”, commented on the requirements for indexing in various prestigious international databases as a difficult labyrinth at times with an unpredictable outcome.

The second part of the round table took place in a lively and useful discussion, in which habilitated persons and assistants, PhD students and young scientists, directors and heads of library departments, editors-in-chief, editors, translator-editors, etc. participated. Among them were Prof. Dr. Maria Endreva, Prof. Dr. Albert Benbasat, Prof. Dr. Ginka Mekhandzhiyska, Prof. Dr. Diyana Petkova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilyana Yavrukova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vasil Zagorov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Azmanova, Assoc. Prof. DSc Vyara Angelova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhana Popova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilyana Todorova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ventsislava Stoyanova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yordan Eftimov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nikolay Vukov, Dr. Ruslana Margova, Assist. Prof. Danko Georgiev, Assist. Prof. Ph.D. Yordan Karapenchev, Assist. Prof. Ph.D. Ivan Tenev, Assist. Ph.D., Alexander Georgiev, Assist. Ph.D., Bilyana Zhivkova, Simona Kaleva, Ph.D. student Daniela Statulova, Ph.D.  student Gunel Osman, Ph.D.  student Ekaterina Kaleva, Ph.D.  student Anna Todorova-Damova, Iveta Rasheva, Gergana Martinova, Lidiya Hristova, Kalina Stoilova and others.