A year ago, the question “Scopus or Category B?” had a simple answer: publish wherever it’s faster and cheaper, and put the rest off for later. In 2026, that logic stopped working.
On June 1, 2026, the updated List of Scientific and Professional Publications of Ukraine took effect. This was not an automatic extension of the previous statuses: publishers submitted 1,394 applications, and 1,298 publications were included in the List by Order No. 928 of the Ministry of Education and Science dated June 11, 2026. The next review will take place only in 2029.
For a researcher, this means one thing: The decision you make now will work for you or against you for the next two or three years.
- 01What Has Changed with Category B
- 02When You Need Scopus Specifically
- 03How to Plan a Route for 2026–2027
What Has Changed for Category B in 2026
January 19, 2026, Ministry of Education and Science Order No. 56 approved a new version of the Procedure for Compiling the List of Scientific and Professional Publications of Ukraine. The order was registered with the Ministry of Justice on January 28, 2026, under No. 129/45523, and it entered into force on February 14, 2026.
Key changes:
Submission via URIS
Applications are accepted through the National Electronic Scientific Information System from February 1 through April 30, and only once every three years. The next application window will open in 2029.
Cluster Approach
Publications are divided by research areas, and a journal may list specializations only within a single cluster. The days when a single publication covered half of a subject classification system are over.
Ranking
Publications are evaluated based on formalized criteria using a point system, rather than on a "pass/fail" basis.
Requirements for the Editorial Board
The editorial board must include at least nine researchers from the specified cluster. Each must have at least three publications in Web of Science or Scopus over the past five years. A single researcher may serve on no more than three editorial boards, and the editor-in-chief may chair no more than two.
Requirements for the Article Itself
The HTML or PDF version of each publication must include the ISSN, DOI, the author’s ORCID, the open access license, as well as the dates of submission, acceptance, and publication.
Annual Monitoring
This is the most important—and least discussed—point: The list is reviewed once every three years, but compliance with the requirements is checked annually.
We've provided a detailed breakdown of the new requirements in this article New Requirements for Category B Professional Publications 2026. The results of the analysis of the updated list are presented in the article Category B 2026: List Updated. If you need practical assistance with selecting a publication and managing the publication process, check out a service for publishing in Category B journals.
Why the issue of Scopus or Category B is now viewed differently
Until recently, researchers considered publication in a Category B journal to be a reliable and predictable option, while the path to publication in Scopus seemed difficult and time-consuming. The reform has changed this picture.
The list is valid through 2029, and at first glance, this appears to indicate stability. However, monitoring takes place annually, and the grounds for exclusion have not disappeared. A publication currently on the List could very well lose its status a year from now, by which time your article will already have been published.
The risk hasn't gone away; it's just become less noticeable. In the past, you would see it once every few years when you watched it. Now it’s spread out over the entire period and isn’t accompanied by big news stories.
In this article, we discussed how to choose Category B publications while taking this risk into account Category B Journals 2026–2029: How to Choose a Journal That Won’t Be Delisted Next Time.
When is Category B accepted, and when is Scopus specifically required?
It is precisely this aspect that most scholars are only partially familiar with, even though it provides the answer to the “either-or” question.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Resolution No. 44 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, dated January 12, 2022, requires at least three scientific publications on the topic of the dissertation. Articles published in journals included in the List as of the date of publication, as well as articles published in journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection or Scopus, are accepted.
There's one detail that's often overlooked: An article with more than two co-authors counts as 0.5 publication. This restriction does not apply to publications in Scopus and Web of Science.
Doctor of Science
Resolution No. 1197 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, dated November 17, 2021, requires at least three publications on the dissertation topic in journals ranked in the first or second quartile according to SCImago Journal and Country Rank or the Journal Citation Reports. Publications in the Web of Science Core Collection or Scopus are required.
Order No. 1220 of the Ministry of Education and Science dated September 23, 2019, specifies the following: the main findings of the doctoral dissertation must be presented in at least 20 scientific publications. At least three of them (one year after the lifting of martial law, there must be at least five) must be published in Category A journals listed in the Directory or in international journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus. In this regard, a publication in a Q1 or Q2 journal counts as three publications, while a publication in a Q3 journal counts as two.
According to the guidelines issued by specialized academic councils, one publication in Web of Science or Scopus is considered equivalent to two publications in Category B journals published within the last three years.
Academic Titles
The procedure for conferring academic ranks was approved by Order No. 13 of the Ministry of Education and Science dated January 14, 2016, as amended by Order No. 322 dated March 17, 2021. The requirements for publications in scientometric databases are as follows:
| Rank | Minimum number of publications in Scopus or Web of Science |
|---|---|
| Associate Professor | 1 (after defending the dissertation) |
| Senior Researcher | 2 |
| Professor at a higher education institution with a doctoral degree | 2 (after defending the doctoral dissertation) |
| Professor at a research institution | 3 |
| Professor at a higher education institution without a Ph.D. | 4 |
A publication in a Category B journal is considered a professional publication under these requirements, but does not replace the required percentage of publications in Scopus or Web of Science.
The conclusion from this entire section is simple and inconvenient: the question “Scopus or Category B” is flawed in its very wording. The correct question is: in what proportions and in what order.
Scopus isn't a safe haven either
A common misconception is that Scopus is viewed as a guarantee. In reality, the database has its own mechanism for reevaluating and excluding journals, and it is stricter than the Ukrainian one.
Elsevier conducts ongoing re-evaluations of journals. These re-evaluations may be triggered by concerns raised by the scientific community regarding publication standards or by unusual trends in publication activity. A journal is specifically designated as “underperforming” if, for two consecutive years, it fails to meet the established requirements across three metrics: self-citation rate, overall citation rate, and CiteScore, when compared to journals in the same subject area.
What happens next:
- at the time of the revaluation The flow of content from the journal to Scopus is being suspended;
- The Content Selection and Advisory Board decides whether to continue or discontinue coverage;
- If indexing is discontinued, a five-year embargo is imposed, during which the journal may not be resubmitted for indexing.
Content indexed prior to the termination of coverage remains in the database. However, in exceptional cases of proven unethical publishing practices, content that has already been indexed may be removed.
Add the time factor to this. In our team’s experience, the process from submitting an article to its appearance in Scopus takes 6–12 months: peer review, revisions, and waiting for the issue to be published. According to official data from Elsevier, the indexing process itself—after the article is published online—takes anywhere from three weeks to two months. And that’s just the final step in a lengthy process.
In other words, Scopus is neither fast nor automatically reliable. It is mandatory for specific purposes, and that is precisely what makes it valuable.
What will happen to the list next?
The updated list will remain in effect until the next review in 2029, but that does not mean there will be a pause. Monitoring is conducted annually, so the first exclusions via separate orders from the Ministry of Education and Science are entirely possible as early as the end of 2026. Journals that barely met the passing score or are already showing signs of noncompliance are at the greatest risk.
In other words, the question isn't "will there be another round of revisions," but "who will be the first to be eliminated, and when."
Before choosing a magazine, answer these three questions
By what date do you need the results?
Focus not on the date the article was submitted, but on the date of its publication, indexing, or the possible submission of documents for a defense or the conferral of an academic title.
What exactly is the purpose of this post?
Fulfilling the requirements for a PhD, preparing to defend a doctoral dissertation, applying for an academic title, or building up a portfolio of publications for the future: these are all different paths.
What do you already have?
The number of articles, the number of co-authors, the journal's quartile rank, the publication date, and the publication's status could lead to the opposite conclusion.
These are the three areas where people most often make mistakes even before submitting an article. If you need guidance on the process, the “Article Academy” team can help you find a Category B journal that matches your topic, field of study, and deadline.
Publishing in a Category B journal without the risk of wasting time
We'll select a professional journal in your field, verify its current status, and guide you through the publication process at every stage.
Learn more about publications in Category B →- selecting a journal based on topic and field of study;
- checking status and publication risks;
- support until the article is published.
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