Editorial Governance, Distinct Scholarly Profiles and Complementary Roles of Research Papers of UNWE and the Yearbook of UNWE
Research Papers of UNWE and the Yearbook of UNWE are long-standing, peer-reviewed journals published by the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Sofia. The Yearbook was established in 1922, followed by Research Papers in 1925. Both journals have developed in parallel with the University's research and publishing history.
Historical and institutional background
Both journals have developed their editorial structures within a shared institutional environment, ensuring consistent academic oversight and standards of quality, ethics, and editorial practice across the University's publications. While this shared history has led to overlap in editorial board membership, each journal retains its own editorial responsibilities and distinct scholarly profile. Ongoing development of their editorial structures will continue to strengthen this distinction.
Both journals, along with the University's other publications, operate under the Academic Publishing UNWE (AP-UNWE) framework, which sets overarching standards and provides publishing infrastructure. This framework ensures the consistent application of the principles of editorial independence, academic freedom, publication ethics, research integrity, originality, plagiarism prevention, responsible use of artificial intelligence, authorship, conflicts of interest, peer-review ethics, and quality assurance. These shared standards form the foundation for responsible scholarly publishing at UNWE.
AP-UNWE's governance is exercised through its own university-wide Publishing Council, whose membership is distinct from, and only partially overlapping with, the editorial boards of individual journals. Its current membership is published at https://press.unwe.bg/en/publishing-council/. This two-tier structure — an institution-wide Publishing Council setting shared standards, and separate, journal-specific editorial boards applying them to individual manuscripts — is common practice among university presses that manage multiple periodicals. The governing documents of this framework are publicly available: the Code of Ethics of Academic Publishing House UNWE, the Regulations of the AP-UNWE, and the Requirements for Scientific Periodicals of UNWE.
However, they do not replace journal-specific editorial responsibility: Research Papers of UNWE and the Yearbook of UNWE retain their distinct scholarly functions. Over time, the two journals have developed clearly differentiated scholarly missions, publication profiles, audiences, and editorial workflows.
Each journal maintains editorial independence within the shared institutional framework. Decisions on individual manuscripts are based on their scholarly quality, originality, methodological soundness, and alignment with the aims and scope of the respective journal, and are made independently of institutional, administrative, financial, political, or other external influences.
The editorial policy promotes academic pluralism, diversity of scholarly approaches, and open academic debate, while ensuring equal treatment of authors and evaluating manuscripts based on scholarly quality and alignment with the profile of the respective journal.
The two journals have distinct scholarly missions
Research Papers of UNWE serves a broad, interdisciplinary scholarly community in economics, business, and related applied social sciences. A defining feature of the journal is its bilingual publication policy: contributions may be published in either Bulgarian or English. This bilingual model serves two complementary purposes. It enables the journal to participate in international scholarly communication while preserving an academic publication venue for research published in Bulgarian. This is particularly important for the continued development of Bulgarian scientific terminology and for research on economic, institutional, policy, legal, administrative, and societal issues directly relevant to the national academic and professional environment. The journal therefore bridges nationally grounded scholarship and international academic exchange. Its broad interdisciplinary scope and publication portfolio support analytical and empirical research, as well as diverse forms of scholarly communication and debate.
The Yearbook of UNWE has developed a distinct scholarly orientation. It is published exclusively in English and is positioned as an international academic journal with a particular focus on Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is approached not merely as a geographical limitation of the journal's scope, but as a significant context for studying economic and social transformation, institutional change, governance, public policy, and sustainable development. The Yearbook encourages research that connects evidence from the region with wider European and international theoretical, empirical, and policy debates, including comparative perspectives. Its publication profile places particular emphasis on comprehensive, in-depth scholarship, including theoretical, methodological and empirical research, conceptual and synthesis studies, comparative research, and broader empirical analyses.
At the institutional level, the two journals complement each other. As UNWE's main scholarly periodicals, they provide publication opportunities across the broad range of academic and research fields represented within the University. Their distinct profiles are designed not to create competing or duplicative publication channels, but to accommodate different forms, contexts, and audiences of scholarly work while maintaining appropriate academic standards across the University's diverse fields of expertise. Shared editorial governance elements help maintain this balance. They support a coherent institutional approach to scholarly publishing, preserve clearly differentiated journal profiles, and ensure appropriate representation of the diverse research fields within the University's principal publication channels. The relationship between the two journals is therefore characterised by differentiation and complementarity: each has a distinct scholarly mission, while together they reflect the breadth and diversity of research undertaken at UNWE.
Publication frequency and scholarly function
Research Papers of UNWE is published quarterly, offering a regular channel for a broad and diverse range of current analytical, empirical, and interdisciplinary research.
The Yearbook of UNWE is published twice a year, following a more focused model that prioritises comprehensive, in-depth scholarly contributions, including substantial theoretical and empirical studies, comparative research, and critical syntheses.
The difference in publication frequency aligns with the distinct profiles and academic functions of the two journals. This distinction is substantive, not merely formal. Research Papers of UNWE supports international scholarly exchange while playing a key role in Bulgarian-language academic communication across a broad interdisciplinary field. The Yearbook of UNWE offers an English-language international forum for comprehensive scholarship, with a distinctive focus on Eastern Europe and its broader European and global relevance.
Differentiated publication formats
The publication formats of the journals reflect their different scholarly functions. Both publish articles, research studies, and formal scholarly discussions. Additionally, Research Papers of UNWE includes scientific opinions and book reviews, providing formats for academic commentary and critical engagement with new literature. The Yearbook of UNWE publishes review articles that critically analyse and synthesise established literature, supporting its focus on comprehensive studies, synthesis, and comparative research.
Separate editorial and peer-review workflows
Despite shared elements of editorial governance, each journal maintains its own manuscript evaluation process. Each operates in a separate OJS environment with distinct submission and tracking workflows. Submissions are assessed according to the aims, scope, and policies of the respective journal. Peer review is organised at the journal and manuscript level, with reviewers selected based on subject matter and required expertise.
This separation also applies when the same Editor-in-Chief oversees both journals. Each journal manages manuscripts independently, including reviewer selection, review evaluation, and decisions on revision, acceptance, or rejection. Editorial judgement for a manuscript in one journal is not influenced by the editorial process of the other journal.
Editorial decisions regarding peer review, revisions, acceptance, or rejection are made within each journal's workflow. Evaluating a manuscript in one journal does not influence the editorial process of the other. Thus, the journals maintain separate evaluation and decision-making processes, despite their overlapping governance structures.
Institutional continuity and journal-specific development
UNWE views shared editorial governance as part of its publishing history, not as a replacement for journal-specific academic identity or editorial responsibility. This model ensures continuity in standards, ethics, and quality assurance while supporting distinct scholarly missions and separate editorial workflows for each journal. The University recognises the ongoing evolution of scholarly publishing and the need for editorial structures, academic networks, and practices to develop over time and align with each journal's profile, audience, and international visibility. The long-term goal is to preserve academic traditions, strengthen distinctive identities, and enhance each journal's contribution to research communication at all levels.
Together, Research Papers of UNWE and the Yearbook of UNWE reflect the breadth of UNWE's academic publishing tradition: a broad, bilingual, interdisciplinary platform for current research, and a focused, English-language international forum for comprehensive scholarship with particular attention to Eastern Europe. Each journal pursues this shared institutional mission through its own distinct scholarly identity, editorial process, and international visibility.
Governing documents (Academic Publishing UNWE, AP-UNWE):
