Assessment of the academic quality of scientific journals of Ukraine in physical culture

Background and Study Aim. In the context of Ukraine’s integration into the global academic space, a systematic assessment of the quality of national scientific journals is of particular importance. The aim of the study was to determine the level of academic quality of Ukrainian scientific journals on physical culture and to identify differences between groups of journals with different indexing statuses. Materials and Methods. The analysis covered 29 Ukrainian journals with varying levels of indexing (WoS, Scopus, WoS/Scopus, DOAJ, Category B, non-indexed). A structured assessment model was applied based on eight criteria: Novelty, Methodology, Relevance, Analysis, Practical Value, Structure, Sources, and Internationalization. Article evaluation was conducted using an AI tool followed by expert verification. Statistical processing included descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results. Journals indexed in WoS/Scopus showed the highest mean scores across all criteria, particularly for Relevance (4.8), Novelty (4.7), and Structure (4.7). Category B journals had the lowest mean values, especially for Sources (3.13) and Internationalization (2.33). The Mann–Whitney U test revealed statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.001) between indexed and non-indexed journals across all criteria. Spearman’s correlation analysis identified strong positive associations among most criteria, with Internationalization showing relatively weaker correlations. The agreement between the results of the proposed model and the official WoS/Scopus metrics was 86.1%, confirming its validity and compliance with internationally recognized thresholds for a high level of agreement. Conclusions. The proposed assessment model enables an objective evaluation of the academic quality of Ukrainian journals, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. Aligning internationalization indicators, the quality of bibliographies, and methodological rigor with international standards may enhance the visibility and impact of Ukrainian journals in physical culture research.