The scientific Journal of SSTeF

Since 2001, the year of its foundation, the Societât Sientifiche e Tecnologjiche Furlane (SSTeF) has continuously carried forward activities to promote the Friulian language by fostering its use in the fields of research, knowledge and science outreach. From the outset, therefore, the SSTeF has contributed to the development and the enhancement of the status of the Friulian language.
As part of its activities, since 2002 the SSTeF has published a biannual bilingual scientific journal (Friulian–English), the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science, which — in its distinctive practice of systematically pairing a minority language with English — has represented, and still represents, a unique case in Italian publishing.
The Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal, carrying research articles, state-of-the-art reviews, extended reviews and reviews of scientific books in Friulian and English. The fields of research covered in the contributions published range — to give but a few examples — from physics to biology, from economics to medicine, from demography to the neurosciences, from mathematics to engineering and chemistry, and extend to interdisciplinary studies and to reflections on linguistics and language teaching.
In the years since it was first conceived, the GFS/FJS has helped to foster the formation, the use and the consolidation of a modern Friulian scientific lexicon; to create a research archive accessible to scholars and students; to strengthen the cultural identity of Friuli in a global context; and to enhance the prestige of the Friulian language.
As well as being held in the Joppi Civic Library of Udine and in various libraries of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science appears in the catalogue of the Library of Conference in Washington — the largest library in the world — and in the catalogue of the British Library. This presence gives the journal international visibility, ensures the long-term preservation of the publication as part of the global bibliographic heritage, and constitutes a recognition that confirms the scientific and cultural value of the project, placing it alongside publications of worldwide standing.
Furthermore, the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science appears in the official lists of “Scientific Journals” drawn up by the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR). Inclusion in the ANVUR lists certifies the journal’s editorial and scientific quality for the purposes of research assessment in Italy and amounts to a further, indirect enhancement of the status of the Friulian language.
For all these recognitions as a scientific journal, the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science is far more than a scientific journal: it is a linguistic and scientific laboratory that unites cultural identity with academic rigour. Its very existence bears witness to the fact that science can be communicated effectively in minority languages too.
In material terms too, the SSTeF has chosen to publish the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science in a quality format: the journal is presented, in fact, as a paperback book measuring 16×23 cm.
In addition to publication in print, from the first years of the Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis/Friulian Journal of Science the SSTeF has chosen — albeit, following a practice widespread among journals published primarily in print and in deference to the wishes of some authors, subject to an embargo of two or three years from the publication of the issues in physical form — to make the PDF version of the articles available online, so that, for the exclusive purposes of documentation and research, they may be consulted by all.