The Ministry of Education and the National Academy of Sciences have published the results of the selection of the "Best Academic Books of 2018". In 2018, a total of 285 books were selected as "Best Academic Books", of which 67 are from the area of human sciences, 99 from social sciences, 41 from Korean Studies, 78 from natural sciences, etc. The list of the selected books can be viewed from the website of the National Academy of Sciences at www.nas.go.kr.

The 285 "Best Academic Books" will be purchased and distributed until November in university libraries. (Total cost of purchases:3,650,000,000 KRW/total number of books purchased: around 130,000 books)

This year's "Best Books" have been selected from 3,544 books(March 2017~February 2018) and 370 publishers.

The selection committee which consists of 106 specialists from each area has conducted a multi-phase screening for 2 months and evaluated the academic level of professionalism, academic contribution etc. of those books.

To encourage the research and publishing of basic academic areas, the Ministry of Education has consigned the selection of the "Best Academic Books" to the National Academy of Sciences since 2002.

The Ministry of Education evaluates and selects academic books from all basic areas, purchases and distributes the selected books to university libraries, so that the excellent results of research can be shared.

The Ministry of Education has distributed a total of 3,769,000 books to university libraries, so that students can easily access those books. Mr. Shim Min Chul from the University Affairs and Academic Research Policy Bureau declared, "The selection and distribution of best academic books will contribute to the diffusion of the research base of basic academic areas."

* unofficial translation