In 2015 an important part of the official evaluation of Polish scientific journals was left to experts’ judgement. In this paper we try to establish which observable factors (with available data) are closely related to the outcome of experts’ evaluation of Polish journals in economic sciences. Using the multiple regression statistical model we show that only 5 variables (out of 17) significantly explain almost 50% of the empirical variance of the experts’ evaluation. The determinants of particular interest, not entering the formal criteria and not related to the impact on global science, are: the number of citations mainly in Polish journals and the affiliation with the Polish Academy of Sciences.