Journal Indexing
Journal Indexing
Journal indexing is the process of ensuring that academic journals are discoverable and accessible through global databases. To begin with, a journal must establish its eligibility by obtaining an ISSN, maintaining a clear publishing frequency, and showcasing a credible editorial board with subject experts. It should also demonstrate a strong peer-review mechanism and ethical compliance through plagiarism screening and COPE guidelines. Once these requirements are met, the next step is preparing high-quality metadata for every published article, including titles, abstracts, author affiliations, ORCID IDs, DOIs, and references in standard citation formats. This metadata ensures machine readability and seamless integration with databases. After metadata preparation, applications are submitted to indexing agencies such as Google Scholar, DOAJ, Scopus, or Web of Science, each requiring detailed documentation about the journal’s aims, editorial practices, and review process. Technical compliance also plays a crucial role, as systems like OJS must support archiving protocols (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS) and provide metadata feeds (OAI-PMH). Following this, the indexing agency evaluates the journal over several months, focusing on citation patterns, editorial standards, and international contributions. If approved, the journal is integrated into the database, which boosts its visibility, credibility, and citation impact.
Journal Indexing Procedures
Ensure the journal has a valid ISSN (electronic/print).
Regular publishing schedule (quarterly, bi-annual, monthly).
Active Editorial Board with international experts.
Create structured metadata for each article:
Article title, abstract, keywords.
Author names, affiliations, ORCID IDs.
DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
References in standard format (APA/IEEE/MLA).
Apply to indexing agencies:
Basic Indexing: Google Scholar, CrossRef, ROAD, CiteFactor.
Open Access: DOAJ.
Premium Indexing: Scopus, Web of Science (ESCI, SCIE, SSCI).
Ensure online publishing system compatibility (OJS or CMS).
Implement archiving policies (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico).
Ensure long-term accessibility of content.
Provide metadata feeds (OAI-PMH protocol).
Indexing agencies evaluate journal on:
Editorial quality and reviewer policies.
Ethical compliance (COPE membership, plagiarism screening).
Citation frequency and international visibility.
This may take 6–12 months.
On approval, indexing body integrates journal.
Publisher updates metadata regularly via API/feeds.
Authors benefit from increased visibility and citations.
