Predatory Journals and Conferences Guide

Searchability & Indexing

How a journal is indexed and made searchable is of great importance to how the articles in the journal are disseminated. By being indexed in databases relevant for the subject or in big scientific databases makes the articles findable for a wider audience.

Predatory journals often claim to be indexed even though they aren’t. If you suspect a journal might not be indexed you can check where you can find it in the database they list. Use the advanced search function and input the journal title or ISSN. If you don’t get any hits for the journal, it isn’t indexed.

Here is a list of databases and services that journals often claim to be indexed in (further down on the page there are also descriptions of services that predatory journals tend to mention, even though they aren't subject databases).

Open databases:

• DOAJ 
• PubMed 

Access through the university library:

• Journal Citation Reports
• Scopus
• Ulrichsweb
• Web of Science 
• Other databases

Web of Science – quality assurance

Web of Science (WoS) is a platform of citation databases. It is owned by the company Clarivate Analytics. Many universities use Web of Science data to evaluate their research. Journals have to apply to be indexed in Web of Science, and meet a number of criteria for inclusion. Web of Science will also exclude journals that no longer hold the high standards required.

Only 10% of all new journals are eventually indexed in Web of Science. This is a long, time-consuming process. You can find more information on what Clarivate Analytics require in their webpage Journal Selection Process.

If you’re unsure whether or not a journal is really indexed in Web of Science you can search for it in this database run by Clarivate Analytics: Master Journal List

“Indexing” in various irrelevant systems

Predatory publishers might claim that their journals are “listed” or “catalogued” in databases. This has nothing to do with indexing – “listed” means you can find the journal in some register or database (not necessarily a mark of quality, and won’t make your article findable), and “catalogued” simply means a journal has been included in a library or other catalogue (same thing there).

Dubious journals also like to boast about being “indexed” by various systems and services that aren’t citation databases, and so won’t do anything to make your article searchable. Here is a list of examples we have seen mentioned:

• Cabell's: A paid service that offers both a whitelist and a blacklist. It’s impossible to check whether or not the journal really is whitelisted unless you pay to access the service.
•  Crossref: An organisation that works to facilitate citation and tracking of citations between different academic journals.
•  DOAJ: A database over open access journals.
• Gale: A company that does maintain several real citation databases and catalogues. But these databases are very specific, and a journal should know which of them they are listed in, and not just mention the general “Gale”.
• Google Scholar: A useful search engine, but it does no quality control of included articles whatsoever.
• Ulrichsweb: A database with information about journals. Ulrichsweb does not index individual articles.

An example: British Journal of Science makes the claim on their webpage that they are indexed in among others Ulrichweb, DOAJ, a few subject database and Scopus. Searching Scopus for the journal title gets no hits. Ulrichsweb lists the journal, but it is not marked as refereed. In other words: looks fishy.