Journal Indexing 1: Definition & Aim

In this post, we will explain the importance of good journal indexing and how journals that apply key standards can increase the reach and impact of their publications.

Every journal seeks to be named a valid source of scientific information and to be recognized as prestigious source among many other publications around the globe.

To achieve this aim, journals must increase their visibility, validity, availability, and readership, resorting to different methods, one of which is getting their publication “indexed” by one or more leading databases. An indexed journal ensures the authors that it has gone through and passed a review process of certain requirements done by a journal indexer.

What is Indexing?

Every author search for indexed journals to publish his/her article in, and tries to select a journal that is covered by a number of abstracting and indexing services.

The indexation of a journal indicates its quality. Indexed journals are considered to be of higher scientific quality as compared to non-indexed journals. The indexed journals have expanded online presence, improved article discoverability, and reputable for high-quality publication in their own field.

Types of Indexes

Generally speaking, journals are included in two types of public or specialized indexes.

General indexes

This type of indexing index journals that cover various disciplines and a broad variety of topics. General indexes index popular magazines, newspapers, and some scholarly journals. Following are some well-known general indexes:

Specialized indexes

Specialized indexes cover a specific topic or discipline and will usually index more scholarly journals.

Basic Indexing Standards

The indexation of a journal is based on some basic publishing standards. Any journal should have the following standards to meet basic indexing requirements:

• An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): ISSN is the number given to one set of the series, to identify a serial, recurring publication, such as a monthly journal.
• Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs): A DOI is just like a social security number for a digital item (journal article, data file, presentation file, etc.).
• An established publishing schedule
• A copyright policy
• Basic article-level metadata
• Having at least 5 issues or at the latest 1-3 years old
• Having at least 60 % foreign members in the editorial board

Why is Indexing Essential?

Accessibility

Since the main purpose of a journal is to be accessible to a wide audience, once it is indexed by a database, it is immediately made available to all users of a database that has indexed that journal

Reputation

Being accessible has a direct impact on a journal’s reputation; if a journal is available for a large number of academic population, it will be considered a reliable source of high-quality information in a certain field.

Readership

Every researcher will look to established, well-known databases as the first activity in his/her studies; if a journal is indexed in a known database in that researcher’s field, he/she will find that easily and read it. This increases that journal’s readership.