Indexing

For an article to be disseminated as much as possible and found by readers conducting research in the same field, it is important for the journal and its articles to be indexed in relevant databases. Various subject databases may contact you about including your journal, but it is also fine for journal editors to get in touch with databases and indexing services for inclusion.

There are aspects besides indexing that affect your journal’s ability to reach out to readers. The Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which develops OJS, has compiled a guide with practical information about how a journal should proceed to achieve greater visibility and dissemination. 

About being searchable and getting found by readers in the PKP guide

Getting indexed in various databases 

Besides subject-specific databases, there are also some more comprehensive databases which may be of interest for inclusion. We have gathered information about inclusion in some of them here.

DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals

A good starting-point for increasing the dissemination of an open access journal is to apply for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
DOAJ is a database containing reliable and quality-controlled open access journals from all over the world. The journals become searchable, partly through the DOAJ search interface, but also through the journals’ metadata being deliverable from DOAJ to various search engines. OJS has integrated support for exporting metadata about articles to DOAJ.

DOAJ sets certain requirements for inclusion which are summarised here:

• Immediate open access to all published material. Journals with delayed open access publishing are not accepted.
• Editing and an editorial board. Within the Humanities, an editorial board consisting of at least two editors is sufficient.
• Quality control/peer review. For Humanities journals, quality control conducted by the editors or the editors together with an editorial board is accepted.
• Transparency. A clear description of the journal’s policy, review process, manuscript requirements, who owns the copyright, etc. on the journal website. More information:
  • Guidelines for transparency and good publishing practice produced by DOAJ and other organisations
  • Summary about good publishing practice on this website 

Google Scholar

It is not possible to apply for indexing in Google Scholar, as it functions as a search engine which scans the internet for content that it identifies as scholarly content. However, OJS has a functionality for communicating with the indexing technology of Google Scholar, which increases the likelihood of articles in a journal being searchable there. It is not possible to guarantee indexing, but if articles have not been picked up by Google Scholar within around three weeks of their publication, please contact your faculty support or publicera [at] lub [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: OJLU%20-%20indexing) (publicera[at]lub[dot]lu[dot]se).

Scopus and Web of Science

Scopus and Web of Science are the two largest multidisciplinary citation databases for scholarly publications. The databases index citations, thereby creating links between different publications. The citation index forms the basis for various methods of measuring the impact of journals and articles, but it is also an advantage in finding and discovering journals.

• Criteria for inclusion in Scopus
• Apply for indexing in Scopus
• Complete list of criteria for inclusion in Web of Science
• Apply for indexing in Web of Science