Journal Indexing Criteria

1. Scope of the Indexing Service

This indexing service is dedicated to Open Access scholarly journals that make their content freely available online and support metadata harvesting using the OAI-PMH protocol. Journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS) or compatible platforms are eligible for evaluation.

Indexing focuses on metadata quality, publishing transparency, and accessibility, not on impact factor or commercial metrics.

2. Mandatory Eligibility Requirements

A journal must meet all of the following conditions to be considered for indexing:

2.1 Open Access Policy

• The journal must provide immediate open access to all articles.
• No embargo period is allowed.
• A clear Open Access statement must be displayed on the journal website.

2.2 Licensing

• The journal must clearly declare an open license.
• Preferred licenses: CC BY 0, CC BY, CC BY-SA
• License information must be visible on:
  • Journal website
  • Article pages
  • OJS metadata (if applicable)

3. Technical Requirements (OAI-PMH Compliance)

3.1 OAI-PMH Endpoint

• The journal must expose a valid OAI-PMH base URL.
• Supported metadata formats must include: oai_dc (mandatory)
• The endpoint must respond correctly to:
  • Identify
  • ListRecords
  • ListIdentifiers
  • GetRecord

3.2 Metadata Quality

Each article record must include:

• Article title
• Author(s) name(s)
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Publication date
• Journal title
• Volume, issue, and page numbers (if applicable)
• Persistent article URL

Incomplete or inconsistent metadata may lead to rejection or delayed indexing.

4. Journal Website & Transparency Requirements

4.1 Editorial Information

The journal must clearly display:

• Journal aims & scope
• Editorial board with names and affiliations
• Editor-in-Chief details
• Contact email (journal or publisher domain)

4.2 Publishing Practices

• Clear description of the peer-review process
• Publication frequency must be stated
• Archive of past issues must be accessible

5. Ethical Publishing Standards

The journal must comply with basic scholarly publishing ethics:

• Clear plagiarism policy
• Statement on publication ethics and malpractice
• Retraction and correction policy (if applicable)
• No misleading claims about impact factors or indexing

Journals involved in deceptive or unethical practices will not be indexed.

6. Content Quality Expectations

While the indexing service does not judge research quality, the journal must:

• Publish scholarly or academic content
• Avoid non-academic, promotional, or purely commercial material
• Maintain consistency in article structure and presentation

7. Language & Accessibility

• Articles may be published in any language.
• English metadata (title and abstract) is strongly recommended for discoverability.
• PDFs or full-text formats must be readable and accessible.

8. Publishing Regularity

• The journal must publish at least one issue per year.
• Journals with long unexplained publication gaps may be excluded.

9. Indexing Review Process

10. Post-Indexing Monitoring

Indexed journals are periodically reviewed for:

• Continued OAI-PMH availability
• Metadata consistency
• Policy compliance

Indexing may be suspended or removed if requirements are no longer met.

11. Disclaimer

12. Contact for Indexing Requests