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Getting started with indexing

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Last updated: August 6, 2026

Contents

Introduction

This document should give editors an overview about where and how to get their journals listed in online directories and databases of scholarly literature. It also provides YDJ-specific information. It derives from correspondence with editors, which is reflected in the sometimes-conversational tone.

As a rule, editors should refer to the official instructions for the service provider; therefore, this guide does not attempt to duplicate those instructions. YDJ reviews this content periodically but 3rd-party services may change without notice. Please contact YDJ if you have any questions about this content or to notify us of incorrect or outdated information.

Many of the services listed require applications. You may also wish to consult PKP's Index Application Guide for more information about identifying venues for indexing and preparing applications. Successful applications often depend on the rigour of editorial practice and transparency about those practices, as well as having high-quality metadata. You should review PKP's https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/metadata-practices/en/ guide to learn more about producing quality metadata and then contact YDJ if you have questions about applying better metadata practices to your own journal.

Note

A few concepts to keep in mind:

  • Index/indexing: have your publication metadata listed. This will often include a link to the article on the OJS site. Doesn't need your agreement but might ask for it anyway.
  • Repository/harvesting: the full text of your articles is added to the repository, as well as the metadata. This means the readers may read the full text in that database, rather than on OJS. Requires signing a license with the vendor, who may remit royalties for it.
  • Database: a generic term that covers both above.
  • Citation database: primarily intended for impact reporting by tracking citations and providing bibliometrics, rather than for literature searches. Methods vary from database to database, so comparison of sources is useful.

New journals

We strongly recommend applying to the following once you have published your first issue and have DOIs assigned:

  1. Scholars Portal Journals
  2. Ulrichsweb

Other databases will want to see a longer track record of success (often 2 years or more)

Established journals

If you're not harvested by Scholars Portal Journals or listed in Ulrich's, start with those.

Then:

  1. DOAJ (open access journals only)
  2. Coalition Publica (open access journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences only)
  3. Relevant disciplinary Ebsco and ProQuest journals
  4. Scopus and Web of Science
  5. PsycInfo and MEDLINE/PubMed (if appropriate)

Public/not-for-profit databases

Scholars Portal Journals

Free, Ontario-based repository and long-term preservation platform. Low-hanging fruit, strongly recommended.

Note on technical requirements

Scholars Portal requires that two OJS plugins be configured and maintained to enable harvesting; YDJ installs and maintains these plugins as a matter of course. If there are any technical difficulties, Scholars Portal and YDJ will work together to resolve them.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Free, not-for-profit. Strongly recommended. DOAJ implicitly and may explicitly certify your publication as a "legitimate" Open Access journal of quality. May lead to being approached by other indexers.

The DOAJ guidelines have a lot of information about what could and should be on your journal website for the sake of transparency. Not every answer needs to be positive to be accepted into DOAJ. You may also with to consult PKP's DOAJ Application Guide.

Some of the information is technical and you will need to contact YDJ for help.

MEDLINE/PubMed

Warning

February 13, 2025: as a public service of the US government, who knows what the current administration means for MEDLINE.

MEDLINE is the National Institutes of Health index of biomedical and health-related literature. PubMed is the free access interface for MEDLINE but other database vendors such as OVID create their own.

MEDLINE will probably have the most stringent criteria of all databases/indexes.

Note requirements for how long you've been publishing and the number of articles published. Even if you're not there yet, it's worth looking at some of the other guidelines to see if you can meet them in advance of eligibility.

You may also be able to apply to PubMed Central (PM), which is a full-text repository. There used to be a PMC Canada I believe. I'm less familiar with this but also worth taking a look.

You may also wish to consult PubMed, PubMed Central, and Medline from PKP's Indexing Application Guide for more information.

Coalition Publica/Érudit

Coalition Publica is a joint initiative of the Public Knowledge Project and Érudit, the Quebec-based database. Participation in Coalition Publica is the only route for inclusion in the Érudit database for YDJ journals. Coalition Publica opens applications in the winter/spring. Participation in Coalition Publica may also include royalty payments through the Partnership for Open Access.

Note on technical requirements

Érudit requires that two OJS plugins be configured and maintained to enable harvesting; YDJ installs and maintains these plugins as a matter of course. If there are any technical difficulties, Érudit and YDJ will work together to resolve them.

For-profit databases

For-profit databases tend to be owned by one of a few vendors/publishers. Application may be opaque but they're also likely to seek out OA journal indexed in other venues. If they harvest content, they may remit royalties.

In my experience, they used to have application forms easily accessible online, but you may just have to contact them directly and say, "I've got a journal, and you may be interested in indexing me."

Ulrichsweb

Ulrichsweb is a directory of publications that doesn't index your content but lists editorial information about your journal. In our experience, indexers and harvesters sometimes discover news journals through this route. It can also be a useful place to find out if and where else you're indexed.

Email ulrichs@proquest.com to notify them of your interest; a rep will follow up with you. (Source: Updating Ulrich's)

Ebsco

Major scholarly database vendor.

Clarivate

Clarivate is a massive vendor that now owns ProQuest, Web of Science, and Journal Citation Reports.

ProQuest

To request consideration for indexing, use the contact form at Publisher & Content Providers or email pq-connectwithgca@clarivate.com ("should not make a difference which you use," says ProQuest support agent circa early 2026) and identify yourself as the editor of an academic journal seeking indexing with ProQuest academic databases.

Web of Science/Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

In the past, Clarivate suggested that journals would first be indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and then escalated to the relevant disciplinary citation index; however, they recently announced they would no longer be doing this. Unsure what the pipeline looks like now.

Journals must be indexed in Web of Science to be included in JCR.

You may also wish to consult Web of Science (Clarivate) from PKP's Indexing Application Guide for more information.

Elsevier/Scopus/ScienceDirect

Elsevier is a major scholarly database vendor. Scopus is their citation index. Getting indexed in Scopus is generally the portal to getting listed in other Elsevier databases, such as ScienceDirect.

You may also wish to consult Scopus from PKP's Indexing Application Guide for more information.

PsycInfo

Database of scholarly literature maintained by the American Psychological Association and accessed via various Ebsco or Proquest platforms.

Databases not requiring application

These databases will index you based on web crawls or DOI registration data. They are mostly citation databases.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar crawls the web and automatically indexes scholarly publications. YDJ publications using OJS are usually indexed here automatically. Google's opacity also means there's very little recourse if there's a problem: see also PKP's Google Scholar Indexing guide to understand more about how your journal is represented in Google Scholar.

Dimensions

Free but requires an account. Mainly a citation database that draws on Crossref data. Journals seem to be included automatically if they have DOIs. The vendor is Digital Science - same as Altmetric Explorer (see below)

Altmetric Explorer

Available for YU faculty. Create your free account via Altmetric Explorer rather than usual library access.

More like a citation database than an index: tracks mentions of published output in non-scholarly sources (social media, news, Wikipedia, blogs). Relies on DOIs, so tracking may not be comprehensive. The vendor is Digital Science - same as Dimensions (see above).

OpenAlex

An Open Access competitor to the commercial citation databases. Draws largely from Crossref DOIs. Created by OurResearch, the non-profit that also developed Unpaywall and Unsub.

Additional reading

PKP documentation

PKP's official documentation for OJS includes several guides on indexing: