Journal Indexing Checklist: 25-Point Pre-Application Audit for Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ and MEDLINE (2026)

Reviewed by the NeucitePress Editorial Board — PhD academics, peer-reviewed journal editors and medical communication specialists.

Last updated and fact-checked: October 2026 • Every figure below is taken from the named primary source on the date shown • Reading time: 9 minutes

A. Identity and registration

1. The ISSN is registered with the ISSN International Centre, appears in the ISSN Portal, and matches the title exactly.
Required by: Scopus (technical criterion), Web of Science (initial triage), DOAJ, MEDLINE, ERIH PLUS. Print and online versions need separate ISSNs.

2. The journal title is identical on the website, in the ISSN record, on every article and in the submission form.
Required by: Web of Science (initial triage, “journal title”); Scopus validates title changes under the December 2024 journal change policy.

3. The publisher is named with a physical postal address, not a P.O. box, and contact details for editor and publisher are on the site.
Required by: Web of Science (initial triage: publisher, contact details); DOAJ (publisher information); MEDLINE.

4. Any change of title, ISSN, ownership or editorial control in the last two years is documented and has been reported to the databases the journal is already in.
Required by: Scopus journal change policy (December 2024): significant change means the journal is treated as new.

B. Peer review and ethics

5. A peer-review policy page states the model (single-anonymous, double-anonymous, open), the number of reviewers and the decision process.
Required by: Scopus (“publicly available description of the peer review process”); Web of Science (initial triage: presence of peer-review policy; editorial evaluation: peer review); DOAJ (at least two independent reviewers, or two editors for arts and humanities); ERIH PLUS (peer review described on the site).

6. Evidence exists that the stated review is applied: reviewer reports on file, revision rounds, decision letters.
Required by: Web of Science (“validity of statements”, “peer review”); MEDLINE external review of the last two years of content.

7. A publication ethics and malpractice statement, written for this journal, covers authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, corrections, retractions and complaints.
Required by: Scopus (technical criterion); Web of Science (editorial triage: presence of ethics statements); DOAJ (Principles of Transparency and Best Practice, 4th edition).

8. A generative-AI policy for authors and reviewers is published.
Required by: Scopus recommends a dedicated GenAI policy and disclosure (December 2024 update); not yet a stated criterion elsewhere.

9. Funding statements and ethics-approval statements appear in articles where applicable.
Required by: Web of Science (editorial evaluation: grant support details, adherence to community standards); MEDLINE (research ethics).

C. Editorial board and authorship

10. Every board member is listed with institution and country, and has a public professional profile.
Required by: Web of Science (editorial affiliation details; editorial board composition); Scopus (editor standing; the form asks for profile URLs of up to three handling editors); ERIH PLUS (at least three members).

11. No single country supplies a majority of the editorial board.
Required by: Scopus CSAB criterion “broad geographical distribution of editors”. Clarivate sets no number but assesses geographic spread against scope.

12. Authors of the last two volumes come from several countries and institutions, not mainly from the publisher’s or editors’ own institution.
Required by: Scopus (“broad geographical distribution of authors”); Web of Science (author distribution); ERIH PLUS (“local” journal rule: more than two-thirds of authors from one institution over two years); DOAJ (endogeny: no more than 25% of papers in the latest two issues by editors or board members).

13. Every author’s affiliation is stated in each article.
Required by: Web of Science (editorial triage: author affiliation details); Scopus (readability and abstract metadata).

14. Board members’ own publication records fit the journal’s scope.
Required by: Web of Science (editorial board composition; editorial board citation analysis at impact stage); Scopus (editor standing).

D. Content and language

15. Every article has an English title and an English abstract, whatever the language of the full text.
Required by: Scopus (technical criterion); Web of Science (editorial triage); ERIH PLUS (English abstracts for all original articles).

16. Author names, affiliations and references are in Roman script.
Required by: Web of Science (editorial triage: bibliographic information in Roman script).

17. Articles match the published aims and scope, and the abstracts are clear and readable.
Required by: Scopus (quality of and conformity to aims and scope; clarity of abstracts; readability); Web of Science (content relevance; clarity of language).

18. Reference lists are current and relevant, and self-citation is not out of line with the field.
Required by: Web of Science (appropriate citations to the literature); Scopus re-evaluation benchmark (self-citation rate against peers).

E. Schedule and history

19. The journal has published enough to be evaluated: DOAJ one year or ten OA research articles; MEDLINE 12 months and 40 peer-reviewed articles with a publisher of two years’ standing; Scopus “a publication history to be reviewed”.
Required by: DOAJ, MEDLINE, Scopus as stated. Web of Science sets no minimum.

20. Issues have appeared on the stated schedule for the last two years, with no skipped or combined issues, and the annual output meets any minimum (DOAJ: at least five research articles a year).
Required by: Scopus (no delays or interruptions); Web of Science (timeliness and/or publication volume); DOAJ.

21. The journal is not within an embargo from an earlier rejection by the database in question.
Required by: Scopus (six months to several years, stated in the letter); Web of Science (none, one year or at least two years by stage); DOAJ (six months); MEDLINE (24 or 36 months).

F. Website and technical

22. The full content of every article is online, with a working archive, and the home page is in English.
Required by: Scopus (full journal content online; English home page; quality of home page); Web of Science (content access for editors; website functionality); Google Scholar (full text or complete abstract visible without login).

23. Evaluators can read the full text: either open access, or IP ranges or a non-expiring login supplied in the application.
Required by: Web of Science (initial triage: content access); MEDLINE (electronic publication).

24. Each article has its own URL, carries citation_title, citation_author and citation_publication_date meta tags, and links a searchable PDF under 5 MB.
Required by: Google Scholar inclusion guidelines; good practice for all databases’ harvesting.

25. Each article carries continuous pagination, an article number or a DOI, and the PDFs are not password-protected.
Required by: Web of Science content collection (onboarding requirement). DOIs are recommended by DOAJ, not required by any database here.

Database-by-database comparison

For each database in detail: Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, Google Scholar, ERIH PLUS and EBSCO.

Frequently asked questions

Which database should a new journal apply to first?

Usually DOAJ (if fully open access) or Google Scholar (no application), then Scopus, then Web of Science, then MEDLINE. DOAJ needs one year of history or ten open-access research articles; Scopus needs “a publication history to be reviewed”; Web of Science sets no minimum period but fewer than 15% pass its quality criteria; MEDLINE needs at least 12 months of publication and 40 peer-reviewed articles, and the publisher must have two years of history.

Do any of these databases charge an application fee?

No. Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ and MEDLINE evaluate journals free of charge. Clarivate states there are “no fees associated with obtaining a Publisher Portal account or getting a journal evaluated”; DOAJ states it “does not charge fees for reviewing or indexing”.

How long does each evaluation take?

Scopus: “at least several months, and possibly up to six months”. DOAJ: “generally, a decision is reached within six months”, with no status updates before six months. MEDLINE: “typically ranges from 7 to 10 months”. Web of Science publishes no timeline. Google Scholar: new papers appear within several weeks of crawling.

Is a DOI required?

No database in this list makes DOIs a stated minimum criterion. DOAJ recommends them. Web of Science requires each work to have continuous pagination, an article number or a DOI for onboarding. DOIs are good practice, not an eligibility gate.

Is COPE membership required?

No. Scopus requires a public publication ethics and malpractice statement and points to COPE’s Core Practices as a reference. Clarivate requires transparent ethics statements and allows third-party guidelines to be reproduced or linked. DOAJ requires adherence to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice (4th edition, 15 September 2022).

How long is the wait after a rejection?

DOAJ: six months. Scopus: from six months to several years, stated in the decision letter. Web of Science: none after initial triage, one year after a second editorial-triage failure, at least two years after failing the quality criteria. MEDLINE: 24 months after a first rejection, 36 months after a later one.

Sources (primary, with access date)

• Elsevier. Scopus content policy and selection; Scopus Content Coverage Guide, June 2026; Scopus support articles on review times and rejected titles (25 August 2026); Scopus Blog, 5 December 2024.
• Clarivate. Journal evaluation process and selection criteria; Publisher Portal FAQ; content collection and indexing process; blog, 20 March 2023.
• DOAJ. Guide to applying and publisher responsibilities; Principles of Transparency and Best Practice, 4th edition, 15 September 2022.
• NLM. How to include a journal in MEDLINE; MEDLINE FAQ; MEDLINE policies; About the LSTRC (terminated 2025).
• ERIH PLUS. Criteria for inclusion.
• Google Scholar. Inclusion guidelines for webmasters.
• ISSN International Centre. The ISSN for electronic media.
• All sources accessed 13 October 2026.