Web of Science Indexing Criteria: The 28 Criteria Explained for Editors (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: 10 minutes

How the evaluation is staged

Clarivate describes a single evaluation path with four stages. The 28 criteria are distributed across them, and a journal must clear each stage to reach the next (Clarivate, journal evaluation process and selection criteria, accessed 13 Oct 2026):

Two consequences follow. First, a journal cannot “target” SCIE: every accepted journal enters ESCI, and Clarivate decides on its own when to test the impact criteria. Second, the 24 quality criteria are the whole examination for a new journal, so preparation should be organised around them, stage by stage, rather than around the impact criteria.

Initial triage: 7 criteria

These are checked first, largely from the submission form, and the Publisher Portal gives “immediate feedback on a journal’s eligibility” against them. Clarivate’s seven initial-triage criteria are:

1. ISSN: registered and verifiable in the ISSN Portal, matching the title.
2. Journal title: consistent across the site, the ISSN record and the articles.
3. Journal publisher: a named publisher with a physical address, not a P.O. box.
4. URL: a working journal website.
5. Content access: Clarivate’s editors must be able to read the full content, by IP ranges or a non-expiring login.
6. Presence of peer review policy: a stated policy on the site.
7. Contact details for the editor and publisher.

Print-only journals are not accepted. There is no embargo for a journal that fails initial triage; it can be resubmitted once the missing item is in place.

Editorial triage: 9 criteria

At this stage an editor reads the journal. The nine criteria, in Clarivate’s wording:

1. Scholarly content: the journal publishes primarily original scholarly material.
2. Article titles and abstracts in English, whatever the language of the full text.
3. Bibliographic information in Roman script: author names, affiliations and references.
4. Clarity of language: the English must be readable; this is about comprehension, not native fluency.
5. Timeliness and/or publication volume: issues appear when the journal says they will, and the volume is consistent.
6. Website functionality and journal format: a working site with clear navigation, aims and scope, and article pages.
7. Presence of ethics statements: transparent ethics requirements for authors and editors. Third-party guidelines such as COPE’s may be reproduced with credit or linked; membership is not required.
8. Editorial affiliation details: institution and country for each board member.
9. Author affiliation details: institution and country for each author.

A first failure here carries no embargo. A second consecutive failure at editorial triage brings a one-year embargo.

Editorial evaluation: 8 quality criteria

These eight decide acceptance into ESCI. Clarivate publishes no numeric thresholds for any of them; the figures that circulate online (ten countries, 25% from one institution, and so on) are not Clarivate’s.

Clarivate’s own figure for the outcome: “only a fraction of journals pass our quality criteria (less than 15%)” (Clarivate blog, 20 March 2023). A journal that fails at this stage faces an embargo of at least two years before it can be resubmitted.

The 4 impact criteria and the ESCI pathway

The four impact criteria are: comparative citation analysis, author citation analysis, editorial board citation analysis and content significance. They are applied only to journals already in ESCI, and only when Clarivate chooses to apply them. Clarivate states that re-evaluation for impact is triggered “when citation activity suggests the criteria may be met”, that a small cohort of high-ranking journals is reviewed after each JCR, and that “ranking alone is not sufficient”. Publishers cannot request an ESCI impact re-evaluation; the Portal FAQ says “it is no longer necessary to submit re-evaluation requests”.

Movement is in both directions: “ESCI journals that gain impact move to SCIE, SSCI or AHCI” and “SCIE, SSCI and AHCI journals that decrease in impact move to ESCI”. Flagship journals must keep passing all 24 quality criteria as well as the 4 impact criteria.

Content significance is the criterion most relevant to small and regional publishers: it can be met by content that is unique to a region, language or specialty even when citation counts are modest.

What the JIF change means in practice:

• Clarivate announced on 26 July 2022 that from JCR 2023 every Core Collection journal, including ESCI and AHCI, would receive a Journal Impact Factor, shown to one decimal place.
• JCR 2023 (28 June 2023) gave 9,136 journals their first JIF. JCR 2024 (20 June 2024) introduced unified category rankings that include ESCI journals.
• JCR 2026 (17 June 2026) covered 22,643 journals in 254 categories, with 521 first-time Impact Factors from 47 countries.

Timing: a journal accepted before 1 January and still covered when the JCR is produced in March receives a JIF and a JCI in that year’s June release. Our ESCI guide covers the pathway in more detail, and SCI vs SCIE explains why the old SCI tier no longer exists.

How to submit through the Publisher Portal

From Clarivate’s Publisher Portal FAQ (accessed 13 Oct 2026):

• Submission is through the Web of Science Publisher Portal only. “Only publishers are granted access”; requests go through a verification process. Editors, board members and researchers should not apply; a self-publishing editor may.
• “There are no fees associated with obtaining a Publisher Portal account or getting a journal evaluated.”
• The form asks for the title, ISSNs, homepage URL, editor-in-chief, publisher details, publication model, the URLs of the peer-review and ethics policies, and editorial, production and submitter contacts.
• The form gives immediate feedback against the initial-triage criteria, and a dashboard shows the journal’s status afterwards.
• No timeline is published: “timings may vary depending on the individual editor’s priorities and workload”.

Before submitting, run the journal through our 25-point pre-application checklist, which maps each item to the Clarivate criteria above and to the Scopus, DOAJ and MEDLINE equivalents.

After acceptance: onboarding, JIF timing and staying in

Clarivate’s content-collection page sets out the technical onboarding: FTP delivery is preferred, or online access by IP or login; XML alone is not supported; PDFs must be unsecured; and every work needs continuous pagination, an article number or a DOI. There is no fixed onboarding timeline; it “depends on how soon publishers respond”.

Indexing is reviewed continuously. Clarivate reported that more than 500 journals were flagged for re-evaluation at the start of 2023 and that more than 50 failed the quality criteria and were delisted (blog, 20 March 2023). A journal under review is placed “on hold”: Clarivate’s on-hold blog states that about 85% of journals placed on hold are delisted, that the average hold is about six weeks, and that a delisted journal waits two years before resubmission. See why journals get de-indexed.

If the journal fails: embargo rules

The rejection notice names the criteria that were not met. Treat the embargo as the minimum time needed to fix them, and keep evidence (board changes, published policies, issue dates) for the resubmission form.

Frequently asked questions

How many criteria does Web of Science use to evaluate a journal?

Twenty-eight: 24 quality criteria and 4 impact criteria. Every new submission is judged on the 24 quality criteria only; a journal that passes enters the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). The 4 impact criteria decide later whether an ESCI journal moves to SCIE, SSCI or AHCI.

Can a new journal be accepted straight into SCIE?

No. Clarivate states that all new submissions are evaluated on the 24 quality criteria and, if selected, are added to ESCI. Movement to SCIE, SSCI or AHCI happens only through Clarivate’s internal impact re-evaluation, which it triggers when citation activity suggests the impact criteria may be met.

Do ESCI journals get a Journal Impact Factor?

Yes. Since the 2023 Journal Citation Reports (announced 26 July 2022), every journal in the Core Collection, including ESCI and AHCI, receives a JIF. Since JCR 2024, ESCI journals are ranked in the same subject categories as SCIE and SSCI journals.

What share of journals pass the evaluation?

Clarivate’s only published figure is that “only a fraction of journals pass our quality criteria (less than 15%)” (Clarivate blog, March 2023; repeated in the JCR 2023 release).

How long does a Web of Science evaluation take?

Clarivate publishes no timeline. Its Publisher Portal FAQ says “timings may vary depending on the individual editor’s priorities and workload”. The content-collection stage after acceptance “depends on how soon publishers respond”.

How long is the embargo after a rejection?

It depends on the stage at which the journal failed. Initial triage: no embargo. Editorial triage: none after a first failure, one year after a second consecutive failure. Editorial evaluation (the 24 quality criteria): at least two years. Impact criteria: no embargo, because the journal stays in ESCI and is monitored. A delisted journal waits two years.

Who can submit a journal?

Only publishers, through the Web of Science Publisher Portal, after a verification process. Clarivate’s FAQ states that editors, board members and third parties may not submit, and that there are no fees for a Publisher Portal account or for evaluation.

Does Clarivate require COPE membership?

No. The criterion is transparent ethics statements on the journal site. Clarivate says third-party guidelines such as COPE’s may be reproduced with credit or linked, but does not require membership or alignment with a named body.

Sources (primary, with access date)

• Clarivate. Web of Science journal evaluation process and selection criteria (28 criteria by stage; ESCI pathway; embargo rules; JIF timing). Accessed 13 October 2026.
• Clarivate. Publisher Portal FAQ (publisher-only submission, no fees, no timeline, no ESCI re-evaluation requests). Accessed 13 October 2026.
• Clarivate. Content collection and indexing process (FTP, PDFs, DOI or pagination). Accessed 13 October 2026.
• Clarivate. Supporting integrity of the scholarly record, 20 March 2023 (fewer than 15% pass; 500+ flagged, 50+ delisted).
• Clarivate. Why journals are put on hold in Web of Science Core Collection (about 85% of on-hold journals delisted; six-week average; two-year embargo). Accessed 13 October 2026.
• Clarivate. Changes to the 2023 Journal Citation Reports, 26 July 2022.
• Clarivate. JCR 2023 release, 28 June 2023; JCR 2024 release, 20 June 2024; JCR 2026 release, 17 June 2026.
• Clarivate. Web of Science coverage details, updated 18 August 2026 (22,994 journals; 2.64 billion cited references).