Index Copernicus

We hereby express our opposition to the unfair journal indexation policy adopted by the owners of the DOAJ database (Directory of Open Access Journals), which consists in discriminating against titles indexed in the ICI Journals Master List database maintained by the Index Copernicus team. The practice undertaken by DOAJ leads to market monopolization, violates the values ​​of freedom and equality. We consider this state of affairs to be unfair primarily to representatives of scientific journals, who annually subject their activities to multi-parametric verification in the ICI database.

According to the policy adopted by DOAJ, journals cannot display bibliometric metrics that have not been calculated by official national accreditation lists and entities such as Clarivate, Scopus, Google Scholar, Altmetric, Crossref, which it considers the only reliable, widely adopted indicators. Source: https://doaj.org/apply/guide/; access date: 02.04.2025).

We believe that the exclusion of the ICV metric calculated by the Index Copernicus journal evaluation team from this list results from the owners of the DOAJ database being unaware of the facts about the nature of the ICI Journals Master List. Below are some such facts.

The ICV (Index Copernicus Value) indicator calculated for journals indexed in the ICI Journals Master List database is a commonly accepted metric for evaluating journals. It should be emphasized that this is (the only one functioning on the bibliometric database market) a parametric indicator, not a citation indicator. The history of the ICV dates back to 2012. Since then, several thousand journals from over 80 countries have been submitted to the evaluation process every year. Parameterization in the ICI database is carried out on the basis of a reliable, proprietary methodology, currently based on 41 criteria. The report on the evaluation of journals conducted in 2024 is available on the given website.

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The database maintained by Index Copernicus has been indicated as the most popular place where Polish scientific journals are indexed. This information comes from a publication called in Polish "Biała Księga – Raport na temat rynku wydawnictw naukowych w Polsce w 2022 roku" (pp. 39-40; the content of the publication is available only in Polish). The data and conclusions presented in the report were presented during the 1st and 2nd National Conference of the Commission for Scientific Publishing at CRASP (The Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland).

Data collected by Index Copernicus in 2023 were used to prepare the next edition of the publication –  "Biała Księga – Raport na temat rynku wydawnictw naukowych w Polsce w 2023 roku" (pp. 29-58; the content of the publication is available only in Polish). "Biała Księga" is published by the Lodz University Press on behalf of the Commission for Scientific Publishing at the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP).

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Even the above circumstances, the history of operation and achievements of Index Copernicus testify to the reliability, transparency and purposefulness of the ICI Journals Master List database. We hope that the owners of the DOAJ database will conduct a reliable analysis of the specifics of the ICI database and the result of the journal indexation - the parametric indicator Index Copernicus Value (ICV).

We would like to inform you that the process of indexing journals in the ICI Journals Master List database for 2023 has been completed. In accordance with the applicable methodology, the journals were assessed in 41 parameters. Below we present several statistics from the main functional areas of journals that make up the ICV assessment, i.e. standards, stability, digitalization and internationalization. The report presents data as of 4.04.2025.

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Journals applying for indexation

4,966 journals from 85 countries were submitted for indexation. The largest number of journals come from Poland, Ukraine and India. The table presents the 15 countries with the largest number of journals submitted for indexation. 

Among the journals submitted for evaluation, the largest number of periodicals represent social sciences (without indicating a specific specialization) and the smallest number represent neuroscience*.

*The ICI Journals Master List database uses an original classification of areas of science. Journal representatives can choose a leading area and additional areas, including general (such as social sciences) and specific (such as business, management and accounting).

Of the submitted journals, 84% (4,148 titles) were indexed. Of the 818 journals not indexed:

• 203 journals did not meet the indexation criteria described in the evaluation procedure (primarily due to publishing an insufficient number of scientific articles in the year under evaluation);

• 615 journals were refused indexation (for declaring false information in the evaluation questionnaire or for not being able to confirm the provision of reliable editorial services).

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Indexed journals

  ICV points

The largest number of journals with an ICV value above 100 come from the social sciences, accounting for 39% of the population. The dominant ICV value, which was obtained by 454 journals, is 100 points.

        • The highest ICV index was obtained by a journal from the area of ​​biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology in the field of natural sciences. The value of the index is 230.5 ICV points.

      • The highest, average ICV index for 2023 was obtained by journals in the field of natural sciences.

        • The greatest diversity in terms of the achieved ICV exists among journals in the field of natural sciences.

  Publishing standards – article metadata and peer review

Among the indexed journals, almost all publish both keywords in english and author affiliations in the article metadata. Most editors also decide to include the dates of submission of manuscripts. Not all journals use the double-blind review model; instead, they choose the single-blind or open review model.

The largest percentage of journals that do not use the double-blind peer review model is found among titles belonging to the field of natural sciences (36% of the population).

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  Publishing stability

Among the journals indexed in the ICI Journals Master List 2023 database, the largest number were published quarterly (4 issues per year); 36% of them published combined issues. 121 titles had publication delays - the largest number occurred among semi-annuals (also 36%).

12 titles had a 100-year history, of which 10 were affiliated with Polish institutions and 2 with Swiss ones. The oldest journal comes from Poland (established in 1906).

  Digitalization

Among the journals indexed in the ICI Journals Master List 2023 database, over 30% do not use tools to measure article views and downloads statistics and do not use an electronic publishing and editing system. The fact that 17% of editorial offices do not use tools to verify the originality of manuscripts (so-called anti-plagiarism) should be considered disturbing, of which 10% (74 titles) are journals indexed in the Web of Science and/or Scopus databases.

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  Internationalization

More than half of journals in 2023 had only one language version of their website, in 20% of cases it was not English. Similarly, more than 50% of editorial offices published articles in only one language, of which 10% were texts in a language other than English.

Of the 457 journals that did not publish articles in english, almost 20% of them also did not disseminate metadata in the English version (title, keywords, abstract). These are journals from China, Georgia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine.

The highest average percentage of scientists with foreign affiliation was obtained by journals in the field of natural sciences.

Open Access is a mechanism that allows free access to literature on the public Internet, enabling users to read, download, copy, and use it for any legal purposes without financial, legal, or technical barriers, other than those inherent to accessing the Internet itself. Open Access is a new step in digital publishing, where valuable research and scientific contributions from authors are available online without additional fees.

Open Access allows anyone using Index Copernicus scientific journals to freely copy, distribute, and transmit works without financial or legal barriers. It enables authors to learn from previous research and create innovative extensions to previously published scientific works.

Open Access has also opened a new pathway in the field of science and experience through free scientific publications. As the readership of publications increases, the direct impact of articles grows, helping authors gain citations.

Open Access is a means to improve scientific quality through full compliance with traditional peer review and allowing public, collaborative, or community review. Interactive forums and discussions are more flexible within Open Access, helping the scientific community improve the quality of scientific publications.

Through Open Access publications, authors gain:

- Easy and immediate online access to works.

- Use of high-quality, fast peer review standards and rapid publication.

- Increased visibility and author presence through free distribution and frequent citations.

- Licensing and reuse policy through Creative Commons (CC-BY) license.

- High impact factor and opportunities to be cited, enhancing the author's research profile.

Archiving is digital preservation, which can be viewed as a set of processes and activities ensuring that information currently existing in digital formats is secured and distributed to guarantee continuous access over a long period. The digital content of the journal is valuable, and appropriate measures are implemented to ensure its ongoing availability and long-term preservation.

The content protection policy includes the following steps:

- Website archiving

- Abstracting/indexing services

- Self-archiving

Impact of archiving articles from OA (Open Access) journals:

- Long-term availability and accessibility of research works to relevant audiences and readers

- Helps minimise or eliminate the risk of digital decay of valuable information, preserving content for a long time

- In case of disaster, data recovery from the archive is easy. You can retrieve archived copies of your journals and make them publicly available if the original source material is lost or removed from publication

- The more archives you join and submit your scientific articles to, the greater the chance of discovering and visibility of your journal

When articles are published, authors may self-archive the accepted manuscript on their website and in funding or institutional repositories to make them publicly available.

Authors retain copyright to their articles. Therefore, they can SELF-ARCHIVE their accepted manuscripts as well as published manuscripts.

There is no embargo on archiving articles published in the OPEN ACCESS category. Authors can deposit such articles in institutional, non-commercial repositories and personal websites immediately after publication on the journal's site. This is done under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License CC-BY 4.0.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode), which allows unlimited archiving, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.