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Being indexed in a prestigious database in its area is an important indicator of the quality of scientific journals. To determine whether a journal enters a database, index or directory, certain quality indicators are taken into account that may vary from one database to another but can be grouped into:

  • Quality of research content.
  • Technical or formal characteristics.
  • Use by the scientific community (number and quality of citations).

The indexing of a journal involves several stages: complying with the required quality indicators, searching for the appropriate indexes, contacting them and achieving the inclusion of the articles on a regular and permanent basis. When the journal is indexed it is because it has gone through a process of selection and analysis by the institutions or companies that do this work.

Journal editors must identify those indexes, directories or databases that match their thematic field, contact them and send them copies of the latest issues that have been published and a report justifying the its quality

Index a journal

Databases or indexes requiring specific criteria:

Databases or indexes requiring only a request for inclusion (by form or e-mail):

Diffusion in social networks

The presence in social networks offers magazines greater visibility of their contents, as the scope of the articles multiplies exponentially; a greater impact, which can translate with the right strategy into a greater number of citations; and, finally, the construction of a solid digital identity. These advantages have meant that many magazines are beginning to have a significant presence in these networks.

This strategy needs the support of the authors of the different articles. In this sense, it would be convenient for the editorial team to inform the authors of the importance of promoting the articles on social networks, either from the journal's website or through direct communication, based on a series of recommendations and the self-archiving policy followed by the journal.

It is important to define the journal's promotion policy in the networks and make it public. A good example can be found in the strategies followed by the main publishing groups. The first objective pursued with these dissemination policies is to increase citations in traditional media.

 

Resource of interest

Publisher’s Learning and Community Exchange: Community of magazine editors. Forum for the exchange of experiences and learning.