Overview of Journal Indexes and Aggregators
From MPublishing
Once your journal launches, you will want to do everything you can to establish its reputation and raise its profile. One way to do both of these things is to get the journal listed in relevant indexes, aggregators, and databases. Which ones matter most will vary depending on your discipline. This page provides an overview of some of the most important resources, with some basic information about each, including links to review their selection criteria and submit your title for consideration.
Thomson Reuters Web of Science/Web of Knowledge
The Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge/Web of Science is (self) described as "the world's largest collection of research data, publications, and patents." This database is used to determine the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), a proprietary number assigned to each journal based on how frequently articles from the last two years are cited in newly published scholarship. JIFs, along with other information, are published each year in Journal Citation Reports.
This resource covers scholarship in all disciplines, but the JIF tends to be more important in the sciences (and especially health sciences) than in other fields.
A publisher can submit a journal for consideration by Thomson Reuters. Their selection criteria are here: http://wokinfo.com/essays/journal-selection-process/
To submit a journal for consideration, simply complete this form: http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/info/journalsubmission/
The first think that Thompson Reuters will be looking for is the consistent, timely publication of new content. Issues must come out in accordance with the journal's stated schedule. Journals that publish one article at a time on a rolling basis are eligible and will be assessed based on the consistent publication of new content over a 9-month period.
Thompson has domain-specific sub-databases (such as BIOSIS) that draw from the Web of Knowledge. Must be in the Web of Knowledge first to get into one of the sub-databases.
