Indicator guide

Journal activity (active / dormant)

Dormant = no works recorded in the last three years (current year plus the three before) in OpenAlex yearly counts; active = has works in that window. Dormant journals are excluded from matching results and hidden in the directory by default (the “show dormant journals” filter brings them back) and are badged with their last works year.

How to read

Dormancy is a fact about missing recorded works, not a quality judgment; the journal may have ceased, been renamed, or its works may be late to appear in OpenAlex.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0) — yearly works counts per journal; computed daily

Caveat

Journals without yearly counts show “no counts available” and are not treated as dormant.

Actual review time (measured)

Median days computed from real articles published in the last two years (up to 100): from PubMed the received and accepted dates (measuring peer review itself), from Crossref the accepted and published dates (production after acceptance). No value is shown below 20 articles. Shown next to the journal-declared DOAJ figure because the declared figure is self-reported.

How to read

The quartiles (25%–75%) show spread; a journal with a 60-day median and a 200-day upper quartile has a long tail. The two metrics differ and are never combined.

Source

PubMed (E-utilities, NLM) and Crossref REST API — weekly rotating sample

Caveat

Not every journal deposits these dates; absence says nothing about the journal.

Citation index PCI (2-year window)

A PublishLens-specific indicator computed in-house from open data (OpenAlex CC0) — it is not the Impact Factor (Clarivate) nor any official metric, and is independent of Clarivate, Scimago and ARCIF. It measures the average number of citations per recent article of the journal in the measurement year (2-year window).

PCI(Y) = citations received in year Y to the journal's articles published in Y−1 and Y−2 ÷ the number of those citable items (articles and reviews, not retracted)

How to read

Higher = each article is cited more in its first two years. Never compare across fields (medicine cites far more than the humanities); compare within the same field using the field median and quartile.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0) works and citations by year; definition and computation by PublishLens (methodology v1.9)

Caveat

Small journals fluctuate strongly; PCI and the quartile are therefore not shown for journals with fewer than 25 items in the window (“not computed” with the sample size), and sorting by PCI in the directory uses a value shrunk toward the field median, (n·PCI + 25·median) ÷ (n + 25), so a tiny sample cannot top the list. The current year is not measured because it is incomplete.

Field quartile (Q1–Q4)

The journal's position among journals of its own field by PCI in the same snapshot: Q1 = top 25%, Q2 next, Q3, then Q4 lowest.

Percentile rank of PCI within the journal's OpenAlex primary field for the same year

How to read

Q1 and Q2 are above the field median (positive); Q3 and Q4 below. A quartile says nothing about peer-review quality, only about citation.

Source

PublishLens computation from PCI and OpenAlex field classification

Rank and percentile in field

Rank = the journal's order among all journals in its field with a PCI (1 = highest). Percentile = share of field journals at or below it.

Percentile = (total − rank + 1) ÷ total × 100

How to read

A 67.8 percentile means the journal is above roughly 68% of its field. Above 50 = above the median.

Source

PublishLens computation

Field median

The PCI value with half of the field's journals above it and half below, same year and snapshot.

How to read

Journal line above the dashed line = better than the typical journal in its field; below = lower.

Source

PublishLens computation (percentile_cont 0.5)

Top-decile share (PTD)

Share of the journal's papers that fall in the world's top 10% most-cited within their category (field × publication year × type) over four years from publication.

PTD = the journal's works above their category's top-decile threshold ÷ its research works in scope; with a 95% Wilson confidence interval

How to read

A globally average journal ≈ 10%. Above 10% = publishes more highly-cited work than typical; below = less. Read the interval: 8.5% (6.3–11.3) is not clearly different from 10%.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0); PublishLens definition v2.1; not published below 20 items

Caveat

A research item = a non-retracted article/review with enough references; works without a field are excluded and counted.

Annual output

Number of works the journal published in the year (by OpenAlex publication year). The last complete year is shown because the current year is partial.

How to read

Not a quality indicator. Read with the year series shown; large changes are explained by the journal itself (scope change, mergers, special issues).

Source

OpenAlex (CC0) — counts_by_year

Annual citations

Number of citations received in the year to any of the journal's works regardless of their publication year.

How to read

Grows with journal size and age; to compare journals use PCI, not this raw number.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0) — counts_by_year

3-year growth

Change between the average output of the last three complete years and the three before them.

(mean of last 3 years − mean of prior 3) ÷ mean of prior 3 × 100

How to read

Positive = more works published; a PublishLens estimate from the OpenAlex series, not a quality indicator.

Source

PublishLens computation from annual output

Publishing since

First year with a recorded published work in OpenAlex.

How to read

Journals younger than 3 years do not yet have enough record to judge stability.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0)

h-index and i10

h = the largest h such that the journal has h works each cited at least h times. i10 = number of works cited 10 or more times.

How to read

Cumulative over the whole lifetime, so it favours older and larger journals. Use PCI for fair comparison.

Source

OpenAlex (CC0) — summary_stats

Declared review time

Average number of weeks from submission to publication as declared by the journal itself to DOAJ. Not an independent measurement.

How to read

Lower = faster as declared by the journal. Declared values of 8–26 weeks are typical. The figure is a self-declaration, not an independent measurement; the journal's published review policy is the reference if timing matters to your decision.

Source

DOAJ — field “Average number of weeks between article submission and publication”

Article processing charge (APC)

The fee the journal charges the author to publish, in the declared currency, with an approximate USD conversion when available.

How to read

“No fee” is confirmed by the source; “not declared” means the source does not state it, not that it is zero. Check the waiver policy and “other fees”.

Source

DOAJ; change history from our data versions

Access and review

Open access = a PublishLens inference from DOAJ listing, the OpenAlex flag, or a declared zero fee — not an independent fact. Peer-review type as declared by the journal (peer review, double-blind, open…). Plagiarism screening = the journal declares using a screening tool.

How to read

Self-declarations: they indicate policy, not practice. A missing declaration is not evidence of absence.

Source

DOAJ and OpenAlex

Indexing

DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals (reviews editorial practice). PubMed: NLM's biomedical database. MEDLINE: the more selective subset of PubMed (MeSH-indexed). Date = since when, or when delisted.

How to read

Listing is a fact from the source. A DOAJ removal is shown as recorded in the DOAJ file with its date; removals have several causes (ceased publication, un-updated data, publisher request, DOAJ criteria not met) which the file does not always state — the DOAJ record is the reference. Not being listed is not negative by itself (many reputable journals are outside DOAJ because they are not open access).

Source

DOAJ (daily file), NLM/PubMed (direct verification)

Digital preservation

Networks that keep copies of the journal's content so it survives if the journal stops (CLOCKSS, Portico, PMC…). “Observed” = from the independent Keepers registry; “declared” = the journal's own statement.

How to read

At least one observed network = positive. Declared without observation = not yet verified.

Source

Keepers Registry (ISSN International Centre), DOAJ

Norwegian register (HK-dir)

The list of scholarly channels approved by Norway's higher-education directorate for funding: level 1 = approved scholarly channel, level 2 = leading (roughly the top 20% per field), 0 = not approved.

How to read

Level 1 or 2 = institutional recognition recorded in HK-dir for the year shown. Level 0 = recorded as “not approved” for that year, as stated by HK-dir (the register does not always give a reason). Not listed = not assessed there.

Source

HK-dir Kanalregister — by year

Publisher membership

Whether the journal's publisher is a member of OASPA (open-access publishers) or STM (international scientific publishers), both of which require ethical standards for membership.

How to read

Membership is positive. Its absence is common for universities and small societies and does not imply a problem.

Source

Published OASPA and STM member lists

PublishLens list status

PublishLens's assessment under the published methodology (seven source-evidenced criteria): meets PublishLens criteria / provisionally listed / partially evaluated / not on the list / delisted from an index (dated fact). The list is PublishLens's own, not an official accreditation. The score out of 100 is shown to signed-in users.

How to read

“Meets PublishLens criteria” and “provisionally listed” mean the platform’s published criteria are met. “Partially evaluated” = missing evidence, not a negative assessment. “Delisted from … on …” is a dated fact attributed to the named index; the reason is in the source itself and PublishLens does not assess it. Note (2026-09-12): full listing requires 12 consecutive months of provisional listing, and the first provisional listings date from 2026-09-04 — so no journal can appear as “meets PublishLens criteria” before 2027-09-04 by design, not for lack of qualifying journals.

Source

The methodology published on the “How we evaluate” page

PublishLens score

Weighted sum of the seven criteria out of 100: indexing (30), ISSN (10), editorial board (10), preservation (10), fee transparency (10), publisher affiliation (20), editorial structure (10).

How to read

≥ 85 with all floors = path to full PublishLens listing. The score is an automated estimate that changes with evidence and methodology version; history is shown.

Source

PublishLens computation from source-cited evidence

Crossref indicators

refs = share of recent articles that deposited open reference lists in Crossref. ORCID = share of deposits carrying author identifiers. Similarity Check = enrolled in the plagiarism-screening service. License deposits = deposits license metadata.

How to read

Shares as recorded in Crossref at the snapshot date; they vary with publisher size and deposit practice.

Source

Crossref API (open deposit metadata)

Methodology signals (sourced facts)

Dated, sourced, evidence-snapshotted facts: removal from an index as recorded in its file, or the journal title's inclusion in the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker (i.e., that source records another site using the journal's name or ISSN), or other signals per the methodology.

How to read

A recorded signal = a fact attributed to its source with its snapshot date, read under the published methodology; the source and the journal's official site are the reference before submitting. No signals = nothing appeared in the named sources as of the snapshot date; not a guarantee.

Source

DOAJ, Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker, methodology sources

Match tier (strong / good / tentative)

A PublishLens estimate of how similar your manuscript is to what the journal actually publishes: computed server-side for each journal from the number of works closest to your manuscript published there, shared topics, and your references published there. An absolute tier per journal, not a relative ranking within the list.

Strong = 3+ close works, or 2+ references, or one close work with a shared topic; Good = one close work, one shared topic, or one reference; Tentative = a match with the journal's stated profile only

How to read

The tier describes similarity to your manuscript, not journal quality or indexing. Hiding a card does not change the other tiers. The evidence (closest works and topics) is shown on the card for verification.

Source

PublishLens computation from OpenAlex/PubMed works, OpenAlex topics, and the manuscript's references (matching engine v2)

Caveat

The works corpus is currently concentrated in biomedical and life sciences; outside them the “tentative” tier is common because works are missing, not because the journal is weaker.

Data freshness

Date of the last successful sync per source. “Fresh” = within the source's expected cadence; “stale” = beyond it.

How to read

OpenAlex data may lag months because it ships as periodic snapshots; DOAJ and PubMed are daily.

Source

Our sync log