SCIndeks is covering locally published journals classified as publications of scientific character. All of the journals listed are indexed on cover-to-cover basis. In addition to articles' titles and abstracts, SCIndeks metadata incorporate all cited references. The vast majority of recent articles are available as full text. Cited references are not indexed only in a small number of journals. The metadata are given in OAI PMH, Dublin Core format to increase their interoperability and accordingly articles' Web visibility.
The journals are submitted to permanent evaluation in terms of their impact, both within the database itself and additionally in WoS. Apart from this, various measures of so called bibliometric quality of journals are also monitored and assessed quantitatively. For the most part, these are derived from the WoS criteria for journals admission. The best quality SCIndeks journals, selected by special criteria (for internationality) are monitored more closely and possibly recommended for inclusion to the publishers of the international citation databases.
Prior to publishing, SCIndeks references are completely parsed in order to make them formattable in different citation styles, linked to primary documents when available on the Web, corrected for omissions and errors, and finally normalized. The purpose of normalization is to enhance cited papers' Web visibility and to provide metric suitable for calculating impact of various research entities: journals, authors of published papers, affiliation institutions, projects and funding agencies (funds).
The references in journals indexed in SCIndeks but not subject to quality control (Basic and Extended packages) are neither parsed, nor visible in the application. Consequently, indicators of bibliometric qualty that are based on references features cannot be generated, while some functionalities such as "related records" cannot be operational. For the same reason, such journals do not participate in counting citations to other SCIndeks journals.
The main features and functions of SCIndeks are the following:
Availability
SCIndeks is a hybrid database. Along with metadata and citation data for published papers, it also offers the full text of articles from all journals that opt for Open Access through SCIndeks and are subject quality control. Full text availability is ensured through the SCIndeks Repository.
Visibility
Experience shows that visibility is a key that opens for journals the doors of international impact and reputation. In SCIndeks, various instruments are applied to boost visibility not only of journals and their contained papers and citations, but also of journal editors, reviewers, and even research projects that yielded the papers.
Searchability
In SCIndeks, search is possible in simple and advanced modes using Boolean operators. In addition to abstracts and full-text papers, authors of both papers and citations are fully searchable. Journal search is also ensured within the Journal Bibliometric Report.
Normalization
In order to be exploitable in evaluation, authors' affiliation institutions, all cited references, project and funding information have to be normalized. The normalization is performed using relevant authority lists and databases.
Quality control
SCIndeks journals undergo intensive quality control. The focus is on papers, but the activities of the editorial staff and reviewers are covered as well. Whenever possible, quality enforcement mechanisms are applied. This approach is much more pronounced for journals published through SCIndeks Assistant. The efficiency of control is measured through the Journal Bibliometric Report.
Legitimacy
Legitimacy of journals is ensured by permanent follow-up of their ethical, publishing, and licensing policy implementation. As SCIndeks is a citation index, special care is paid to the legitimacy of citations. Journals are systematically monitored to detect and prevent possible anomalous citation patterns, including manipulative self-citing and citation exchange (cartelling).
Promotion
SCIndeks is first and foremost a platform for promoting journals but it is also a means of promoting journal papers, their authors and affiliated institutions and, finally, projects and the supporting funds.
Monitoring
For the sake of their development, SCIndeks journals voluntarily submit themselves to the external monitoring carried out by CEON/CEES. The monitoring covers all online activities performed by editors, the editorial staff and reviewers. Editorial boards receive feedback in a quantified form through SCIndeks Assistant and the Journal Bibliometric Report.
Evaluation
For CEON/CEES as its publisher, SCIndeks is primarily an evaluation-supporting tool. Almost all SCIndeks entities are rated and, if appropriate, ranked. Most of them, notably journals, reviewers, authors, projects, institutions and funds are objects of evaluation, while others, such as papers and citations, are used as a means to evaluate other entities. Evaluation data are collected from SCIndeks, including SCIndeks Assistant, as well as from WoS, to be processed extensively and published in the Journal Bibliometric Report.
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