Embase indexing: the selection criteria and how to suggest a journal
What Elsevier asks of a biomedical journal before it covers it in Embase, how Embase follows the Scopus selection process, and what to fix before the title is suggested.
What Embase asks of a journal
- English titles and abstracts, and a website readers can use in English
- Published periodically with an ISSN, and available electronically
- A public publication ethics and malpractice statement
- A clear and convincing editorial policy
- Clear abstracts and readable articles
- Editors and authors from a spread of countries
- Content within Embase's subject scope — biomedicine, drugs and related fields — and true to the journal's stated aims
Embase follows the Scopus content policy and selection process — the same groups of criteria apply: the Scopus evaluation process and the CSAB criteria.
Suggesting the title
When the journal meets every criterion, the title is suggested through the form on Elsevier's Embase page. The journal list is updated twice a year, and covered journals are re-evaluated for outliers and underperformance.
Questions editors ask
What is Embase?
Elsevier's biomedical and pharmacological database. Its own page lists more than 8,000 journals, among them about 98% of the journals in MEDLINE, plus thousands that MEDLINE does not cover.
How are journals selected for Embase?
Embase follows the Scopus content policy and selection process. Elsevier's Embase page lists what a journal needs: English titles and abstracts and an English website, periodic publication with an ISSN, an electronic edition, a public ethics statement, a clear editorial policy, clear and readable articles, international editors and authors, and content within Embase's biomedical scope.
How do I suggest my journal for Embase?
Check the journal against the criteria on Elsevier's Embase page; if it meets all of them, submit the title through the suggestion form linked there.
How often is the Embase journal list updated?
Twice a year, according to Elsevier's Embase page.
Does an Embase listing help with Scopus?
Both follow the same Scopus content policy and selection process, so the work that prepares a journal for one — policies, board, regular publishing, a complete English site — prepares it for the other. A listing in one is not a listing in the other: each title is evaluated on its own.
Can a journal be dropped from Embase?
Yes. Elsevier runs a re-evaluation programme that looks for outlier and underperforming journals.
Can anyone guarantee Embase indexing?
No. Elsevier decides. What can be done is to meet every criterion in the journal's own hands before the title is suggested.
How we help
We check the journal against the criteria the public record can show, then fix what is in the journal's hands: English abstracts and pages, the ethics and editorial policies, an international board, complete Crossref records and DOIs, and a site that indexes can read. We never promise a listing or a date.
Source of every fact on this page: Elsevier — Embase content and journal selection (read 30 October 2026).
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