Is this journal genuine? Check it on the public record
Six questions the public registries answer about any journal, and the free check that asks all of them for one ISSN — every answer shown with its source.
Check a journal now, free
Type the ISSN. The Journal Trust Rating reads the ISSN Portal, Crossref, DOAJ, the Keepers Registry, OpenAlex and Retraction Watch, and shows what each says.
The six checks
The ISSN
The ISSN Portal (portal.issn.org) names the journal an ISSN belongs to. A journal printing an ISSN that belongs to another title, or none, has failed the first check.
The DOIs
Crossref's public record shows whether the journal registers DOIs, under which publisher, and since when. DOIs printed on a site but never registered lead nowhere.
DOAJ
An open-access journal in DOAJ has had its licence, peer review, board and publisher checked by DOAJ. Absence is not a verdict; presence is a fact.
Preservation
The Keepers Registry shows whether the journal's articles are archived (CLOCKSS, Portico, PKP PN); a journal nobody preserves can vanish with its site.
Hijacked titles
Retraction Watch keeps the list of hijacked journals — fake sites wearing a real journal's name and ISSN. The real journal's address is on the ISSN Portal; a different one is the clone.
The editorial board
Named editors with named institutions, found on those institutions' own pages. A board of first names, or of scholars who do not know they are on it, is the oldest mark of the trade.
Questions people ask
Is there a list of predatory journals I can check?
No single list is complete or current, and a journal's absence from one proves nothing. What can be checked is the public record: the ISSN Portal, Crossref, DOAJ, the Keepers Registry and Retraction Watch's hijacked-journal list, each of which answers one question. The Journal Trust Rating reads all of them for one ISSN and shows every answer with its source.
What is the Journal Trust Rating?
A free check by ISSN: every public registry read, every answer shown with the page it came from, a grade from the answers. It is a reading of the record, not an opinion — and a journal whose record is incomplete is told so rather than graded.
Our journal is genuine but looks bad on the record. What then?
The record can be completed: DOIs registered, the licence on each record, the preservation arranged, the DOAJ application made, the board's affiliations verified on the site. Each is a page of work with a public result, and the rating reads the result the next time it runs.
How do I check a journal's website is the real one?
Compare the address on the ISSN Portal's record for that ISSN with the one you were given. Then check Retraction Watch's hijacked-journal list for the title. A site that asks for a fee by e-mail, promises publication in days, and shows an impact factor from a service nobody has heard of is a site to walk away from.
