Data Methodology & Sources
JournalsHub is an independent, free directory of academic journals. This page explains precisely where every number on the site comes from, what it does and does not mean, and how to tell us when something is wrong.
1. Where our data comes from
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| OpenAlex | Journal metadata (title, ISSN, publisher, country), 2-year mean citedness (our "citation rate"), works counts, h-index, and indexing signals. Open data, CC0. |
| DOAJ | Verified open-access status and APC information for indexed open-access journals. |
| Crossref | DOI and metadata consistency checks. |
| Scopus (where available) | CiteScore values and Scopus indexing status, attributed to Scopus. |
| SCImago | SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) values, attributed to SCImago, where shown. |
We aggregate structured data from these public sources. We do not scrape publisher marketing pages, and we are not affiliated with any publisher, with Clarivate, or with Elsevier.
2. What each metric means
| Metric | Source | Definition & limitation |
|---|---|---|
| 2-Year Citation Rate | OpenAlex | Average citations received over a two-year window by the journal's recent articles (OpenAlex "2yr mean citedness"). A free, open proxy for citation impact. It is not the Clarivate Impact Factor and the two numbers will differ. Coverage and citation counts depend on OpenAlex's open corpus. |
| CiteScore | Scopus | Elsevier's 4-year citation metric. Shown only where we hold a Scopus-attributed value. |
| SJR | SCImago | Prestige-weighted citation metric. Shown where available, attributed to SCImago. |
| Quartile (Q1–Q4) | Derived | Where official Scopus quartiles are available we use them; otherwise we approximate by ranking journals within a subject by their citation rate. Approximated quartiles are clearly an estimate, not an official ranking. |
| APC | DOAJ / publisher | Article Processing Charge as last reported upstream. Currencies and fees change often — always confirm on the journal's own site. |
3. How often it refreshes
Journal metadata and citation rates are refreshed from OpenAlex on a rolling basis; DOAJ open-access status is refreshed weekly. Because each upstream source publishes on its own schedule, the "as of" year shown next to a metric reflects the latest data we hold, not necessarily the current calendar year.
4. Known limitations
- Citation rates are an OpenAlex-derived proxy and will not equal a journal's Clarivate Impact Factor.
- Where we hold no verified value we show "Not available" rather than estimating a number.
- Open citation coverage is strongest for recent, DOI-bearing literature and weaker for some humanities, non-English, and pre-2000 venues.
- Quartiles are approximated when official subject-category data is unavailable.
5. Corrections
If a value looks wrong, tell us — we treat metric corrections as a priority. Use the contact form (choose “Data correction”) with the journal name or ISSN and the specific value. Our full Editorial & Corrections Policy explains how we review and act on reports.