SCI and SCIE journals: how to check the Web of Science list

Is there still an “SCI journal list”?

No, a separate SCI list is not there now. The Science Citation Index started in 1965. For many decades it was a printed product, and later a CD-ROM one, and it carried only a limited number of journals. Science Citation Index Expanded was the online version. Online there was no space limit, so SCIE grew much bigger. As per Clarivate’s own FAQ, once both were using the same selection standards, the SCI name was dropped in January 2020 and everything came under SCIE. On the Master Journal List you will see SCIE only.

Because of this, when scholars search “SCI journal list” they get many unofficial spreadsheets and PDFs. Not a single one of them can be the current list. The website may call its file anything. The journals that count as “SCI” today are those which Clarivate has recorded as SCIE.

Suppose your PhD rule, a fellowship call or a recruitment notice is asking for an “SCI” paper. Then you look for SCIE on the journal’s record. Different rules are worded differently, and sometimes SSCI or AHCI is accepted in place. Our Scopus vs Web of Science guide goes through those wordings.

SCIE, SSCI, AHCI and ESCI: what each listing means for your paper

Inside the Web of Science Core Collection, journals are kept in separate indexes. When you open a journal record on the Master Journal List, it tells you which index the journal is part of.

SCIE, SSCI and AHCI are the older and more selective indexes. At present Clarivate’s SCIE product page says SCIE covers about 9,430 actively publishing journals in 178 subject categories. Please see that page for the latest figure, since Clarivate keeps adding and removing journals during the year.

ESCI journals are in Web of Science and they also have an impact factor. Still, ESCI is its own index. A rule that names SCI or SCIE is not met by an ESCI journal. For this reason step 5 below tells you to read the exact collection name written in the record.

How to check a journal in the Master Journal List, step by step

The check needs around five minutes for one journal. Do it for each journal in your shortlist. Web of Science coverage keeps changing, so repeat it once more just before submission.

1. 1

   Get the journal’s ISSN from its own website

   Many journals have two numbers, a print ISSN and an online ISSN (eISSN). Write down both. Search with the ISSN and not with the title, because lots of journals have almost the same name.

2. 2

   Open the Master Journal List

   The site is mjl.clarivate.com, and it is run by Clarivate itself. Searching costs nothing. To see the full journal profile, it will ask you to sign in with a free Clarivate account.

3. 3

   Search the ISSN and open the result

   Nothing showing? Try the second ISSN, and after that the exact title. If neither ISSN gives any result, then the journal is not in Web of Science.

4. 4

   Match title, publisher and ISSN

   The title, the publisher and the ISSN should all match the journal you are planning to send your paper to. Same-sounding title with another publisher is a different journal only.

5. 5

   Read the Web of Science Coverage

   In the profile you will see the collections where the journal is covered. If your rule says SCI or SCIE, Science Citation Index Expanded has to appear in that list.

6. 6

   Compare the website address

   See the journal website given in the Clarivate record. It should be the same site where you are submitting. If the address is different, it may be a hijacked or clone site which is using the real journal’s name and ISSN.

Take a screenshot of the record where the date is also visible. Save it along with your submission files. Later the thesis section or some selection committee may raise doubt on the journal. That time you have proof of what the record showed on the day you submitted.

Our free journal checker takes you through these same checks, along with the Scopus and UGC-CARE checks, and gives the link to every official source. If you want the step-by-step check for Scopus, see our Scopus indexing guide.

Can you download the SCIE list?

You can, after signing in. Signed-in users can download collection lists from the Master Journal List. The file give each journal’s title, ISSN and publisher, and it is useful when you are making a shortlist in your subject. But it is a snapshot of that day only, so on submission day open the live record again.

Where the impact factor comes from, and why SCIE doesn’t mean “high impact”

The Journal Impact Factor is calculated by Clarivate from Web of Science data. Every year it comes out once, in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). JCR is a paid subscription product. Mostly you can open it through your university library subscription. The free Master Journal List does not give you JCR.

Two changes have ended the old idea that an impact factor means SCIE or SSCI. In the 2023 JCR release, Clarivate started giving the impact factor to AHCI and ESCI journals also, and not just to SCIE and SSCI. It also began showing the figure with one decimal place. Then from 2024, journals in each subject category were ranked in a single list, and ESCI titles are part of that list. So today an impact factor shows only that the journal is in one of the four Core Collection journal indexes. From that you cannot say the journal is in SCIE.

And SCIE listing does not make a journal high impact either. In SCIE you will find every kind of journal, from the most cited ones in a field to small regional titles. To know a journal’s position inside its subject category, look at its quartile in JCR. How to read these numbers is explained in our guide to impact factor, quartiles and the h-index. For the other things to weigh while picking a journal, see our journal selection guide.

How to verify an “SCI indexed” claim

When an SCIE paper is needed by a deadline, check these points carefully.

• A claim you can’t find in the Master Journal List. The journal home page can say anything. If its ISSN gives no result on the Master Journal List, the journal is not in Web of Science.
• A hijacked website. The journal is really in Clarivate, but the website you landed on is somebody’s copy using the same name and ISSN. Check the web address in the Clarivate record against the address of the site that is taking your submission.
• Wording that sounds like SCI but isn’t. Some sites write “SCI-indexed conference”, “indexed in SCI-like databases” or even “Web of Science ready”. Also a list of indexes where Clarivate’s name is mixed with unknown ones.
• Impact factors from other sources. Some websites make up their own “impact factor” with an official-looking name. The only Journal Impact Factor that counts is the one from Clarivate’s JCR.
• A promised acceptance or publication date. An SCIE journal takes its decision after peer review. Acceptance and dates come from the review result. Paying a fee cannot fix them.

There are more warning signs than these, and our predatory journal guide goes through all of them. The predatory journal checker asks you about them one question at a time.

Why this guide links to the live Master Journal List

All through the year Clarivate is adding journals to its indexes and taking some out. At times even titles of big, well-known publishers get removed. Any list copied onto a website, our website also, starts becoming old from the day it is saved. A scholar going by such list may publish in a journal dropped some months back. Or the scholar may reject a good journal which was added recently.

Searching the Master Journal List costs nothing and the check gets over in a few minutes, so go by the live record only. Our part is to help you shortlist SCIE journals that suit your paper and check every one of them against the live record. That is what our SCI journal selection guidance does. Whether the paper is accepted is decided by the peer review of each journal.