Letter to Editor

Check indexing status of a Embase

1. G o t o h t t p s : / / w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / s o l u t i o n s /
journal embase‑biomedical‑research/embase‑coverage‑and‑content
2. Click on the hypertext ‑ “Download the full list of journal
titles in Embase”
Dear Editor,
3. Save the spreadsheet file (with extension.xlsx) on your computer
An editorial in JFMPC had suggested a set of changes in
4. Open the file in Microsoft Excel or any other software
regulations for promotion of medical teachers.[1]Board of
application (e.g. WPS Office, Open Office)
Governors, in supersession of the Medical Council of India,
5. On the spreadsheet, scroll down or search (Ctrl + F) the
has published a notice with regulations called “Minimum journal title or ISSN
Qualifications for Teachers in Medical Institutions (Amendment) 6. On the corresponding row of the journal, the indexed journal
Regulations, 2019.” [2]Among the amendments, there are shows “Yes” on the “Indexed at Embase” column
significant changes in research publication criteria, which are
shown in Table 1.[2‑4] MEDLINE
1. Go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog
Many a time, medical teachers and busy primary care physicians
2. Type the journal title or ISSN on the search box and click
end up publishing in predatory journals. A journal may claim that
on the search button
it is indexed in certain bibliographic databases. However, authors 3. The journal details will be shown if it is in the National
should check the authenticity of the claim before publishing in Library of Medicine (NLM) catalog
the journal. In this letter, we are describing the steps of checking 4. Check the “Current indexing status.” Indexed journal shows
the indexing status of a journal in different databases suggested “Currently indexed for MEDLINE”
by the Board of Governors.[2]
PubMed Central (PMC)
Directory of Open Access Journals 1. Go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals
1. Go to https://doaj.org 2. Type the journal title on the search box below “Search for
2. Uncheck the “articles” below the search box journals” and click on the search button
3. Type the title or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) 3. On the search result page, the indexed journal shows “Full”
of the journal in the search box and click on the search button in the “Participation level” column
4. The indexed journal will be shown on the search result page; 4. You can also check if the latest volume is present in the PMC
click on the title of the journal to view more details archive by clicking on the journal title hypertext

Table 1: Publication requirement for teachers in Indian medical institutions

Previous[3,4] Current[2]
Journals indexed in Embase / Excerpta Medica Citation Index*
Index Medicus Directory of Open Access Journals
Index Copernicus Embase
MEDLINE MEDLINE
PubMed PubMed Central
Scopus Sciences Citation Index Expanded†
Scopus
Type of publication Original article Original article
Meta-analysis
Systematic reviews
Case series
Authorship First author First author
Corresponding author Second author
Third author
Corresponding author
Number of Two for applying for associate professor One for applying for associate professor
publication Four for applying for professor (among the four, two Three for applying for professor (among the three, two should be during
should be during the tenure of associate professor) the tenure of associate professor)
*“Citation index” is not found to be any single bibliographic database. Web of Science Core Collection includes the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index,
and Emerging Sources Citation Index. †In the notice,[2] two bibliographic databases are written as - “Sciences Citation index, Expanded Embase.” However, we presume it to be a typing error and considered the two
databases as “Science Citation Index Expanded, Embase.”

© 2020 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care | Published by Wolters Kluwer ‑ Medknow 3166
 Letter to Editor

Science Citation Index Expanded Association of Medical Journal Editors. The revised
guidelines of the medical council of India for academic
1. Go to https://mjl.clarivate.com/home promotions: Need for a rethink. J Family Med Prim Care
2. Type the journal title or ISSN on the search box and click 2015;4:483‑6.
on “Search Journals” 2. Medical Council of India. List of Gazette Notifications.
3. On the search result page, indexed journal title shows Available from: https://www.mciindia.org/
“Science Citation Index Expanded” against “Web of Science ActivitiWebClient/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/
Core Collection” Public/Portal/Gazette/TE Q‑17.02.2019.pdf. [Last accessed
on 2020 Mar 19].
3. Medical Council of India. List of Gazette Notifications.
Scopus Available from: https://www.mciindia.org/
1. Go to https://www.scopus.com/sources ActivitiWebClient/o pen/getDocument?path=/Documents/
2. Select “Title” or “ISSN” from the dropdown arrow and type Public/Portal/Gazette/TEQ‑07.06.2019.pdf. [Last accessed
on 2020 Mar 19].
the title or ISSN accordingly and click on the “Find sources”
button 4. Medical Council of India. TEQ Circulars. Available from: https://
www.mciindia.org/CMS/w p‑content/uploads/2017/10/Cir
3. From the search result, click on the target journal title cular‑03.09.2015‑TEQ‑Promotion‑Publication.pdf. [Last
4. The indexed journal shows the “Scopus coverage accessed on 2020 Mar 19].
years” (e.g. 2009 to 2019) and does not show “(coverage
discontinued in Scopus)” below the years
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative
Financial support and sponsorship Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to
remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as appropriate credit is
Nil. given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Conflicts of interest Received: 19-03-2020 Revised: 25-04-2020

There are no conflicts of interest. Accepted: 28-04-2020 Published: 30-06-2020

Himel Mondal1, Shaikat Mondal2 Quick Response Code:

Access this article online

1
Department of Physiology, Bhima Bhoi Medical College Website:
and Hospital, Balangir, Odisha, 2Department of Physiology, www.jfmpc.com
Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital,
West Bengal, India DOI:
10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_423_20
Address for correspondence: Dr. Shaikat Mondal,
Department of Physiology, Raiganj Government Medical College
and Hospital, West Bengal, India.
E‑mail: drshaikat@gmail.com How to cite this article: Mondal H, Mondal S. Check indexing status of
a journal. J Family Med Prim Care 2020;9:3166-7.
References
© 2020 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care | Published by Wolters
Kluwer ‑ Medknow
1. Aggarwal R, Gogtay N, Kumar R, Sahni P, for the Indian

Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 3167 Volume 9 : Issue 6 : June 2020