Journal Evidence Checker
Type a journal name or ISSN. The checker assembles identity, registration, indexing-snapshot and clone-alert signals from six named sources, then shows what remains unverified. It does not calculate a legitimacy probability or issue an automatic verdict.
Journal risk assessment
Step 1 · Live database check
When you press Search, the journal name or ISSN is sent from your browser to OpenAlex, Crossref and DOAJ; local reference files are also checked. Gurjas does not receive the query. Your Step 2 answers remain in your browser.
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Indexing & registration evidence
Confirm manually (only where no local index exists)
On UGC-CARE: UGC discontinued the CARE journal list with effect from 11 February 2025 and replaced it with Suggestive Parameters (Public Notice, 16 July 2025). There is no current "UGC-CARE approved" status for any journal — a journal advertising one is misrepresenting itself; see Step 2, signal 13.
Read this before relying on the dossier. Database coverage varies by field and date. A missing record is not proof of misconduct, while a genuine journal record does not prove that the website or invoice in front of you is genuine. Reconcile the title, ISSN, publisher and domain, then confirm current indexing at the official source on the day you submit.
About the reference data. The offline indexes used here — the Scopus source list (July 2026 edition), the ABDC Journal Quality List and the Retraction Watch hijacked-journal register — are compiled from those publicly available sources and refreshed periodically. Although the data is prepared with care, a compiled snapshot can contain errors or omissions and may lag the official source between updates. Treat these signals as indicative only, and confirm the current status directly at the official source (linked above) on the day you submit.
Step 2 · Thirteen red-flag signals (from the journal's website)
The databases cannot see spam emails or fake editorial boards — you can. Your answers stay in your browser.
Website-signal summary: —
This tool reports source-labelled evidence and your own checklist responses; it maintains no blacklist and renders no judgement on any named journal. Unsure about a specific journal for a specific manuscript? Journal strategy is part of what we do.
Disclose that you ran this check
A small, self-contained badge you can embed on a library guide, internal document or your own site to disclose that a check was run with this tool. The badge states only that a check was performed — never a result. It is not a rating, certification or endorsement of any journal, and Gurjas does not track who embeds it.
Example preview only — the copied code below includes an editable date placeholder, not a live claim.
Before publishing, replace [date you checked] (it appears twice) with the date you actually ran the check. Do not remove the linked disclosure or the "not an endorsement" text, and do not present the badge as certification.
Method and limitations
Method version 2.0 · reviewed 20 July 2026. Automated rows report whether a matching record was found in each named source. No weighted score is calculated because citation volume, journal age, publisher size and database coverage are not interchangeable measures of legitimacy.
Not checked automatically: the website domain currently in your browser, editorial-board identities, peer-review conduct, invoice payee, Web of Science status or whether an email genuinely originated from the publisher. Local Scopus, ABDC and hijacked-journal files are dated snapshots; verify current status at the official source.
How to read this tool
Purpose: Assemble source-labelled journal identity, registration, indexing-snapshot and clone-alert evidence.
- Maturity
- Production
- Method version
- 2.0
- Reviewed
- Processing
- Named third-party requests plus dated local snapshots
Evidence basis
- OpenAlexlive public API
- Crossreflive public API
- DOAJlive public API
- Scopus source listdated local reference snapshot
- ABDC Journal Quality Listdated local reference snapshot
- Retraction Watch hijacked-journal registerdated local reference snapshot
Privacy
The query goes directly from the browser to named databases; Gurjas does not receive it. Checklist answers remain in the browser.
Limitations
Database absence can reflect coverage or naming differences. Local indexes can lag official sources. No weighted legitimacy score or automatic verdict is calculated.
Decision boundary
The dossier does not decide whether a journal is legitimate or safe to submit to.