Smart Scholars🛡 Scholar Shield🏛 Research Integrity Desk🧩 Portfolio Console📰 Journals🔧 DOI MembersTools🔎 Journal AuditGI GetIndexedDr DOI Doctor
Scholar Shield · free

Is this journal safe to publish in?

Paste an ISSN or the journal's web address. In about ten seconds you get a Journal Trust Rating (A–E) built from the ISSN Portal, Crossref, DOAJ, OpenAlex and the journal's own site — every line linked to its source. No list, no opinion: evidence.

Also free: Journal Risk Radar — the early-warning score · ScholaRef — check my references · publication-live alerts · my publications · compliance planner

What the rating looks at

Identity & governance — ISSN record and title, live HTTPS site, named editorial board, ISSN and contact on the site, publisher identified (25 pts)
Editorial integrity — peer-review and ethics policies, plagiarism screening, and predatory-style red flags (fake impact factors, speed promises) (25 pts)
Technical standing — Crossref membership, metadata completeness (abstracts, licences, ORCIDs, references), DOI links, OAI-PMH and Google Scholar tags (20 pts)
Preservation & access — Keepers Registry / archive preservation, Creative Commons licence, fee transparency, open-access statement (15 pts)
Reach & citation — DOAJ listing, OpenAlex works and citations, h-index, other verified index listings (15 pts)

Grades: A ≥85 · B 70–84 · C 55–69 · D 40–54 · E <40 · U insufficient data. Two or more red flags cap the grade at D. Ratings are re-checked weekly for journals under watch. Full methodology →

Two scores, two questions

The Journal Trust Rating (A–E) asks whether a journal is maintained to indexer standard today. The Journal Risk Radar (0–100) asks the other question — whether the public record shows the behaviour that precedes delisting, hijacking and retraction waves: a volume surge, citations mostly from itself, authorship moving country, a website that no longer matches the ISSN record. Fifteen written rules, every source linked.

Open the Risk Radar →

What we never do

No paper writing, no "plagiarism removal", no journal placement, no guaranteed acceptance. Scholar Shield tells you what the registries say and how to fix your own record. Our policies →

Everything Smart Scholars runsNine sites, one account. A journal starts at the audit; an author starts at Scholar Shield.

For journals & publishers

Start with the audit — it is free, and it is the gate to everything else.

DOI care

Nine services on one journal profile — each previews first and acts only on your approval.

For authors & researchers

Free to use. Nothing you check is shared with the journal.

For institutions, sponsors & DOI operators

Smart Scholars

Mon–Sat, 10:00–19:00 IST. The Ask AI button on every page answers about our services at any hour.

What we can register a DOI for

20 kinds of record, one account, one place. Every one gets a DOI that resolves, metadata that indexes read, and a record that stays correct afterwards.
Journals
  • Journal articles
  • Journal titles
  • Pending publications
  • Peer reviews
  • Preprints & posted content
Books & conferences
  • Books
  • Book chapters
  • Book series
  • Book sets
  • Conference proceedings
  • Proceedings series
  • Conference papers
Other research output
  • Theses & dissertations
  • Reports & working papers
  • Report series
  • Standards
  • Databases
  • Datasets
  • Figures, tables & supplements
Funding
  • Grants & funding awards

Elsewhere

The same company, in the places our publishers already read.
Smart Scholars · Every service on one pageData from OpenAlex (openalex.org), CC0 · Crossref · ISSN Portal · DOAJContact
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