Journal

Is the journal indexed in any database?

How is the journal ranked in its subject area?

To investigate a journal's impact within its subject, you can look in the Scopus and Web of Science databases to see how they are cited. There are different measures for this. In Web of Science, there is the Impact factor method, which is based on how much the journal's articles have been cited during a specific period. The result is presented in ranking lists. The ranking list is divided into quartiles (fourths), where a journal, depending on its impact, may end up in the first, second, third or fourth quartile. The highest ranked are found in the first quartile.

In the database Scopus there are similar measures.

In the case of articles and conference publications, the document Open Access and predatory publishers may be helpful in assessing whether the publisher is credible or not.

Publisher

Publishers can be, for example, publishing houses, organizations and authorities.

Which publisher has published the journal/book?
Does the publisher specialize in publishing scientific material?
Is the journal indexed in any database?

You can check which publishers have a scientific publication and how it is assessed in The Norwegian list, and The Finnish list.

Information source

Where is the document from?
Which databases or search engines have been used?
Is there scientific content in the databases?
How is the hit list ranked, which hits come first?