Web of Science, the platform operated by Clarivate, has paused indexing eLife Versions of Record in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), the commercial index that produces the Journal Impact Factor. This decision came into effect on October 23, 2024.
In the eLife Model, we provide public reviews and assessments of preprints using controlled vocabulary to convey the significance of the findings and strength of evidence. This includes highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the work. Despite our rigorous process of selecting papers for review, public peer review and assessment, Web of Science’s current policy excludes research from SCIE where publication has been decoupled from “validation” by peer review. eLife is therefore “on hold” while Web of Science reevaluates our model against its editorial evaluation criteria.
Since the very beginning, eLife has recognised the need for more meaningful research assessment that goes beyond vague metrics such as Journal Impact Factors. As a long-term signatory of the Declaration on Research Assessment we have never supported the Impact Factor and never wanted one. Publication alone is a poor signal and measure of validity. A journal name or its Impact Factor says little about the quality of any individual research article. Instead we created a model that reviews, assesses and directly engages with research without the need for proxies.
Our model is much more representative of how scientific discourse really works. The alternative is a system that rejects submissions after peer review only for them to be resubmitted elsewhere until they are eventually published. This decision from Web of Science stifles attempts to show how publishing and peer review can be improved using open science principles, and instead gives the appearance of ongoing support for established and ineffective publishing models that have needed to change for so long.
Although some authors may have questions or concerns, they can be reassured that their work will remain widely indexed: Reviewed Preprints are indexed by Google Scholar and Versions of Record (the final version of the work) are indexed by PubMed, the Directory of Open Access Journals, OpenAlex and many other databases.
We will be in close discussion with our funders, our partner institutions and our colleagues throughout the open science community to address any concerns as we decide how to proceed.
For any questions and comments in the meantime, please contact us at press [at] elifesciences [dot] org.
