Notification email sent on 24 March 2023.




Reflecting the growth in global research output, Web of Science (WOS) coverage increases overall every year. Thus, ensuring the quality of accepted journals is a major responsibility for Clarivate (publisher of WOS).

If journals
(1) evolve their scope,
(2) reset their editorial thresholds,
(3) refresh their editorial boards and change ownership
each of these can affect a journal’s characteristics and the quality of its published content.

Therefore, Clarivate periodically re-evaluates journals to ensure the content continues to meet their selection criteria. [note 1] Any journal that no longer meets its quality criteria is removed from coverage. [note 2]。

Please share this information with the master's and doctoral students, project assistants, and postdoctoral researchers under your supervision. Thank you. 

🟥 Description

1. At the start of the year (2023), more than 500 journals were flagged. [note 3]


2. More than 50 of the flagged journals have failed their quality criteria and have subsequently been de-listed.


3. The investigations are ongoing thus far.


4. There may be other journals that will be delisted from WOS in the future.


5. Currently, it is known that the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI) and 19 journals under Hindawi have been delisted. [note 4]

🟥 How to confirm that a journal was removed from the WOS?

• To check if a journal is still listed in WOS, simply search for the journal title or ISSN in the Master Journal List. If you cannot find the journal, it may have been delisted.


• Master Journal List is updated on a monthly basis, with the latest update as of March 20, 2023. Any journals that are delisted after this date will not be available until the April update.


• Master Journal List is freely accessible and can be used anywhere without setting VPN or proxy.

🟥 Please note

1. Check the WOS journal evaluation process


2. Removing a journal from WOS means that Clarivate will no longer index its papers, count their citations, or give the title an impact factor.


3. Web of Science DOES NOT release any official list of delisted journals.


4. You can check the list of removed journals published by Hindawi on the Retraction Watch blog.

🟥 Other information

• The official announcement from the MDPI publisher.


• To determine whether your work published in a delisted journal can still be used for faculty promotion or research rewards , please consult with the following. 
  Faculty promotion: Office of Human Resources 
  Research rewards: Office of Research and Development

🟥 References

• Clarivate, Supporting integrity of the scholarly record: Our commitment to curation and selectivity in the Web of Science


• Retraction Watch, Nearly 20 Hindawi journals delisted from leading index amid concerns of papermill activity