Running an Academic Journal: Editorial Board, ISSN, and Indexing

Establishing and maintaining a peer-reviewed journal requires careful planning across governance, technical workflows, and standardisation. While digital publishing platforms have significantly reduced the technical barrier to entry, scholarly credibility still depends on fundamental practices: an active editorial board, clear serial identifiers, and compliance with indexation standards.

SciMatic provides the publishing infrastructure to host journals, accept submissions, coordinate peer review, and manage editorial correspondence. This guide details how to structure editorial governance, obtain formal identifiers, and prepare your publication for academic indexers.

Assembling and Structuring the Editorial Board

An editorial board defines the scope, quality, and ethical direction of an academic journal. Indexing services examine the composition and institutional diversity of the board to assess a publication's credibility.

Defining Editorial Roles

A functional journal requires distinct responsibilities:

• Editor-in-Chief: Holds ultimate responsibility for the journal's scientific direction, final publication decisions, and adherence to publication ethics.
• Associate or Handling Editors: Manage submissions within specific subject areas, assign reviewers, evaluate reviewer reports, and make acceptance or rejection recommendations.
• Editorial Advisory Board: Experienced researchers who advise on journal policy, thematic issues, and ethics, while occasionally reviewing manuscripts in their domains.

On SciMatic, journal administrators assign these roles directly through the journal management workspace. Each editor receives access to incoming manuscripts according to their disciplinary assignment, allowing them to manage peer review directly from their dashboard.

Maintaining Board Transparency

Indexers such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Scopus require that editorial board members be identifiable. For every member, publish their full name, institutional affiliation, country, and academic identifier (such as an ORCID profile). Ensure that all listed members have formally agreed to serve on the board before listing them on your journal's profile page.

Securing an ISSN for Digital Publishing

An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit identifier assigned to serial publications. Because digital and print versions require distinct identifiers, an online journal requires an e-ISSN.

Application Requirements

You apply for an ISSN through the ISSN International Centre or your country's National Centre. Most centres require the following before assigning an e-ISSN:

• A fully functional publication website with a distinct URL.
• A defined editorial board with listed institutional affiliations.
• A clear statement of the journal's aims and scope.
• Stated publication frequency (for example: quarterly, biannual, or continuous publication).
• A published first issue, or at least a complete set of accepted manuscripts ready for publication, with complete metadata.

When launching on SciMatic, configure your journal's homepage, upload your author guidelines, and publish your inaugural issue before submitting your ISSN application. Once issued, display the e-ISSN clearly in the header, footer, and article metadata displays of your journal.

Managing the Review and Production Workflow

A predictable, documented workflow protects the integrity of your editorial decisions. SciMatic handles manuscripts through a structured pipeline:

1. Initial Screening: The Editor-in-Chief or a managing editor checks the submission against the journal's scope, format guidelines, and baseline ethical requirements.
2. Review Assignment: The editor assigns external peer reviewers. On SciMatic, journals can also use the integrated AI Review Process to generate automated pre-review analyses, checking manuscript structure, terminology consistency, and reference completeness before or alongside traditional peer review.
3. Reviewer Evaluation: External reviewers submit structured evaluations and recommendations via the system.
4. Editorial Decision: The handling editor issues an acceptance, revision, or rejection decision. Authors receive notifications and can resubmit revised drafts directly through their dashboard.
5. Correspondence: Editors can use SciMatic's admin mailbox and Letterpad system to generate formal acceptance letters, review invitations, and editorial notices on official journal letterhead.

Preparing for Academic Indexing

Indexation in major bibliographic databases determines the discoverability and reach of your published research. Securing placement in databases like Google Scholar, DOAJ, Scopus, or Web of Science requires meeting rigorous operational criteria over time.

Core Indexing Requirements

• Consistent Publication Schedule: Adhere strictly to your stated frequency. If your journal publishes quarterly, issues must appear on schedule without gaps. Journals using continuous publication models must release articles regularly throughout the year.
• Transparent Peer Review: Clearly document your review model (single-blind, double-blind, or open) and publish your editorial policies prominently on your SciMatic journal page.
• Standardised Article Metadata: Every published paper must display publication dates (received, revised, accepted, published), a distinct pagination or article number, author affiliations, abstracts, and complete reference lists.
• Ethical Standards: Formally state your compliance with established publication ethics guidelines, such as those maintained by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including policies on plagiarism, data availability, and retractions.

Most major indexers require a journal to have published consistently for at least two years and maintain an active e-ISSN before accepting an application. Use your initial publication period on SciMatic to establish strict quality control, recruit international peer reviewers, and build a clean record of citations and on-time publication.

Operational and Account Management

Managing ongoing journal operations may involve publication processing fees or institutional subsidies. SciMatic supports financial workflows using either internal SCI balances or USDT, allowing editors and administrators to handle platform transactions and editorial operations within a unified accounting interface.