The DUF Journal Metrics Initiative is a developing Digital University Foundation project exploring transparent and responsible approaches to journal-level bibliometric analysis — investigating how publicly verifiable scholarly metadata and citation information can be used to provide contextual indicators of journal reach and citation activity.

Development Status

DUF does not currently represent this initiative as an alternative to the Journal Impact Factor, Journal Citation Indicator, CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, or other established third-party bibliometric indicators.

Before any DUF numerical journal metric is publicly released, the methodology will define and disclose: data source, publication types included, citation sources, citation window, publication window, treatment of self-citations, treatment of corrections and retractions, update frequency, calculation formula, coverage limitations, and correction procedures. This methodology will be made publicly available alongside any resulting metric.

Responsible Metrics

No DUF metric should be interpreted as certification of journal quality, indexing status, research integrity, or the quality of an individual article or researcher.

Independence from External Metrics

Any metric developed by Digital University Foundation will be clearly identified as a DUF-produced indicator. It will not be presented as, or given naming that could reasonably be confused with, metrics produced by Clarivate, Scopus, SCImago, or other independent bibliometric organizations.

Current Status

Until the above requirements are satisfied, the Journal Metrics Initiative should be regarded as a developing research and bibliometric-infrastructure project rather than an active journal-ranking system.