When a journal is removed from Web of Science, it stops appearing in the Web of Science Core Collection and the Master Journal List, loses eligibility for a Journal Impact Factor in the next Journal Citation Reports (JCR) release, and is flagged to researchers, tenure committees, and funders relying on Web of Science indexing as a quality signal. This has become a more visible event since 2023, as Clarivate has removed or suspended a run of journals over peer-review integrity concerns rather than routine editorial housekeeping.
This guide explains the mechanics behind a delisting — Clarivate’s own evaluation criteria, what “on hold” status means before a formal removal, and how the process actually runs — using real, dated cases as illustration. For the underlying index itself, see our guide to the Web of Science Master Journal List; for two of the specific journals discussed below, see what happened to Hindawi’s journals and Is Cureus Peer Reviewed?
What “delisted from Web of Science” actually means
“Web of Science” is a platform, not a single database. The part that matters for journal-quality purposes is the Web of Science Core Collection, a curated set of indexes — including the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) — each built from a distinct editorial evaluation, not automatic inclusion. A journal’s current status in the Core Collection is publicly checkable via the Web of Science Master Journal List (mjl.clarivate.com), which is the authoritative, free source for whether a specific title is currently indexed, on hold, or has been removed.
Delisting removes a journal from the Core Collection going forward. It does not typically erase records for articles already indexed while the journal was in good standing, but it does mean the journal receives no further Journal Impact Factor in JCR and new articles are not indexed as they publish.
Clarivate’s evaluation criteria: the 28-point framework
Every journal considered for the Web of Science Core Collection is evaluated against a published set of 28 criteria, split into two groups: 24 quality criteria assessing editorial rigor and publishing best practice (things like peer review policy, publication ethics statements, and editorial board composition and geographic diversity), and 4 impact criteria assessing citation influence within the journal’s field. A journal must pass all 24 quality criteria to be accepted — the impact criteria affect index placement, not eligibility on their own.
Under Clarivate’s Removal from Coverage policy, a previously indexed journal that comes to fail one or more of the 24 quality criteria is delisted. Clarivate states that a delisted journal is subject to a two-year embargo before it can be resubmitted for re-evaluation. Source: Clarivate’s own “Journal evaluation process and selection criteria” and “Why journals are put on hold in the Web of Science Core Collection” pages (clarivate.com).
“On hold”: the status that usually comes first
Removal is rarely the first step. Clarivate typically places a journal “on hold” first — a suspension pending re-evaluation, during which the journal’s existing indexed content generally remains searchable but the journal’s ongoing quality is under active review. On-hold status is a signal that Clarivate has identified a concern serious enough to pause routine indexing while it investigates, not a final judgment. A journal can be reinstated to full standing if the concern is resolved, or formally removed if it is not.
Clarivate describes proactively monitoring indexed journals on an ongoing basis — combining in-house subject editors, internal AI-assisted screening, and community or “trusted source” feedback — and re-evaluating a journal against the 24 quality criteria whenever a credible concern surfaces, rather than waiting for a fixed periodic review cycle.
Real cases: journals removed from Web of Science over integrity concerns
Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier), 2024–2025
Science of the Total Environment (ISSN 0048-9697, launched 1972, published by Elsevier) is one of the highest-volume environmental science journals in the world, with a reported 2024 Journal Impact Factor around 8.0. Clarivate placed the journal’s SCIE indexing on hold in October 2024, citing concerns about the quality of content being published, and formally removed it from the Web of Science Core Collection on November 18, 2025. The journal is no longer eligible for a JCR Impact Factor.
Publicly, Clarivate’s own statements have focused on general content-quality language rather than a detailed public breakdown of specific mechanisms. Elsevier separately announced in March 2025 that the journal’s longtime editor-in-chief was stepping down as part of what Elsevier described as a broader effort to strengthen the journal’s governance, characterizing the underlying issues as “systemic” rather than attributable to one individual. Independent research-integrity commentary and journal-industry newsletters covering the case (Retraction Watch-adjacent and publishing-trade sources) have linked the review to concerns about peer-review manipulation and irregular authorship practices at scale, consistent with the volume of the journal having outpaced its editorial vetting capacity — but treat the specific mechanism as reported by secondary sources rather than a detail Clarivate itself has confirmed in public statements.
Hindawi journals (Wiley), 2023
In March 2023, amid a much larger paper-mill and compromised-peer-review crisis, Clarivate removed roughly 19 Hindawi (Wiley-owned) journals from the Web of Science Master Journal List. That crisis eventually produced more than 8,000 Hindawi retractions in 2023 alone and led Wiley to retire the Hindawi brand entirely. See our full account in Hindawi Journal Impact Factor: What Happened to Hindawi.
Cureus, 2024–2025
Clarivate placed the open-access medical journal Cureus (Springer Nature) on hold in Web of Science indexing in September 2024, then formally removed it from the Master Journal List in October 2025. Clarivate has not publicly detailed the specific reason; secondary sources point to a period of substantial retraction activity and article-quality concerns as the likely driver. Cureus therefore receives no 2025 or later JCR Impact Factor. See Is Cureus Peer Reviewed? for more on the journal’s editorial model.
What delisting means in practice
- For authors with existing publications: articles already published while the journal was indexed are not retroactively deleted from the record, but the journal will not accrue further Web of Science citation counts or a future Impact Factor, which can affect how those publications are weighed in CV review, promotion and tenure, or funder-reporting contexts that specifically cite Web of Science indexing or JIF.
- For authors considering submission: check current status directly on the Web of Science Master Journal List before submitting — a journal that was indexed a year ago is not guaranteed to still be indexed today.
- For institutions and funders: a Web of Science delisting is a useful, independently curated signal but is not itself a formal predatory-publisher designation — it reflects Clarivate’s own quality criteria, distinct from (though sometimes overlapping with) the editorial-practice red flags covered in How to Identify Predatory Journals and Publishers.
- For bibliometric comparisons: Web of Science is one of several major indexes, alongside Scopus and OpenAlex — a journal removed from Web of Science may still be indexed elsewhere, which is one reason single-database indexing status is an imperfect stand-alone quality proxy. See Scopus vs Web of Science vs OpenAlex.
Can a delisted journal be reinstated?
Yes, in principle. Under Clarivate’s stated policy, a delisted journal is subject to a two-year embargo before it becomes eligible to be resubmitted for evaluation against the same 24 quality criteria used for any new applicant journal. Reinstatement is not automatic and depends on Clarivate’s editors being satisfied the underlying quality issues have been resolved.
Frequently asked questions
Is a journal removed from Web of Science automatically a predatory journal?
Not necessarily. Web of Science delisting reflects a failure against Clarivate’s own 24 quality criteria, which can range from peer-review integrity failures to editorial-board or publication-ethics gaps. “Predatory” is a separate, broader characterization typically describing publishers built around deceptive practices and absent peer review from the outset. A delisted journal may have started as a legitimate, well-regarded title whose quality control broke down at scale — as appears to be the case with Science of the Total Environment — rather than having been predatory by design. See How to Identify Predatory Journals and Publishers for the distinct criteria used there.
Does delisting affect articles already published in the journal?
Generally, articles indexed while the journal was in good standing remain in the historical record and continue to be searchable, but the journal accrues no further Web of Science indexing or JCR Impact Factor going forward from the delisting date.
How is Web of Science delisting different from Scopus removal?
Web of Science (Clarivate) and Scopus (Elsevier) run separate editorial evaluation processes with their own criteria and committees. A journal can be removed from one while remaining indexed in the other, or vice versa — the two are not mirrored decisions.
Where can I check whether a specific journal is currently indexed?
The Web of Science Master Journal List (mjl.clarivate.com) is the free, authoritative, and current source — see our guide to using the Web of Science Master Journal List for how to search it.
