How to read POSI grades
Every journal in POSI carries one grades badge, the same on every page: its collection tier, then its AJR rating, Citation Quartile and POSI Zone where they have been assigned.
Examples
POSICoreAJR A−C-Q1Zone 1A certified journal, rated and ranked
POSIIndexedC-Q3Zone 3Indexed, ranked, not rated
POSIIndexedC-Q –Zone –Indexed, not yet ranked
What each part means
| Part | Values | Meaning | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Core · Indexed | Core journals applied for certification and passed PQF editorial evaluation. Every other journal registered with Crossref or OpenAlex is Indexed, including a formerly certified journal a PQF re-review found below the bar. | Editorial policy |
| AJR | A+ · A · A− · B+ · B · B− · C+ · C · D | An absolute lifecycle rating from published evidence. Not a quartile: many journals can share a rating. | AJR ratings |
| C-Q | C-Q1 · C-Q2 · C-Q3 · C-Q4 | Citation Quartile: the journal’s PNCI percentile within its PSC subject category, in four equal bands. | Citation Quartiles |
| Zone | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 | POSI Zone: a tiered reading of the same percentile. Zone 1 is top 5%; Zone 2 is top 5–20%; Zone 3 is top 20–50%; Zone 4 is top 50–100%. | POSI Zones |
A part is left out, or shown as a dash, until it has been assigned. The first Citation Ranking edition under PNCI-1.0 is computed in the next data cycle; until then no journal has a C-Q or Zone. A dashed border marks a provisional value.
What POSI grades are not
- They are not Web of Science or Scopus labels, and are independent of both. POSI does not record whether a journal is in SCIE, SSCI, AHCI or ESCI; each journal page links to Clarivate’s Master Journal List to check. For Scopus, each journal page shows the journal’s status as stated in Elsevier’s published Scopus source list, with the list’s date, and links to the journal’s Scopus page.
- They describe journals, not individual articles or researchers. See responsible use.
- No publisher, editor or sponsor can change a grade by hand. See the editorial policy.