Edifix uses a database of almost 50,000 journal names during reference restructuring. This database includes both currently active journals (estimates vary, but there are probably at least 25,000 active scholarly journals) and those that are no longer published or have changed their names. This resource enables Edifix to recognize both full journal names and abbreviations, including many non-standard abbreviations. Nevertheless, however, Edifix will still sometimes encounter a journal that it doesn't recognize.
Reasons Edifix might fail to recognize a journal include the following:
- the journal is genuinely new to Edifix;
- the reference uses a journal title misspelling, acronym, or abbreviation outside those already covered in Edifix's database, or
- a non-standard journal title outside those handled by Edifix (see below for more information);
- the reference is to a publication that Edifix does not treat as a journal, including some magazines, newspapers, and book serials, but superficially resembles a journal reference.
If one of your references comes back with a comment like this:
Edifix does not recognize the journal "Law and Development Review" (in reference "Farrar, 2014"). If this is a valid journal title, please send this reference to journals@inera.com and we will add it to the Edifix journal database.
you should check for obvious spelling errors in the title, or try spelling out an abbreviated journal name in full, and then reprocess the reference.
If you find a journal name that is missing from the Edifix database, you can send it to us!
Non-standard journal titles
Edifix has a difficult time recognizing certain types of non-standard journal titles, particularly titles that contain years, such as J Appl Physiol (1985). The inclusion of years in journal titles makes it difficult for Edifix to distinguish between the journal name and the publication year. Even when such titles are listed in our journal database, Edifix can't unravel the pieces in the reference confidently enough to make the match. In most cases, though, Edifix can identify the title without the year, and then correct it by inserting the missing year if it is listed in our database or in the linking databases (PubMed or CrossRef).