Index Copernicus


Index Copernicus is an online database of user-contributed information, including scientist profiles, as well as of scientific institutions, publications and projects established in 1999 in Poland, and operated by Index Copernicus International. The database, named after Nicolaus Copernicus, has several assessment tools to track the impact of scientific works and publications, individual scientists, or research institutions. In addition to the productivity aspects, IC also offers the traditional abstracting and indexing of scientific publications.

Origins

The Index Copernicus aimed to offer an alternative to the English language dominance of publication indexing systems. The enterprise was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the name: "Electronic Publishing House of Scientific Journals system of Index Copernicus Ltd."

Controversy

IC's journal ranking system was criticized in 2013 by Jeffrey Beall because of the high proportion of predatory journals included in it and its suspect evaluation methodology; he characterized the resulting "IC Value" as "a pretty worthless measure". Index Copernicus remains on the list of .
Index Copernicus is continuously accused of unethical practices.
At the time of partnership between Index Copernicus and polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the project of evaluating polish universities, Index Copernicus was offering a paid option to speed up the process of indexing journals which in turn was beneficial in the official process of university evaluation that it was overseeing at the same time.
University libraries advise to "avoid journals displaying metrics from Index Copernicus". Index Copernicus has also become the object of study
in context of scientific predatory practices.