Questions owners and buyers ask
If yours is not here, ask it. An outline of your situation is enough.
- Will anyone know that my journal is for sale?
- How is a journal valued?
- Will the journal stay indexed after the sale?
- What happens to the DOIs and the back issues?
- Can I send documents through the website?
- My society’s rules do not let us sell the journal. What can we do?
- Does the ISSN change?
- What happens to the editorial board?
- Why must I sign an NDA before I see which journal it is?
- Will you check me as a buyer?
- Can you find a journal in a particular subject?
- What does the free first look show?
- Is a valuation from incitee an appraisal?
- What does it cost?
- How do we start?
Will anyone know that my journal is for sale?
No one outside the sale. A buyer learns which journal is involved only after signing a non-disclosure agreement, and we never name a journal publicly. If an owner asks, we may list an anonymous outline on the listings page, with no title, publisher, ISSN or website. The sale becomes public only when the transfer is complete, when the indexes, the ISSN centre and the journal’s readers are told.
How is a journal valued?
From its record: who owns what, the state of its ISSN and DOI records, where it is indexed and where it has been, its publishing history, and anything due diligence turns up, such as retractions, cloned websites or complaints. Each journal is valued on its own facts.
Will the journal stay indexed after the sale?
The transfer is reported to every index the journal is in. Each index applies its own rules to a change of publisher, and some review the journal again. No one can promise an index’s decision, and we do not.
What happens to the DOIs and the back issues?
Through a Crossref title transfer, responsibility for the journal’s DOIs passes to the new owner, and every existing DOI keeps resolving. The back issues move with the journal; following NISO’s Transfer Code of Practice, the aim is that readers lose no access to them during the move.
Can I send documents through the website?
No. This website takes no documents, so nothing confidential passes through a form. Once the NDA is signed, we send you a secure upload link for anything that needs to be shared.
My society’s rules do not let us sell the journal. What can we do?
A co-publishing lease. The society or university keeps the title and the ISSN, and another party runs the publishing under written terms for an agreed period. It follows the same order as a sale: NDA, memorandum of understanding, then the agreement. You can begin a lease enquiry.
Does the ISSN change?
Not because of a sale. An ISSN identifies the title, not its owner, so the number stays the same and the ISSN record is updated to show the new publisher. A new ISSN is needed only if the title itself changes significantly.
What happens to the editorial board?
That is agreed as part of the sale. Our charter asks every buyer to keep editorial decisions with the editors; whether the present board continues, and on what terms, is settled before the transfer agreement is signed.
Why must I sign an NDA before I see which journal it is?
Because a sale that does not complete should leave no trace. The NDA protects an owner from becoming known as a seller, and it protects you as a buyer in the same way.
Will you check me as a buyer?
Yes. We ask who you are, who stands behind you and what you plan for the journal. We do not arrange a sale to anyone who intends to sell publication slots or to interfere with peer review.
Can you find a journal in a particular subject?
Tell us the subject, the kind of journal you are looking for and what you hope to do with it. We share matching opportunities as they arise, each one after an NDA.
What does the free first look show?
Type an ISSN on the valuation page and our server reads what OpenAlex and Crossref publicly record about the journal: output by year, DOIs registered, open-access and directory listings, and a few plain observations a buyer would look at. It gives no score and no grade, and where a registry is silent it says “not recorded”.
Is a valuation from incitee an appraisal?
No. Ours are indicative. None is certified, and no registered valuer co-signs them. A real price turns on things a public record cannot show.
What does it cost?
Fees and terms are given on request, in writing, before you commit to anything. This site publishes none.
How do we start?
Send a message on WhatsApp (we do not take calls), write to acquisitions@incitee.com, or use the enquiry form. An outline is enough for a first message, and you need not name the journal.