How to Create a Journal Article Request

This article covers the following

• Searching for a journal article
• Searching: records
• What to do if a search result includes incorrect information
• Searching: permissions
• Page ranges

Searching for a Journal Article  
When searching for journal article in DCS 2, the system searches:  
the DCS bibliographic database (including records created manually by users) and 

Vault which stores publisher supplied (born digital) journal content and associated metadata used by the DCS, alongside external metadata sources such as Crossref. 

The first stage of creating a journal article request combines two checks into a single search:

• Is there already a record for this article in the DCS?
• Is the title covered for use under the CLA HE Licence?

Both checks are carried out automatically when you search.

If an article is available via Vault, a publisher‑supplied PDF may already be available later in the workflow, allowing the content to be used without uploading a scan.

Searching: records

1. Is there a record for this article?

When searching for journal article permissions in DCS 2, we recommend using the article title rather than the journal title in the first instance.

Alternatively, you can:

• search using the ISSN, and

 
 

If the article is not available, you can create it using the Add New Record option.

Note: 
Most journal article metadata can be amended later by the CLA. 
The ISSN cannot be added or amended later, so it is important to ensure this is entered correctly when creating a new record. 
 

What to do if the search result includes incorrect information

Occasionally, a search result may display incorrect or incomplete metadata.

• If the ISSN is correct, continue with your request and contact DCS Support to report the metadata issue.
• If the ISSN is incorrect, you should create a new record for the article.

Please note:

• ISSNs cannot be amended on existing records.
• If you proceed using a record with an incorrect ISSN, you will need to start again using a correctly created record.

To report metadata issues, email [e-mail] with details of what needs correcting.

Searching: permissions

Once you have selected the correct record (or added one manually), you should check whether the article is permitted for use under your CLA HE Licence.

Below the article metadata, you will see the Licence Verification panel. This displays the same information as the Check Permissions tool on the CLA website (excluding photocopying permissions, which are not relevant when using the DCS).

Licence statuses are shown as follows:

• Green tick – the article is covered for scanning and/or digital copying
• Red exclamation mark– the article is excluded and cannot be used under the Licence
• Amber result – the article was not found in the Check Permissions database

Click View details to see further information about the permissions for this title. 
 

Note: 
If a title is excluded, you may wish to contact the publisher directly to request permission. You can still use the DCS for non‑CLA licensed material, provided you have secured permission by other means.

If you believe a title has been excluded incorrectly, or you receive an amber result and are unsure whether the article can be used, you can contact the CLA Education team for advice.

Page ranges

Once you have found the correct record, you can enter the page range for the article you wish to digitise.

Page ranges should be entered using the following format:

• Consecutive pages: 1–10
• Single pages: 25
• Multiple ranges: 1–10, 25, 32, 35–37 
   

Consecutive page ranges should be separated by a dash, and non‑consecutive ranges by a comma. 
 

Roman numerals

You can include Roman numeral page ranges, but these must always be entered separately from Arabic numerals.

For example:

• ✅ vii–xxi, 1–10
• ❌ vii–10

This is because the DCS cannot accurately calculate page counts when Roman and Arabic numerals are combined in a single range.

If the article is supplied via Vault, the page range you enter will later be validated automatically when previewing or selecting the publisher‑supplied file.

Important note on journal article matching

DCS 2 currently searches the repository for journal articles based on:

• ISSN
• page range

In rare cases, this may return articles from a different issue of the same journal that happen to share the exact same page range.

For this reason:

• always preview the scan before selecting it, and
• confirm that the article content and quality are correct.
  
  This applies to all sources, including publisher‑supplied content held in Vault.