How the Evidentiary record works

evidentia—the name of the service—is defined as an evidentiary record, designed to protect legitimate scientific publications against editorial fraud—such as cloned or hijacked journals—that impersonate identity and reputation.

The evidentiary record operates through two distinct services, which can be complemented by an additional integrity layer via cryptographic imprinting and public validation:

1) Cataloging metadata record (without storing the article)

It generates a verifiable record of what was published: authorship, dates, metadata, and identifiers (for example, volume, issue, elocation-id, ARK, DOI). It also records the bibliographic reference count at the moment the record is created, to preserve evidence of the original state in case of later modifications (for example, improper insertion of references). The result is linked to a public verification code that allows the PDF or other formats to be cross-checked against what was recorded—making it a tamper-evident record when the integrity layer is used.

2) Official communications record (storage and retrieval)

It allows editorial communications (for example, acceptance letters, official statements, certificates, or other documents) to be safeguarded and enables retrieval of an exact copy of the stored file. Each document is linked to a public verification code, reducing ambiguity in cases of impersonation, forgery, or misuse—again supporting a tamper-evident record approach when cryptographic imprinting is applied.

Recommended optional additional layer: invisible cryptographic imprint + public validator

Across both services, evidentia can apply an invisible cryptographic imprint in PDF (to publications and/or communications). A public validator can then confirm provenance (who marked it within the system) and integrity (whether it was altered after marking). If there is subsequent tampering, the validator reports it explicitly—this is the practical meaning of a tamper-evident record.