Services
Cataloging metadata record
A verifiable record for articles and other content through registered metadata and identifiers (for example, volume, issue, elocation-id, ARK, DOI), including the bibliographic reference count, linked to a public verification code.
Official communications record
Verifiable storage and retrieval of editorial documents (for example, acceptance letters, certificates, or other communications). Authors and readers can retrieve an exact PDF copy through a public verification code.
Public verification via cryptographic imprint
Cryptographic imprinting of PDF files, available at no extra cost when contracting one of evidentia’s services. The system provides a public validator to check integrity and provenance under the service rules. If a document is altered after cryptographic marking, the validator will indicate tampering, providing assurance to readers, authors, and evaluators—i.e., it operates as a tamper-evident record.
What is the cryptographic imprint?
The invisible cryptographic imprint is a hidden mark that an editor applies to PDF files. It is not perceptible to readers and allows two checks:
- who applied the mark (registered user), and
- whether the PDF was altered after it was marked.
How it is applied
The mark must be applied by the user to a final PDF (the definitive version of the document).
The system generates and delivers a new marked PDF. For verification to be meaningful, that PDF returned by evidentia must be used and distributed, because it is the one that contains the cryptographic imprint. The original, unprocessed file does not contain the mark and therefore cannot be validated as marked.
In short: the user uploads a final PDF (letter, article, etc.), and evidentia returns it with the cryptographic imprint embedded.
Use and activation
The cryptographic imprint is free, but it is not applied automatically: it must be requested and executed when the journal needs it (for example, for final versions, letters, or certificates).
The local certification associated with marking is valid for one year and is renewed with an active subscription to the service.
What happens if the service is not renewed
If the service is not renewed, the journal will not be able to cryptographically mark new documents.
This does not affect the public validator: verification will remain available, and documents already marked will continue to validate as long as the evidentia evidentiary record exists.
External certificates recognized by the system
Subscribers may sign using their own means (for example, certificates issued by accredited authorities). Upon request, the evidentia evidentiary record can register an external certificate as trusted so that the validator recognizes it as a trusted signature within the system. This is not an advanced electronic signature and does not aim to replace one; its purpose is to support integrity and provenance under the service’s verification rules.
Integrity policy
Records are immutable: changes are not allowed once a record has been created. Any modification requires creating a new record. Only the responsible editor can create records for a previously registered source.