At present, there are seven kinds of core journals (or source journals) selection systems in China: Chinese core journals of Peking University Library, source journals of Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) of Nanjing University, statistical source journals of China scientific papers of China Institute of Science and Technology Information (also known as China Science and Technology Core Journals), and China Humanities and Social Sciences Core Journals of Literature and Information Center of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The source journals of China Science Citation Database (CSCD) are provided by Information Center of China Academy of Sciences, the core journals of China Humanities and Social Sciences are provided by China Humanities and Social Sciences Society, and the selection database of China core journals is built by Wan Fang Data Co., Ltd. ..

If the journal is recognized as the core by both core journal selection systems, then the journal is a dual-core journal. For example, it was selected as the "National Core Journal of Chinese" and "China Core Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences".

Dual-core journals and single-core journals are core journals in topic selection. But the academic standard of dual-core journals is naturally better.