licensing

I assume that you mean the journal may make use of a function for which the current user doesn't have a license. For instance, using CAM functions when the user only has a modeling license, correct?

If so, I'd try calling a basic function using that license wrapped in a Try block. If you get a "no license" error, set a flag to stop execution and warn the user. For example, try to create a sphere object to see if the user has a modeling license. If the sphere is created successfully, undo the operation and continue with the journal execution. If the sphere is not created successfully, halt execution and warn the user.