Scholarly Publishing

“Predatory publishing” is an exploitative academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and without providing editorial and publishing services that legitimate academic journals provide, whether open access or not.

Use this checklist to determine if a journal may be predatory: 

• The journal is not listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• It's not listed in Ulrichs Periodicals Directory, which is an authoritative source on publisher information, including Open Access titles
• The publisher is not a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
• It's not widely available within major databases: 
  • Web of Science for journals spanning the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields (select "Publication Name" from the drop down menu next to the search box)
  • SciFinder for journals in Chemistry and related fields (select "Journal" under the References bar). Users must first register.
  • PubMed for life sciences, biomedical, clinical, and public/community health journals (choose "Journal" from the drop down menu next to the search box)
  • JSTOR for journals spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences (scroll down and search using the "Publication Title" search box)
• The publisher is listed on List of Predatory Journals
• For a more in-depth search, use Karen Burton's Journal Evaluation Workflow

Visit the journal's website. Some red flags include:

• You don't recognize previously published authors or members of the editorial board.
• The journal isn't affiliated with a University or scholarly organization with which you are familiar.
• You can't easily identify if they have author processing fees and/or how much they cost:
  • Additionally, if they charge for submissions (prior to peer review) this is a red flag (although this may be changing). 
• The journal doesn't appear professional - look for an impact factor, an ISSN, DOIs for individual articles, and easy to find contact information.

Before publishing in a new Open Access publication, please consider: 

• Is the publication listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)? Journals indexed in DOAJ after March 2014 (indicated with a green check mark or DOAJ Seal)
• Is the publication indexed in a reputable, established database such as Web of Knowledge, Ulrich's, Sociological Abstracts, or others that you use in your research? 
• Is the publisher a member of a reputable industry organization such as Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association or the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)?
• Is the publication affiliated with a university or professional organization? Does the editorial board have credentials? What are their acceptance rates? If you have questions or hesitations, contact members of the editorial board or article authors. 
• Article Publishing Costs and copyright ownership should be clearly indicated on a publication's website. More information on author rights.
• Think. Check. Submit. helps researchers identify trusted journals in their research. Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications.