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Predatory Publishing

Think, Check, Submit

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Sharing research results with the world is key to the progress of your discipline and career. But with so many publications, how can you be sure you can trust a particular journal? Follow this check list to make sure you choose trusted journals for your research.

Check if a journal is trusted.

  • Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
    – Have you read any articles in the journal before?
    – Is it easy to discover the latest papers in the journal?

  • Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?
    – Is the publisher name clearly displayed on the journal website?
    – Can you contact the publisher by telephone, email, and post?

  • Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses?

  • Are articles indexed in services that you use?

  • Is it clear what fees will be charged?
    – Does the journal site explain what these fees are for and when they will be charged?

  • Do you recognise the editorial board?
    – Have you heard of the editorial board members?
    – Do the editorial board mention the journal on their own websites?

  • Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?
    – Do they belong to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ?
    – If the journal is open access, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) ?
    – If the journal is open access, does the publisher belong to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA) ?
    – Is the journal hosted on one of INASP’s Journals Online platforms (for journals published in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Central America and Mongolia) or on African Journals Online (AJOL, for African journals)?
    – Is the publisher a member of another trade association?

Additional Resources

 

Grudniewicz, A.  et al. (2019). Predatory journals: No definition, no defence. Nature, 576: 210-212 . https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y
Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed on a definition of predatory publishing that can protect scholarship. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach.

Berger, M.  (2017).  Everything you ever wanted to know aboutpredatory publishing but were afraid to ask. In ACRL 2017, Baltimore, Maryland, March 22 - 25, 2017. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/141/

Berger, M. & Cirasella, J. (2015). Beyond Beall’s List: Better understanding predatory publishers. College & Research Libraries News, 76(3): 132-135. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.76.3.9277