Predatory publishers use questionable tactics to profit from scholarly research. They exploit faculty and students by soliciting articles (often through spam emails) and usually request payment for publishing in advance. And, of course, the quality of the journals is sub par. The following resources and tips can help in identifying predatory journals.
The journal/publisher is listed in Cabells "Predatory Reports"
The journal is not listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
It is not listed in Ulrichs, 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
The publisher lists an Impact Factor but the journal is not listed in Journal Citation Reports or Scopus CiteScore.
There are many checklists available to assist with determining the legitimacy of a journal. Here is one from Think! Check! Submit!
Reference this list for your chosen journal to check if it 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?
Organizations have collaborated in an effort to identify principles of transparency and best practice to distinguish legitimate from non-legitimate journals and publishers:
3rd version (January 2018) Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
These are just some of the many good Open Access Publishers
One of the most respected lists of verified open access publishers.
Association of STEM publishers with rigorous quality control inspections.
For legitimate open access journals published in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Central America and Mongolia
World's largest collection of peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly open access journals.
Database with approved journals on science, technology, engineering, and medicine.
Database consisting of approved journals related to life sciences and biomedical topic and maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
"PLOS publishes a suite of influential Open Access journals across all areas of science and medicine. Research in published articles is rigorously reported, peer reviewed and immediately available to everyone completely free of restrictions, promoting the widest readership and impact possible."