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Objective: Learn how to find journals and evaluate them for publication
Determining whether a journal is fraudulent can be challenging, even for seasoned researchers.
Let's start with a definition of predatory publishing: Predatory publishers or journals are those that charge authors a fee for publication with no intention of providing the expected services – such as editorial or peer review – in return.
This resource guide will provide some guidelines on how to evaluate a journal for publishing.
Evaluation Tools
Librarians at Duke University Medical Center created a checklist to help determine the quality of journals and publishers.
Librarians at Loyola Marymount University created a rubric and scoring sheet to help evaluate the credibility of a journal.
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.
Journal Metrics
Use journal metrics to understand the impact of a journal.
CiteScore metrics – helps to measure journal citation impact. Free, comprehensive, transparent, and current metrics are calculated using data from Scopus®, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.
SJR – or SCImago Journal Rank, is based on the concept of a transfer of prestige between journals via their citation links.
SNIP – or Source Normalized Impact per Paper, is a sophisticated metric that accounts for field-specific differences in citation practices.
JIF – or Journal Impact Factor is calculated by Clarivate Analytics as the average of the sum of the citations received in a given year to a journal’s previous two years of publications, divided by the sum of “citable” publications in the previous two years.
H-index – Although originally conceived as an author-level metric, the H-index has been applied to higher-order aggregations of research publications, including journals.
Think. Check. Submit.
ThinkCheckSubmit-Journals-English.pdfWhat to Look for in Reputable Journals and Publishers
Journal Name and Owners
Journal name should be distinctive, easily discerned from other journals, and not misleading as to the journal's origin or associations to other journals.
The ownership and/or management of a journal should not be misleading and should be clearly indicated on the journal's website.
Red flags include: A journal name that sounds somewhat familiar but is actually a derivative of a legitimate journal name.
Journal Basics
The publishing schedule (the frequency of journal publication) should be clearly defined.
Accessibility of publications and individual articles, whether by subscription, pay-per-view- or open access, should be clearly defined.
Plan for the electronic backup and preservation of access to journal content in the event the journal ceases publication should be clearly defined.
Red flags include: Lack of indexing in a recognized citation system or within a legitimate online directory such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); claiming broad coverage across multiple specialties or across multiple subspecialties in a particular discipline; a large collection of journals that have been started very recently and/or that contain no or few published articles; are inaccessible or are of obviously poor quality.
Peer Review and Editorial Board
Journals should identify their peer review status and not promise manuscript acceptance. The peer review process and method should be clearly defined on the journal website, including peer review times that allow the reviewer adequate time.
Journals should have a governing body comprised of recognized experts in the subject area. The full names and affiliations of this governing body should be clearly visible.
Red flags include: Promise of unrealistically quick peer review; lack of information about a journal’s peer-review process; an editorial board consisting of members from outside the specialty or outside the country in which the journal is published; a submission system that is overly simple with few questions asked and no conflict-of-interest or authorship qualification information requested.
Website
The website should include statements on the aim and scope of the journal, information on publishing for the journal, and have ISSNs clearly displayed.
The website should include contact information for the editorial office including the full names and affiliations of the journal editors.
Websites should clearly state policies on publishing ethics, including authorship and contributorship, ethical oversight, conflicts of interest, data sharing and reproducibility, intellectual property, and options for the discussion and corrections of publications.
Red flags include: Poor graphics, misused language, dead links, aggressive advertising, fake or missing street addresses, and phone numbers.
Copyright and Fees
Copyright and licensing policies should be clearly indicated on the journal's website, including terms for each publication format, Creative Commons licensing allowances, and any policies on the use of the final accepted version of the manuscript on third-party repositories.
Any fees or charges required for manuscript processing and publishing should be clearly stated and defined before the author begins preparing their manuscript for submission.
Red flags include: Article processing charges that are not transparent or are payable on submission. Charges should not be dependent on the outcome of peer review.
Marketing
Advertising policy should be clearly stated. The decision-making and influence of advertisements should be completely separate from manuscript publication decisions.
Any direct marketing should be appropriate, unobtrusive, and truthful, not including any misleading information regarding the journal or publisher.
Red flags include: Emails sent by publishers or journals that aggressively solicit researchers.
From: Advocate Health -Midwest Library https://library.aah.org/guides/publicationprocess/evaluate
Detailed Characteristics of Predatory Journals
Below are some of the typical practices and characteristics of predatory publishers. These indicators do not replace first-hand experience interrogating a publisher’s website, cross-checking its claims and personnel and as reading its content.
1. Spam emails sent to .edu addresses to attract potential authors for journals and conferences: Written with fawning language, these solicitations use bogus personalization but have no connection to the recipient’s discipline and specialty.
2. Promises of fast peer review and fast publication: Peer review is poorly explained and the peer review itself may be faked or low quality.
3. Lack of focus in subject matter or subject matter extremely broad: many predatory journals lack a feasible scope.
4. Lack of transparency about author fees: Journal business model is based exclusively on APCs. The journal will not waive fees. Fees may be disclosed after acceptance or terms of fees change after acceptance.
5. Contradictions and inconsistencies: Journal scope may not match the content. The journal’s name may not match its location. Note that many publishers claim bogus addresses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
6. Editors are not editors: Academics are listed as editors without that individual’s knowledge or involvement. Journal proprietors are editors. Look for duplicate editorial boards, cases where no editor is identified as well as a lack of academic-affiliated email and/or academic affiliation for editor(s).
7. Newness and quantity: Most predatory journals and their publishers are new businesses. They launch many journals at once. A high quantity of articles per issue and frequent issues signals lack of peer review and an over-eagerness to earn revenue.
8. Copycat names with and without copycat websites: Some predatory journals have names that sound familiar. Others are hijacked journals that take the exact or very close name, look, web domain, and MARCH 22–25, 2017 • BALTIMORE, MARYLAND Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Predatory Publishing but Were Afraid to Ask 209 ISSN of an established journal. Well-known examples include Wulfenia Journal, Jokull Journal, and Sylwan. Dadkhah has written at length on the topic: for a quick overview, see Bohannon’s short article in Science.38 Hijacked journals may be the worst form of predatory publishing. They are especially deceptive and exist purely to defraud scholars, sometimes accepting author fees without publication.
9. Author-editor nightmares: There are no opportunities for an author to revise. Horrible editing errors are introduced. Sometimes an article will be published without author consent. The editor will refuse to retract an article or to retract an article without payment.
10. Location information that is contradictory or missing: Bad information about the physical location of publisher can be a telling signal. Many predatory publishers falsely claim a base in the United States or England or a business address that is residential. Use Google Earth to investigate.
11. Standards and identifiers missing, stolen or faked: Check for standard journal identifiers (ISSN) and linking standards (DOIs). ISSNs, however, can be stolen or fabricated. The presence of an ORCID ID (an author identifier) for a journal signals a bogus journal.
12. False and fake bibliometrics: Imaginatively named journal metrics are common as well as false claims of inclusion in legitimate bibliometric services. Fake ‘impact factors’ are supplied by companies that support predatory publishing.
13. False and inappropriate claims of indexing and inclusion in databases: Journals falsely claim inclusion in DOAJ as well as Ulrich’s, Serials Solutions, and Cabell’s. Look for claims of indexing in Sherpa RoMEO or other services that are not indexes as well as bogus indexing services.
14. Amateurish website: Poorly designed, difficult to navigate websites with dead links or many “coming soon” texts can signal a predatory publisher. Excessive and aggressive advertisements are also signs. More recently probable predatory publishers have more sophisticated websites.
15. Nota bene: Many legitimate journals, because they are small and poorly funded, may lack the hallmarks of their shinier, well-supported counterparts. Legitimate journals may lack ISSNs, indexing, impact factor, and other qualities of larger, monied journals. Less than stellar English is also not a meaningful indicator.
From: Berger, M. (2017). Everything you ever wanted to know about predatory publishing but were afraid to ask. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/141/
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