The open access movement has been beneficial to authors wanting to share the results of their research with the broadest possible audience. This environment, however, has also opened the door to unethical publishers intent on exploiting your need to publish.
So, if an unknown publisher solicits articles from you -- scholarly or otherwise -- or pressures you to publish with them, this may be cause for concern and may be your first clue that their practices could be predatory.
How can you tell? These publishers share some common characteristics:
- financial profit is a primary goal (there will be fees)
- published work lacks quality (little or no editing or peer-review)
- false claims or promises are used to attract authors (e.g., claims of impact factors and indexing)
- business practices are unethical (not as advertised)
- accepted standards or best practices of scholarly publishing are not followed. [Source: Iowa State University Library]
What can you do? The
Directory of Open Access Journals
has compiled a set of criteria to help authors assess open access journals, but
the same guide can be applied to more traditional journals as well. Their Principles
of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing is worth
browsing.To the DOAJ criteria, I would add the following:
- Publisher information: Ownership and publisher contact information are clearly identified.
- Indexing: The journal is indexed in more than one reputable subject database, such as Web of Science, INSPEC, Scopus, with citation data tracked and ranked by Journal Citation Reports.
- Web search: The journal is listed on the first page of search results, preferably near the top, without any alert or scam postings.
By critically evaluating the journals you want to publish in, you can avoid being victimized by unscrupulous publishers.
We can help you investigate publishers or provide guidance on where to publish – please contact us!
Jean Phillips