12 Predatory Practices
If one decides to publish in an OA journal, it is important to carefully evaluate the scholarly credibility of both the publisher and the journal. Check the publisher’s website against these guidelines:
- COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
- International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM) Code of Conduct
The following questions may also prove useful in making assessments:
- Is the journal listed in Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory? Ulrichsweb is a comprehensive listing of 300,000 periodical titles.
- Are articles from the journal indexed in journal databases relevant to your field, or in citation databases such as Scopus or Web of Science?
- Who is on the editorial board? You may decide to contact a member to check that their affiliation is legitimate.
- Are the articles of a scholarly standard? Are they written in a scholarly style typical of the relevant field?
- Does the publisher have a clear peer review process?
- Are the publisher’s rejection rates comparable with other publishers’ rates?
- Do web searches involving the publisher’s name paired with keywords like complaint, scam, or fraud retrieve results?
A useful summary of this process is provided by the Think – Check – Submit site.