Introduction
Credibility check list
Cited works and further reading

Introduction

Some companies or individuals try to benefit from the fact that researchers have a wish to, or are required to, publish open access, by charging an APC or BPC for publishing the work without providing the peer review process and other services expected from a publisher. A similar case exists with book publishers who may not charge a publishing fee, but will require authors to subject their copyright to the publishing company without ensuring the type of work expected to produce a high quality product with good visibility. This is often referred to as predatory publishing or questionable publishing.

As an author it is important to avoid submitting a manuscript to such publishers, because it will not receive the kind of quality control we expect from most published research, it will not be considered a merit for the author, and we want to avoid supporting dishonest publishers. A study of published papers from 2012-2017 by authors with Swedish affiliations showed that between 0.5-0.9 % of the papers were published in journals that existed on various journal "blacklists" (Nelhans & Bodin, 2020), which means that even though this is not a very common phenomenon, it does occur.

Identifying a predatory publisher will always require some careful detective work, both to see through what the publisher may falsely promise but also to avoid rejecting valid publishers. It is always good to talk to your advisors and colleagues to check their knowledge and experience of the journal, as well as to consider if it is a publisher or conference you have read (good) work from.

Credibility check list

The following are some ways in which you can check the credibility of the publisher.

Do you receive e-mails from the journal/conference/book publisher encouraging you to submit your manuscript without a clear motivation for why you get the invitation?
- There may be reason for caution if the motivation they give for contacting you is that they have seen something you have published (they often list a recent title). If you get an invitation because someone you know is guest editing a special issue within your field, there is probably no reason for concern.
Is the journal indexed in one of the article databases the university subscribes to?
- Check in the article databases Web of Science, Scopus or one of the subject databases in your field (PsycINFO, Education Research Complete, etc.). If it is included in the database, this should indicate that it is a legitimate journal. If the journal lists on their website that they are indexed in a database, check that this is actually true. Especially with very specialized or local journals, however, it may not be indexed in the international databases but still be legitimate.
Is the open access journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals?
- Run a a search in DOAJ.
Is the open access book publisher's books listed in the Directory of Open Access Books?
- Run a a search in DOAB or OAPEN.
What comes up in a Google search for the journal/conference/publisher name and “predatory”?
- Read any discussions and try to make an assessment based on what is said.
Who are the people involved with a journal or conference (editors, editorial board, authors)?
- Can you verify on their webpages that they are in fact engaged in the capacity listed on the journal or conference web?

Still unsure?

Check Think.Check. Submit. for more detailed advice.
Consult a librarian.

Cited works and further reading

Bohannon, J. (2013). Who’s afraid of peer review? Science, 342(6154), 60-65. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.342.6154.60

Haider, J. & Åström, F. (2017). Dimensions of trust in scholarly communication: Problematizing peer review in the aftermath of John Bohannon’s “Sting” in science. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(2), 450–467. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23669

Nelhans, G. & Bodin, T. (2020). Methodological considerations for identifying questionable publishing in a national context: The case of Swedish Higher Education Institutions. Quantitative Science Studies 1(2), 505–524. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00033

Think. Check. Submit. https://thinkchecksubmit.org/

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