Skip to Main Content

Publishing Your Research: Predatory Publishing

Guide to Getting Published

Predatory Publishing

Open Access (OA) publishing is a publishing model where non-subscription-based journals charge a fee to authors or institutions to publish their material and make it immediately available to the public.  Many of these publishers are legitimate, many with excellent journal impact metrics. However, with the rise in OA publishing, there has been an increase in predatory publishers who abuse the open access author-pays model for their own profit. Keep reading below to see what you can do.

Places to Check

Specialized Lists

Cabells Journalytics & Predatory Reports - Medicine
Cabells Journalytics & Predatory Reports - Academic 

Beall's List (No longer maintained read more)

Directory of Nursing Journals from International Academy of Nursing Editors

Web of Science Journal Metrics

Scopus (free) Journal Metrics

Sherpa/Romeo - RoMEO is a searchable database of publisher's policies regarding the self- archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories.

Google Maps - Look at the street view of a publishers address using Google Maps. Does it look like the type of office you would expect a publisher to operate from?

Consider the database inclusion criteria:

PubMed

Scopus

Web of Science

Read - OASPA Priciples of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing
Note: These services are not comprehensive. Maintaining lists of predatory journals and publishers is a risky task and is highly controversial. If you would like assistance in identifying predatory journals, contact a librarian. 

Positive indicators

  • Scope of the journal is well-defined and clearly stated
  • Journal’s primary audience is researchers/practitioners
  • Editor, editorial board are recognized experts in the field
  • Journal is affiliated with or sponsored by an established scholarly society or academic institution
  • Articles are within the scope of the journal and meet the standards of the discipline
  • Any fees or charges for publishing in the journal are easily found on the journal web site and clearly explained
  • Articles have DOIs (Digital Object Identifier, e.g., doi:10.1111/j.1742-9544.2011.00054.x)
  • Journal clearly indicates rights for use and re-use of content at article level (e.g., Creative Commons CC BY license)
  • Journal has an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number, e.g., 1234-5678)
  • Publisher is a member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
  • Journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Journal is a member of Committee on Publication Ethics 
  • Journal is included in subject databases and/or indexes, such as PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, etc.

Suspicious indicators

Here are some definite red flags to consider.

  • Journal web site is difficult to locate or identify
  • Publisher “About” information is absent on the journal’s web site
  • Publisher direct marketing (i.e., spamming) or other advertising is obtrusive
  • Instructions to authors information is not available
  • Information on peer review and copyright is absent or unclear on the journal web site
  • Journal scope statement is absent or extremely vague
  • No information is provided about the publisher, or the information provided does not clearly indicate a relationship to a mission to disseminate research content
  • Repeat lead authors in same issue
  • Publisher has a negative reputation (e.g., documented examples in Chronicle of Higher Education, list-servs, etc.)
  • Be wary of similar journal titles. Example: Obstetrics & Gynecology (a long standing well know journal from Lippincott Williams and Wilkins) and Gynecology & Obstetrics from OMICS (a large publisher, widely regarded as predatory).

THINK, CHECK, SUBMIT

Follow the Think! Check! Submit! guidance!

There are checklists for books/monographs journals and conferences.

Carpenter Library | Atrium Health/Wake Forest University School of Medicine | Contact Us