The mushrooming growth of open access journals, some with prohibitive publishing fees, has paved the path for many predatory journals to solicit relentlessly. As the associate dean for research for my college of public health, I used to get numerous requests to help identify good open access journals from predatory journals. Beall's list of predatory journals (https://beallslist.weebly.com/) is a fairly inclusive list (not 100% accurate though) but what other resources/criteria can be used?
Hi Gulzar,
Beall's list used to be the 'go-to' resource to identify predatory journals. However, it is now closed - so has not been updated for the last 18 months or so. Perhaps the best available resource is the Directory of open Access Journals - at https://doaj.org/
It does the opposite to Beall's in that it lists 'credible' open access journals. Any open access journal that is not on the DOAJ list should be treated with caution and inspected very closely. There are general warning signs that all authors should be aware of and treat with caution when reviewing open access journals - such as.
1. Is it a known, recognised publishing house journal i.e. Sage, Springer etc?
2. Which country is the journal based in?
3. Is the Editor / Editor-in-Chief known and established in the field? Ask the same of the editorial board.
4. What is the scope of the journal? Treat with caution journals that say they accept 'almost anything' over very broad disciplines.
5. What is the 'standard' of the online site? Is it poorly constructed and poor use of English language, grammar etc?
6. How sophisticated is the manuscript submission process? If it is just sending a Word file to the editor - that is a warning sign.
7. How 'robust' does the reviewing system look? Do they specify blind review and multiple reviewers?
8. What is the fee process? Never send any money 'up-front' to a journal before review and acceptance.
Hi Gulzar,
Beall's list used to be the 'go-to' resource to identify predatory journals. However, it is now closed - so has not been updated for the last 18 months or so. Perhaps the best available resource is the Directory of open Access Journals - at https://doaj.org/
It does the opposite to Beall's in that it lists 'credible' open access journals. Any open access journal that is not on the DOAJ list should be treated with caution and inspected very closely. There are general warning signs that all authors should be aware of and treat with caution when reviewing open access journals - such as.
1. Is it a known, recognised publishing house journal i.e. Sage, Springer etc?
2. Which country is the journal based in?
3. Is the Editor / Editor-in-Chief known and established in the field? Ask the same of the editorial board.
4. What is the scope of the journal? Treat with caution journals that say they accept 'almost anything' over very broad disciplines.
5. What is the 'standard' of the online site? Is it poorly constructed and poor use of English language, grammar etc?
6. How sophisticated is the manuscript submission process? If it is just sending a Word file to the editor - that is a warning sign.
7. How 'robust' does the reviewing system look? Do they specify blind review and multiple reviewers?
8. What is the fee process? Never send any money 'up-front' to a journal before review and acceptance.
312 open access journals for public health- on doaja reflection on the level of competition between journals and the why there is such - aactive marketing. But is this just a business model for profit or does it really lead to a greater transfer/sharing of new knowledge?n
Dr. Whitehead,
I greatly appreciate a comprehensive answer to my question. Great insights. There is one clarification point: " Which country is the journal based in?" Are there some countries more likely to be the home for predatory journals than others?
Thank you so much for your perspective.
I am always suspicious of journals that ask for money up front. Always check out their online site. Talk with other academics and your research department. Many universities have extensive lists of the best journals to go to, if the journal is not in this list, don't bother with it. Kerre
I started to dig further and found quite a bit research on this topic. A recent study by Xia et al (2015) explored the characteristics of the authors who publish in the predatory journals (full text available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.23265/full).
The authors argued that predatory journals were of low quality and had questionable peer review process as well as had publishing costs. The authors found that the predatory journal have distinct author population that can be characterized as young and inexperienced belonging to developing countries. The authors attributed the trend to publish in the predatory journals emanating from economic and sociocultural conditions in these developing countries. I personally disagree and believe other factors are at play. For example if the socioeconmic and cultural conditions were the primary drivers, then there should be no differences by age of the author raised in the developing countries and culture not conducive to research worthy of publishing in legit journals.
What do you all think are the reasons for that predatory journal authors come mostly from developing countries and tend to be younger?
Hi Gulzar,
I completely agree with Dean. I can add a few additional pointers.
1) There is only one Impact Factor which is now published by Clarivate [ https://clarivate.com/essays/impact-factor/ ] Predatory journals have developed a new industry in spurious quality measures. Check to see if the IF is real. Any other measures are a sign of a predatory journal.
2) No reputable journal will approach you for content via eMail. Ignore any eMails from people you don't know personally - and can check with - inviting you to contribute to a journal.
3) Check spelling and language. Poor spelling and incoherent statements for authors are usually a sign that the journal is predatory.
4) Check Google for information. Predatory publishers are buying reputable journals and publishers to cover their tracks. See examples form Canada. These activities are usually discovered and reported.
5) Never publish in a journal without checking with your Library/Librarian or an experienced colleague. If no one knows the journal or those involved I would be VERY suspicious.
I did write about this in a short blog which is here. Might be of some use [ Article Predatory Publishers: are we doing enough to warn users abou...
]Best Wishes
Matt
While the original Beall's list web site (scholarly-oa.com) does not host the list anymore anyway, I have recently found a web site https://predatoryjournals.com/ which seems to build on and expand this list (see https://predatoryjournals.com/about/ )
See also a related question https://www.researchgate.net/post/A_new_site_listing_predatory_journals_What_do_you_think_of_it
Dear Sergyeyev,
Thanks for providing the link to a more updat set o resources. This is very helpful.
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