Arpit - it is not too difficult to recognise predatory journals. You have identified a good one in 'flattering' and unsolicited emails.

You just have to know the 'classic' and common signs of a predatory journal. They don't necessarily expect to exist for very long long - so they often use 'minimal effort for maximum financial gain' - and therefore there are often many errors and poor quality .

There are certain factors then that make it reasonably easy to identify predatory journals - or at least ‘cause doubt’ so further investigation is required. Essentially, rule number one with predatory journals is always be very wary when any journal approaches you directly. If you are not sure - then the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a good site to check first. It lists the 'good' journals. If the journal targeting you is not on their list - it's another warning sign. Then there are many other warning signs - such as:

· Poor quality online interface.

· Minimal and/or very broad journal scope i.e. we publish almost anything related to a whole discipline.

· Poor English quality and grammatical errors.

· Check the country of origin. Many predatory journals are based in certain countries (usually sub-continent). Some, however, will try to give the impression that they are based elsewhere i.e. US, Europe.

· Unknown editors.

· Unknown or no editorial board and/or all based in the country of origin

· Unsophisticated online manuscript submission processes i.e. send a word document by email

· Upfront publishing charges

· Not registered or associated with any reputable professional bodies and/or citation agencies - nor are credible Impact Factor sources stated. Articles may not have been assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number.

· Check the quality of existing articles in the journal. They are usually very mixed and often poor quality.

Arpit - it is not too difficult to recognise predatory journals. You have identified a good one in 'flattering' and unsolicited emails.

You just have to know the 'classic' and common signs of a predatory journal. They don't necessarily expect to exist for very long long - so they often use 'minimal effort for maximum financial gain' - and therefore there are often many errors and poor quality .

There are certain factors then that make it reasonably easy to identify predatory journals - or at least ‘cause doubt’ so further investigation is required. Essentially, rule number one with predatory journals is always be very wary when any journal approaches you directly. If you are not sure - then the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a good site to check first. It lists the 'good' journals. If the journal targeting you is not on their list - it's another warning sign. Then there are many other warning signs - such as:

· Poor quality online interface.

· Minimal and/or very broad journal scope i.e. we publish almost anything related to a whole discipline.

· Poor English quality and grammatical errors.

· Check the country of origin. Many predatory journals are based in certain countries (usually sub-continent). Some, however, will try to give the impression that they are based elsewhere i.e. US, Europe.

· Unknown editors.

· Unknown or no editorial board and/or all based in the country of origin

· Unsophisticated online manuscript submission processes i.e. send a word document by email

· Upfront publishing charges

· Not registered or associated with any reputable professional bodies and/or citation agencies - nor are credible Impact Factor sources stated. Articles may not have been assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number.

· Check the quality of existing articles in the journal. They are usually very mixed and often poor quality.

You can find it on the website Stop Predatory Journals https://predatoryjournals.com/journals/

https://www.rxcomms.com/blog/6-ways-spot-predatory-journal/ u can look here

Predatory Journals take advantage of authors by asking them to publish for a fee without providing peer-review or editing services. Because predatory publishers do not follow the proper academic standards for publishing,

https://mdanderson.libanswers.com/faq/206446

Another way to tell that the proposed Journal has no scientific value:

Look at examples of papers published in the journal. If you have an understanding of the techniques and methods used to support the author's work, you will find that many of the accepted papers are scientifically invalid and should have been rejected based on the poor quality of work. It is very obvious in most cases. Many authors will also submit multiple papers to the same journal (since they will publish anything submitted to them w/o any actual review by those knowledgeable in the field).

Thank you everyone for your answers!

Yeah, usually funky and too generic language and sometimes gross errors help to identify them. Also when they ask you to contribute with a topic that is not of your expertise, or when they ask you to write a paper based on another paper you published (and where they tracked your email address).

Anyway when I hear about a potentially interesting journal I check it out at Journal of Citation Reports/Clarivate to see if it's indexed and has IF.

Also, I would see if they say in the email (or on the website) that the journal is open-access and charges article processing fees. Even though there are some good open-access journals, there are many more open-access predatory journals.

Also now there are not only predatory journals but also predatory conference organizers and book publishers.

I think COVID has made predatory practices more pervasive.

Take care!