How reliable the Bentham Sciences Publisher, particularly Journal of Anti-Infective Agents (AIA) with no impact factors, which has a volume of 16 in 2018?
Bentham Open (but not Bentham Sciences) is listed on Beall's list of predatory publishers (https://beallslist.weebly.com/), so it's hard to determine reliability.
As you note, AIA has no impact factor and is not listed on Thompson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports. This would a good enough reason for me to submit my work elsewhere.
Bentham Science Publishers is a company that publishes scientific, technical, and medical journals and e-books. It publishes 140 subscription-based academic journals[1] and over 60 open access journals.[2] It is based at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates,[1] and has operating units in the United States, Japan, China, India, and the Netherlands. The company workforce is outsourced to China, India, Japan [3] and Pakistan.[1]
Bentham Open, its open-access branch, has received some criticism for its questionable peer-review practices, and was listed as a "potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publisher" in Jeffrey Beall's list of Predatory Publishers. [4]
BUT no mention of Journal of Anti-Infective Agents
Bentham Open (but not Bentham Sciences) is listed on Beall's list of predatory publishers (https://beallslist.weebly.com/), so it's hard to determine reliability.
As you note, AIA has no impact factor and is not listed on Thompson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports. This would a good enough reason for me to submit my work elsewhere.
I have published several times in Current Organic Chemistry, a Journal of the Bentham Sciences Publisher, and I had a good experience with this journal.
I have published a research article in Current Analytical Chemistry, a Journal of the Bentham Sciences Publisher, and I found a good experience with this journal.
Actually, I only have experience with Current Drug Delivery (CDD) journal. I have published two of my research articles there. Following my experience, I am satisfied with the editorial system and review process. Even I am longing for publishing more of my articles there.
The journal “Anti-Infective Agents” is indeed (still) not included in the JCR of Clarivate, I suspect that one of the reasons is the name change a couple of years ago. They are however indexed under their current name in the list of Scopus indexed journals since 2012.
Bentham is and has been discussed on several threads here in Researchgate:
And the overall conclusion seems to be that it all depends on the journal (and the quality and commitment of their editor and editorial board behind it).
Bentham (and its open access division Bentham Open) has managed to get a substantial number of their journals indexed in well-reputed indexing services like Scopus, (E)SCI(E) and PubMed. So overall their overall quality is meeting the proper standards.