How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

Avoiding predatory journals
Where to submit your manuscript
Some preliminaries

As noted, open-access journals typically charge authors fees, as these journals lack income from subscriptions. Some dishonest people take advantage of this model by claiming to publish valid journals while instead just trying to get authors’ money. For example, these publishers of predatory journals may post all the papers that they receive, without peer review or editing. Or they might take authors’ money and publish nothing. Submitting papers to such journals advances neither science nor one’s career.

Such journals often market themselves vigorously, filling researchers’ email boxes with invitations to submit papers. How can you recognize, and thus avoid, predatory journals? Clues that a journal might be predatory include promises that seem too good to be true (for example, a guarantee to publish all submissions within a week), a website with many typographical and other errors, inclusion of what seem to be fake metrics (such as an “impact index”), and lack of good articles (or any articles at all) on the journal’s website.

On the other hand, indications that a journal is likely to be valid include publication of good articles that you already have seen, indexing of the journal by major bibliographic databases, and inclusion of the journal in academic libraries. The website Think.Check.Submit. (thinkchecksubmit.org) features guidance on assessing whether a journal or publisher appears credible. Other resources in this regard include an article (Elmore and Weston 2020) listing tips and resources for identifying predatory journals. Also, if you think that a journal might be predatory, consider checking with a research librarian at your institution, as the library community has taken the lead in identifying fraudulent journals.

Especially if you are inexperienced in publishing, perhaps consult a mentor or senior colleague if you think a journal that you are considering might be predatory or otherwise questionable. In fact, in any case, such consultation can be wise before finalizing one’s choice of journal.