Open Access

Predatory journals are pseudo-academic journals that exist for the sole purpose of collecting fees from authors. They have emerged to exploit the Open Access publishing business model whereby authors pay a fee to make their work freely available to the public. Predatory journals are a concern because they are sometimes difficult to identify. They pose as high quality Open Access journals but fail to deliver meaningful editorial and peer review. Predatory journals aren't just low quality, they actively intend to deceive others about the quality of the journal as they indiscriminately publish articles and collect fees from authors.

How to recognize predatory journals

• If a journal is stalking you … it’s probably a predatory journal.
• Scrutinize editorial boards. Look for no academic affiliation or fake affiliations.
• Be wary of lack of clarity around Author Processing Charges (APCs).
• Ensure that you can easily identify and contact the publisher.
• Look for false claims about where the journal is indexed.
• Look for publisher names and journal titles with geographic references that have no connection to the scope of the publisher or the journal.

Think, Check, Submit

Think, Check, Submit, provides a simple assessment framework to help scholars identify trustworthy journals. It is a cross-industry initiative led by representatives from ALPSP, DOAJ, INASP, ISSN, LIBER, OASPA, STM, UKSG, and individual publishers.

Canadian Association of Research Libraries

• How to Assess a Journal