Predatory Publishers

Legitimate publishers banded together to promote and encourage scholarship.

Is this a trusted journal?

• Examine the journal and look for signs of dependable, consistent, professional publishing.
• Have you ever heard of the journal?
• Look for established journals and verify them in Ulrichsweb, Web of Science, and Cabell's

Check the journal to see if it is trusted

• Have you read articles from this journal?
• Can you find articles in the databases from this journal?
• Does it have an ISSN and do the articles have DOIs?
• Check the peer review process, editorial board, and journal website.
• Explore the postings about fees, publishing guidelines, and digital preservation.
• Explore more journal-checking ideas at ThinkCheckSubmit

Submit only after you know and trust the publisher.

Thank you to https://thinkchecksubmit.org/ for the ideas and images.

Don't ignore the warning signs.

• Predators are focused on authors, true publishers are focused on readers.
• Look for errors, broken links, and missing information.
• Is the journal brand new this week?
• Does it have International in the title?
• Look for a clear submission process and it should not be submitted by email.
• Do they have a retraction policy?
• Have you never heard of this journal before?
• Are they sending out author submission requests that look more like spam?

Want to know the submission guidelines, check Cabell's.

Want to check for predatory publishers and journals, check Cabell's.

Want to know the peer-review and publisher status, check Ulrichsweb.

Want to know the journal impact factor, check Web of Science.

For more help with journal analysis, explore our Guide on Journal Analysis.