Open Access Publishing

Anderson, R. (2017). Federal Trade Commission and National Institutes of Health take action against predatory publishing practices.  

• Is the journal's mission and scope clearly defined?
• Are there spelling and grammar errors on the website, in titles, and abstracts?
• Is there an editorial team you can contact? Or are the email addresses non-professional and non-journal/publisher affiliated?
• Is there a submission fee instead of a publication fee?
• Does the journal charge excessive fees for publication? It should be clear what fees are paid for. Predatory publishers hide fees until after you submit your manuscript.
• Does the publication claim to have an impact factor when there is none?
• Are there clear production, peer-review and publication processes?

Here is a handy graphic with tips on how to identify predatory journals:

 Add / Reorder  

Apr 24, 2025

Questionable and Unethical Publishers: How to spot them and enable researchers to avoid being trapped from Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)