Finding Reputable Journals

Posted by Patricia Devine on September 27th, 2016 Posted in: Training & Education

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The growth in importance of scholarly publishing and open access has also had an unfortunate consequence of a rise in disreputable or predatory journal publishing. These publishers can create a negative impact on the spirit of open access publishing, as well as preying upon less experienced authors. Librarians can help guide authors to reputable journals and teach them what criteria to use to evaluate publishers.

The questionable journals, which do not have high impact factors, sometimes sponsor “fake” conferences, and may charge authors to publish, often prey upon recent graduates or issue invitations to serve on their editorial boards as a way to gain legitimacy. Some factors to use in judging whether a journal is reputable: 1) Do they send spam email soliciting papers? 2) Do they charge for publishing? 3)Do they require copyright transfer when the manuscript is submitted?

The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association offers a Code of Conduct for their members, which includes the dissemination of peer-reviewed manuscripts without charge or registration required, and allowing users to copy, distribute and use freely their published material. Requirements for membership in their association include: a regularly published open access book or journal, full contact information available on the web site, a well-defined peer review process, and appropriate activity for soliciting manuscripts.

Many academic libraries have published criteria for their users to assist them in identifying reputable journals, for example:

The University of Tennessee Veterinary School: Research Support Guide.
Queensborough Community College: Open Access, Open Education, & More: Predatory Publishing.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice: Open Access Publishing.
Texas A&M University: Open Access and Predatory Journals.

Additional References:

1. Chen, Cenyu, and Bo-Christer Björk. “Predatory’ Open Access: A Longitudinal Study of Article Volumes and Market Characteristics.” BMC Medicine 13 (2015): 230. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
2. Hansoti, Bhakti, Mark I. Langdorf, and Linda S. Murphy. “Discriminating Between Legitimate and Predatory Open Access Journals: Report from the International Federation for Emergency Medicine Research Committee.” Western Journal of Emergency Medicine 17.5 (2016): 497–507. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
3. Gasparyan, Armen Yuri et al. “Publishing Ethics and Predatory Practices: A Dilemma for All Stakeholders of Science Communication.” Journal of Korean Medical Science 30.8 (2015): 1010–1016. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
4. Wicherts, Jelte M. “Peer Review Quality and Transparency of the Peer-Review Process in Open Access and Subscription Journals.” Ed. Gemma Elizabeth Derrick. PLoS ONE 11.1 (2016): e0147913. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.