How to choose the right publisher
There are quality criteria for assessing open access journals that differ from the quality criteria of subscription journals.
Advice when assessing journals
Before you publish in an unfamiliar journal, you should assess the quality of the journal. Consider the following:
- Who have been published in the journal in the past?
- Are the articles in the journal of high scientific quality?
- Who are on the editorial board?
- Are there any information about the journals peer review process?
- Does the journals' contact information look reliable?
- Are the conditions in the publishing agreement reasonable?
- Is the journal listed in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)?
- Is the publisher member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)?
More advice on assessing journals can be found in the guide Open Access and predatory publishers (Eklund, 2012).
Questionable publishers
There are questionable publishers, sometimes called predatory publishers, who exploit the open access journals' payment model. They charge authors for publishing but don't perform any peer review of articles.
Questionable journals are not indexed in the database Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the publishers are not members of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).
Contact us
Contact us if you need advice on assessing open access journals.
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