Scholarly Communications Guide

Why Evaluate Journals?

Finding a journal that best fits your research, practices ethical publishing, offers robust peer review, and has a good reputation in your field is all part of the publishing process. Whether publishing in a traditional, hybrid, or Open Access journal, it is important to avoid predatory journals, which employ exploitative funding models and offer sub-par quality. Reviewing the editorial board, funding practices, peer review practices, and website of a journal can help you differentiate predatory journals from reputable ones.

Tools for Evaluating Journals:

• ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

• Think-Check-Submit checklist 

• Journal Evaluation Workflow from Karen Burton

Tools for Identifying and Avoiding Predatory Journals:

• A-Z List of Common Features in eMails from Predatory Publishers

• Predatory Journals: What They Are and How to Avoid Them

• Ten Simple Rules for Avoiding Predatory Publishing Scams

• Retraction Watch

Other Resources

• Evaluating Open Access Journals: Moving from Provocative to Practical in Characterizing Journal Practices
  • Free Course from Gutzman & Wescott (2024)
• What to Do When a Journal Acts Unethically
  • ​​​​​​​Blog from the University of California
• The Right of Publicity
• Reputable Open Access Journal Indicators

The following indicators can help you determine a journal's quality and avoid predatory journals.

Positive Indicators

• Scope of the journal is well-defined and clearly stated
• Journal’s primary audience is researchers/practitioners
• Editor and editorial board are recognized experts in the field
• Journal is affiliated with or sponsored by an established scholarly society or academic institution
• Articles are within the scope of the journal and meet the standards of the discipline
• Any fees or charges for publishing in the journal are easily found on the journal website and clearly explained
• Articles have Direct Object Identifiers (DOIs)
• Journal clearly indicates rights for use and re-use of content at article level (e.g., Creative Commons CC BY license)
• Journal has an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
• Publisher is a member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
• Journal is registered in Ulrichsweb.com, Global Serials Directory
• Journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals
• Journal is included in subject databases and/or indexes

Negative Indicators

• Journal website is difficult to locate or identify
• Publisher “About” information is absent on the journal’s website
• Publisher direct marketing or other advertising is obtrusive
• More information for authors is not available
• Information on peer review and copyright is absent or unclear on the journal website
• Journal scope statement is absent or extremely vague
• No information is provided about the publisher, or the information provided does not clearly indicate a relationship to a mission to disseminate research content
• Repeat lead authors in same issue
• Publisher has a negative reputation (e.g., documented examples in Chronicle of Higher Education, listservs, etc.)

Attribution: These indicators have been adapted from the list created by Grand Valley State University Libraries