Open Access

Predatory or suspicious journal publishers exist for gain by charging unsuspecting authors a fee to publish their articles.  The first notice of fees is often after the author has submitted the work to the publisher.  Once an article is submitted, it can be difficult if not impossible to submit it to a reputable publisher. 

Some characteristics of predatory publishers:

• Faculty emails flooded with offers to publish their work
• Excessive author fees charged
• Most submissions accepted and published with little or no peer review
• Extremely short turn-around time for publication

Questions to ask before submitting your article:

• Does the journal publish the types of articles you might read for informative scholarship
• Which organization publishes the journal
• Can you contact the publisher easily
• What are the editorial policies
• Is the journal appropriately peer-reviewed
• Are publication fees charged
• If so, can you tell how much the fees are
• Are the editorial board members reputable
• Are the articles indexed in any resources you use (e.g. Web of Science, Google Scholar, JSTOR)

"Think, Check, Submit" by TCS is licensed CC BY.