Apr 14
How to identify valid and reliable research? Cite with Confidence
Predatory journals—also called fraudulent, deceptive, or pseudo-journals—are publications that claim to be legitimate scholarly journals, but misrepresent their publishing practices. Some common forms of predatory publishing practices include falsely claiming to provide peer review, hiding information about Article Processing Charges (APCs), misrepresenting members of the journal’s editorial board, and other violations of copyright or scholarly ethics. Because of their increasing prevalence, this article aims to provide helpful information on how to identify and avoid predatory journals.
Elmore SA, Weston EH. Predatory Journals: What They Are and How to Avoid Them. Toxicol Pathol. 2020 Jun;48(4):607-610. doi: 10.1177/0192623320920209. Epub 2020 Apr 22. PMID: 32319351; PMCID: PMC7237319.
For biomedical journals, you can check to see if a journal is in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog. 19 If a journal’s entry in the NLM Catalog is listed as “Currently indexed for MEDLINE,” that means that all new articles published in this journal will appear in the citation database PubMed. If a journal is not in the NLM catalog or has an entry in the NLM Catalog but is not listed as indexed for MEDLINE, that may mean that it is either not considered a biomedical journal, or that it might not be considered a trustworthy journal.
- Mimics name or website of other well-known, legitimate journals. 6
- Advertises a Journal Impact Factor or other citation metric on the website that is incorrect or cannot be verified.7,8
- May state that offices are in one country but contact details are in another.6
Free and Subscription Resources that may be Helpful for Identifying Predatory Journals
Free resources
- ThinkCheckSubmit.org is a non-profit website with a step-by-step guide to evaluating journal quality.17
- The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a non-profit database containing a searchable list of high-quality, peer reviewed open access journals in all scholarly disciplines.25
- The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is a group of publishing organizations that agree to uphold certain standards ethical publishing practices. The COPE website provides a searchable database of reputable publishers and journals,21 guidance for authors and editors on addressing suspected misconduct,26 and example cases and advice for authors that have dealt with predatory publishers.27
- SCImago Journal Rank is a free online database that provides measures of journal citation rates based on data in the Scopus database. Journals in SCImago can be sorted and filtered by subject, country, and open access status. Using SCImago can help you determine if a journal is actually indexed in a major citation database, and help you identify other high-quality journals in your subject area.28–30 https://www.scimagojr.com/
- For biomedical journals, you can check to see if a journal is in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog.19 If a journal’s entry in the NLM Catalog is listed as “Currently indexed for MEDLINE,” that means that all new articles published in this journal will appear in the citation database PubMed. If a journal is not in the NLM catalog or has an entry in the NLM Catalog but is not listed as indexed for MEDLINE, that may mean that it is either not considered a biomedical journal, or that it might not be considered a trustworthy journal.