Predatory Journals: Guides, Checklists and Tips

How do you check if a journal/publisher is predatory?

Journal website:

• Contact information: Is there contact information visible on the journal's webpage?
• No "About us" page on the website
• The content on the website looks unprofessional, and the language is informal
• Grammatical and spelling errors on the website or in the e-mail invitations sent by the journal
• Lots of advertisements on the journal's website

Editorial board:

• Are the editors recognized and well-known experts in the field? 
• Do the editors have institutional or journal-affiliate email addresses?

Indexing and metrics:

• Indexing: Is the journal indexed in any of the international indexing databases like Scopus, Web of Science, or DOAJ? You can also check in the Journal Citation Reports.
• Metrics: Check the journal metrics and be informed about misleading metrics.

Fees and policies:

• APCs: Is there visible and transparent information about author publication fees?
• No information about copyrights, licensing, and archiving 
• Retraction policy: Does the journal have a clear retraction policy?
• Article quality: Check a few articles from the journal to see the quality of the research

Peer review process:

• Peer review process: Is the peer review procedure clearly described on the journal's webpage? 
• Does the journal guarantee publication and quick peer review? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
• Instructions for authors are not available

Unsolicited e-mail invitations:

• E-mail invitation: Have you received unsolicited and unprofessional e-mail invitations, filled with errors and flattery, requesting you to publish or review? 

Lists and useful links:

• Beall's List of Potential Predatory Journals and Publishers: This is an archived version of the Beall’s list created by librarian Jeffrey Beall.

• The Predatory Publishers List 2025 (by predatoryjournals.org)
• The Predatory Journals List 2025 (by predatoryjournals.org)

• List of predatory publishers: This is a list of questionable, scholarly, open-access publishers. 

• List of standalone predatory journals: This is a list of questionable, scholarly, open-access standalone journals.

• Kscien Predatory Publishing Lists: A non-profit organization based in Kurdistan with a global focus on the development and improvement of scientific research, mainly in developing countries

• Hijacked Journals: A list of counterfeit websites that pretend to be the websites of legitimate scholarly journals.

• Misleading Metrics: This is a list of questionable companies that purport to provide valid scholarly metrics at the researcher, article, or journal level.

Guides and checklists: 

• Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers by J. Beall

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (OASPA)

• How to Assess a Journal?: A guide by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries.

• Journal Evaluation Tool, by Rele, S., & Kennedy, M,. & Blas, N. LMU Librarian Publications & Presentations. 

• How to avoid predatory publishers (APA):  A list of questions to help researchers avoid publishing in predatory journals, by APA.

• Example email from a predatory journal, by Christian Bokhove.

• E-mail Evaluation Tool: A quick checklist to help researchers decide whether an email invitation was from a predatory or reputable publisher.

• Website Evaluation Tool: A decision-making tool to assist scholars in checking whether a publisher/journal is reputable or predatory based on a review of its website.

• Conference Evaluation Tool: A useful checklist complied for researchers to help them decide whether a conference opportunity is reputable or predatory

Other red flags:

• No ISSN
• The journal title is very similar to the title of another established journal, with only a few words changed
• The journal scope is too broad and multidisciplinary or many unrelated scientific fields are included? 
• Information about journal policies is missing
• Very low APCs

Think. Check. Submit

• Think. Check. Submit. is a checklist that helps you choose a reliable journal. This website guides users through deciding where to submit their articles for publication. It includes a checklist for assessing journals, books, and chapters. Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications.

Think. Check. Attend

• Think. Check. Attend. is an initiative that aims to guide and assist researchers and scholars to judge the legitimacy and academic credentials of conferences in order to help them decide whether to or not attend

Predatory Conferences

Some publishers are taking their predatory behavior further to expand their profits by organizing predatory conferences.

Checklists:

• What are predatory conferences and how to avoid them? by Andy Nobes: A checklist of questions to consider before you register for your next conference
• Think.Check.Attend: A tool to guide and assist researchers and scholars in judging the legitimacy and academic credentials of conferences to help them decide whether to or not attend.
• Conference checker by the University of Queensland: This tool has been designed to help guide you when considering what conferences to attend.
• Find an Elsevier Conference: A reliable database where you can check if certain conference proceedings are indexed.

• Conference proceedings citation index evaluation process and selection criteria by Clarivate: A reliable database where you can check if certain conference proceedings are indexed.

• Kscien Predatory Publishing Lists: A non-profit organization based in Kurdistan with a global focus on the development and improvement of scientific research, mainly in developing countries