Predatory journals exploit the open-access model in which the author pays the article processing charges. They falsely claim to be offering peer review but publish everything for a fee. They may hide information about article processing charges, misrepresent members of the editorial board, and violate other copyright or scholarly ethics. These journals are of questionable or even downright low quality.
The major ethical considerations in publishing in predatory journals (Ferris & Winker, 2017) are summarised below:
Selecting journals for publication can affect how research findings reach the research community and the general public. Watch out the following common characteristics of predatory journals (Elmore & Weston, 2020).
Think. Check. Submit. checklist is a tool that will help you discover what you need to know when assessing whether or not a publisher is suitable for your research. Watch this video to learn more:
In addition to the “Think.Check.Submit” checklist, here are some tools to check whether a journal is suitable for publication:
1. Is the journal peer-reviewed?
2. Is the journal Indexed by popular databases?
3. Is the journal open access and compliant with the principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing?
4. Is the journal's self-claimed citation metric true and official?
More Resources: