Resource of the Week #187: Some Guidance on Identifying “Fake Journals”

Hello again. Which journals are real and of high quality? And which ones are just scams to take authors’ money? Distinguishing the two can be difficult.

Earlier we featured a list that can help identify publishers of the latter type of journals. This week’s resource is an article that can aid in such regards.

This article is titled “Fake Journals: Their Features and Some Viable Ways to Distinguishing Them”. The article appeared in the journal Science and Engineering Ethics. The authors are from Iran and Thailand.

From this article, one can derive advice such as the following:

• If unsure whether a journal is reputable, ask an expert in your field.
• Be cautious about journals with very broad scopes. Willingness to publish on almost anything can suggest that a journal is just seeking authors’ money.
• In general, choose journals with well-known publishers. (My note: These publishers may be either publishing companies or, for example, organizations in your field.)
• See whether major databases list articles from the journal.

AuthorAID also can help researchers avoid submitting manuscripts to unsuitable journals. For example, AuthorAID mentors can provide advice on journals for potential submission. One also can seek such advice through the AuthorAID discussion list.

I thank Andy Nobes at INASP for mentioning the article on “fake journals”.

Until next post—

Barbara