Open Access/ Scholarly Communication

How To Evaluate Open Access Journals

Check to see if the journal has a website, and if so:

  • which organization (university or professional association) is the publisher affiliated with?
  • does the journal have a publication history? How old is the journal and how often it is published?
  • what is the journal's acceptance rate? Check on its metrics (citation counts, downloads, social media reviews)
  • who are the members of its editorial board? Are they qualified to review your work?
  • check on the affiliation of the authors who formerly published in this journal? Are they from a single or multiple institutions of similar academic standing to yours?
  • are the publishing fees, copyright ownership terms and open access policy clearly explained and stated?
  • is the journal listed in DOAJ -- "an online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. They review the quality of open access journals before they are listed.
  • check Beall's List of Potential, possible or probable predatory scholarly open- access publishers

Need help in evaluating a journal contact your subject librarian.

 

Check to see if the journal is indexed in a well established database. Some examples of databases include

Below is a list of possibly questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. Please read the available reviews, assessments and descriptions for the journal, and then make an informed decision  whether you want to submit articles, serve as editors or on their editorial boards.