Predatory Publishing: About Predatory Publishing

This guide is intended to provide information about predatory publishing and is intended as a guide only. Deciding where to publish is solely the responsibility of individual authors. 

Predatory Journals take advantage of authors by asking them to publish for a fee without providing peer-review or editing services. Predatory publishers do not follow proper academic standards for publishing. The turnaround time on publishing a manuscript is typically pretty quick by the predatory publishers. 

Have you received an email encouraging you to publish with a new and exciting journal? How about serving on an editorial board, editing a special issue, or being a speaker at a conference? If so, take the time to read through this guide before deciding to submit your manuscript or accept an invitation. We also encourage you to speak with your faculty, mentor, or librarian before submitting a manuscript. 

Open Access (OA) versus predatory journals

Open Access journals may solicit authors to publish for a fee but maintain high standards for peer review and editing. The goal of Open Access is to remove barriers to publishing like paywalls. 

It is important to be aware of the warning signs and always, always investigate the legitimacy of a journal before publishing. It is especially important to screen the publishers that you have not heard of before or if their offer is "too good to be true".