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Predatory Publishing: Perspectives (UWISTA): SHORTLIST OF WARNING SIGNS

SOME CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING PREDATORY PUBLISHERS

  • The predatory journal title is very similar to that of a reputable journal. Very often the term “international” is used to lend to an assumption of legitimacy.

  • The publisher’s name often has the name of a western country even though they may be based in another part of the world.

  • The place of publication is not clear or deliberately missing.

  • The frequency of publication is very irregular.

  • The journal is multidisciplinary and its focus is not clear.

  • The publisher’s website or articles has grammatical /spelling errors.

  • Unsolicited email invitation are sent to you inviting you to publish.

  • The publisher guarantees that your article would be published if an article processing fee is paid

  • The journal is not well known and difficult to locate in library catalogues.

  • Members of the editorial board are frequent authors in the journal.

  • The journal is not indexed or is indexed in few databases.

  • Articles are plagiarized.

  • The turnaround time for peer-review and copy editing is very short

  • Impact factors are fabricated

  • The journal is not listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ only indexes journals that meets it selection criteria).