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Scholars are increasingly concerned about how to ensure they are publishing their articles with reputable publishers. Determining the integrity of a particular publisher or journal can be confusing, but there are some general criteria that can be used to evaluate them. These criteria and the resources this guide points to can be used to help you perform an effective evaluation of a journal or publisher. In addition, there is also information that can help you decide on the best place to publish your work as well as information about your rights as an author and publication agreements.
If you have additional questions about any of these topics, please get in touch via email.
Predatory publishing can be difficult to define, though predatory publishers usually share some characteristics. A predatory publisher is an opportunistic publishing venue that exploits the academic need to publish but offers little reward for those using their services. A predatory publisher's goal is to make money, usually in the form of fees they charge authors to publish their work, while also making false claims or promises about the quality of the work they publish and/or the impact of the journal, and generally failing to adhere to accepted best practices in scholarly publishing. Predatory publishers often aggressively solicit manuscripts from scholars, charge fees with no transparency about their purpose, and/or have little or no quality control (peer review, editing, etc) over their content.
In contrast to predatory journals, ethical journals strive to improve your work through peer-review and editing, help share your research with your desired audience, and generally add to your reputation as a scholar.
Additional guidelines for evaluating journals that can help you determine if they are ethical are available here.
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