Before deciding to send your work to an unknown journal, it is worth making sure that the information on the website is correct.
- Check the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in the Journal Citation Reports database. The only source of information about the original JIF is the so-called Philadelphia list. If a journal is not on this list, it means there is no fixed JIF value.
- Check if the journal is indexed in Scopus or Web of Science. In a situation where the journal you are looking for is not indexed in the above databases, you must independently analyze the content of its official website to assess whether there is a risk that you are dealing with a predatory journal. Check the criteria that a title must meet to be considered unsafe.
- If the journal is indexed, you should check whether the articles published on the website are also indexed, this will protect you against a website pretending to be a reputable journal.
- Check the composition of the editorial committee and the reviewing team on the journal's website. See if the mentioned people have ORCID and Publons profiles and if they mention the title of the journal you are interested in there.
- Use the tips on Think.Check.Submit. The site contains a list of questions that facilitate the analysis of the journal's website. The questions are grouped thematically into three segments. If the analyzed journal meets all the standards and criteria provided, you can send our article to the editor.
- Use the Journal Evaluation Tool. A tool for verifying the credibility and rating of journals developed by the William H. Hannon library (Loyola Marymount University). The spreadsheet is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
- Check if the journal is on the Stop Predatory Journals list. This is a list of potential predatory publishers based on the Beall List archive on web.archive.org.
- Search forums on ResearchGate. Scientists share their experiences related to the process of review and publication of scientific articles there.