A new tool to help prospective authors choose a journal, thinkchecksubmit.org, has been developed by a consortium of reputable publishers and scholarly communication non-profits. Rather than credentialing journals to trust and which to avoid, think check submit encourages authors to use a checklist and trust their own judgement as to the appropriateness of a journal for their work. Here is their checklist:
- Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
- Have you read any articles in the journal before?
- Is it easy to discover the latest papers in the journal?
- Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?
- Is the publisher name clearly displayed on the journal website?
- Can you contact the publisher by telephone, email, and post?
- Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses?
- Are articles indexed in services that you use?
- Is it clear what fees will be charged?
- Does the journal site explain what these fees are for and when they will be charged?
- Do you recognize the editorial board?
- Have you heard of the editorial board members?
- Do the editorial board mention the journal on their own websites?
- Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?
- Do they belong to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, publicationethics.org)?
- If the journal is open access, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ, doaj.org)?
- If the journal is open access, does the publisher belong to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA, oaspa.org)?
- Is the publisher a member of another trade association?
Ellen Sexton
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