how to avoid predatory/blacklisted journal

• Publisher “About” information is absent on the journal’s web site
• Publisher direct marketing (i.e., spamming) or other advertising is obtrusive
• Instructions to authors information is not available
• Information on peer review and copyright is absent or unclear on the journal web site
• Journal scope statement is absent or extremely vague
• No information is provided about the publisher, or the information provided does not clearly indicate a relationship to a mission to disseminate research content
• Repeat lead authors in same issue
• Publisher has a negative reputation (e.g., documented examples in Chronicle of Higher Education, list-servs, etc.)
• Journal web site is difficult to locate or identify

a) Many predatory journals are claiming they are indexed by SCOPUS & WOS/JCR with impact factors. You can check the truth by searching these resources:

i) Web of Science (WOS by Clarivate Analytics)

• • WOS
  • Master Journal List
  • Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
  • WOS/JCR Suppresion List

ii) SCOPUS (by Elsevier)

• • SCOPUS Source
  • SCOPUS List

iii) MyJurnal

iv) MyCite

b) Check out Open Access Journal Quality Indicators

c) Retraction Watch – A blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers

d) Tips and tools to spot predatory journal publishers