How to Convert Manually Entered Citations to Machine-Readable Format?
January 31, 2023
A predatory journal is a publication that falsely claims to be a legitimate academic journal in order to charge authors high fees for publishing their papers. Here are some tips on how to avoid predatory journals:
- Check the publisher's website: Legitimate journals will have detailed information about the editorial board, the peer-review process, and the scope of the journal. If this information is not provided, or if the website appears unprofessional, it is likely a predatory journal.
- Check the journal's impact factor: Impact factors are a measure of the relative importance of a journal within its field. Predatory journals will often falsely claim to have high impact factors.
- Be wary of unsolicited email invitations: Many predatory journals will send unsolicited email invitations to authors to submit their papers.
- Check the journal's inclusion on reputable lists: There are several lists available online, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Beall's List, that provide information on legitimate and predatory journals.
- Be skeptical of "no rejection" policy: Legitimate journals have a rigorous peer-review process and will reject papers that do not meet their standards. If a journal claims to have a "no rejection" policy, it is likely a predatory journal.
- Use your common sense: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always be skeptical and do your own research before submitting a paper to any journal.
In a new development, Abalkina created the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker in partnership with Retraction Watch. This resource is dynamic; more journals will be added as their hijacked status are uncovered.
You can access the list of hijacked journals here.
Instead of asking the journal if it is indexed or not, it is better to check reputable databases and lists yourself. Here are a few resources you can use to check the legitimacy of a journal:
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): This database lists open access journals that have undergone a thorough quality control process.
Journal Citation Reports (JCR): JCR is a database that provides information on the impact factors of journals. It is published by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters).
Scopus: Scopus is a database that provides information on scholarly journals, books, and conference proceedings. It is published by Elsevier.
Web of Science: Web of Science is a database that provides information on scholarly journals, books, and conference proceedings. It is published by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters).
Beall's list: Beall's list is a website that provides information on predatory journals and publishers. However, this list is no longer maintained, you can use other list such as Cabells Blacklist, Stop Predatory Journals, etc
It's also important to note that, these lists and databases are not exhaustive and not all legitimate journals are indexed in these resources, so it is important to use multiple sources and consult with experts in your field when evaluating the legitimacy of a journal.
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