Open Access

Think. Check. Submit. defines predatory publishers as publishers or journals "which charge authors a fee for publication with no intention of providing the expected services – such as editorial or peer review – in return."

These publishers, while not exclusive to OA journals, tend to target authors seeking to publish in OA journals or may contact authors directly asking for manuscripts. They exist primarily to gain profit.

It can be challenging to identify a predatory publisher. Before submitting your manuscript, a few questions to consider are:

• Closely examine the editor and staff of the journal. Is a single editor responsible for a large number of journals across a publisher? Is there a lack of information or diversity on the editorial or review board?
• Does the publisher fail to list transparent policies and fees? Did the publisher's operations begin with a large fleet of quickly created journals?
• Are you or your peers/mentors familiar with the journal?
• Is the contact information for the publisher, editors, or review board difficult to find or not present?
• Is the journal title misleading?
• Does it list a false impact factor or other quality-determining metrics? Is in indexed in services you are familiar with?
• Is the peer review process clear? Is the peer-review turnaround time reasonable?
• Does the journal send spam requests for manuscripts or peer reviews to scholars not qualified to write on or review the subject in question?
• Are previously published articles low quality or re-published without proper permissions from other journals?

For comprehensive considerations, please review the checklists from Think. Check. Submit. 

Membership in the Directory of Open Access Journals or the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association is a good indicator that a journal is not predatory. You can check these sites to help you determine if the publisher you are interested is legitimate.