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Course & Subject Guides

Academic Publishing @ Pitt

This guide provides resources and information on the academic publishing process as a whole.

Journals and Other Publishing Venues

When it comes to academic publishing, most people think of peer-reviewed journal articles and monographs. But in today's internet age, scholarly publishing involves more than just these traditional venues. Research outputs can take on a broad range of forms, from born-digital humanities exhibits to data, software, and code. There are many ways to communicate your scholarship, and the resources on this page will help you answer important questions when it comes to deciding where and how to do so. Is a journal article the best way to communicate your research, or would publishing digitally better highlight your work? Do you want or need to publish your work open access? How do you evaluate a journal's fit for your research and its quality as a publication?

Finding a Journal

If you want to submit your work to a journal, the tools below can help you find journals, evaluate their fit for your research, and assess their impact.

Evaluating Journal Quality & Avoiding Predatory Publishing Practices

While the internet has expanded the landscape of scholarly publishing, it has also engendered a rise in deceptive or predatory practices by unscrupulous publishers who take advantage of scholars' lack of familiarity with academic publishing norms and the pressure to publish or perish.

Before submitting your research to just any journal, keep an eye out for red flags that hint at predatory practices and green flags that support a journal's legitimacy. Remember that an assessment of any journal should be holistic and critically informed; none of the criteria below should be considered singularly disqualifying, nor is this list exhaustive.

⚑ Red Flags ⚑ ⚑ Green Flags ⚑

  • Journal solicits submissions by email, often with poor grammar and spelling and from a non-professional email address

  • Journal title is suspiciously similar to a prominent journal

  • Website appears outdated or unprofessional, with typos; spelling and grammar errors; or poor-quality images

  • Scope is vaguely defined, overly broad, or encompasses many fields of study

  • Insufficient contact information provided 

  • Lack of editorial board or false list of editorial board members

  • Editors have no or false academic credentials

  • Author fees are unclear and/or much lower than those of reputable journals

  • ​Peer review process is not clearly explained and/or is especially fast

  • Manuscript and publication processes are unclear

  • Manuscript submission occurs via email, rather than through a dedicated submission system

  • Previously published articles are non-existent, inaccessible, or have been plagiarized from other publications

  • Publisher has a negative reputation

  • Information on digital preservation and/or archiving is lacking or non-existent

  • No policy on retractions, corrigenda, or errata

  • Copyright and licensing information not provided

  • Journal has no ISSN

  • Solicitation of manuscripts and other direct marketing is appropriate, well-targeted, and unobtrusive

  • Journal is affiliated with or was established by a scholarly or academic institution or organization

  • Journal scope is well-defined and clearly stated on the journal's website

  • Contact information for editor(s) is clearly provided

  • Editors and the editorial board consist of recognized experts in the field

  • Fee structure is clearly explained and easy to find on the website

  • Peer review process is rigorous and clearly explained on the website

  • Publishing schedule and publication frequency are clearly stated

  • Published articles fall within journal's scope

  • Publisher is a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) or the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

  • Journal is indexed in subject databases or indexes

  • Copyright and usage rights are clearly stated (e.g., Creative Commons CC By license)

  • Journal has ISSN and articles have Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

Lists of red and green flags adapted from "Predatory Publishing" by Ruth Bueter, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

More information on predatory publishing practices can be found on the guide linked below:

Checklists and Tools

The following links are checklists to help guide you through the process of evaluating journals and publishers.