‘Think. Check. Submit.’: An Aid for Evaluating Potential Publication Sites

Thousands and thousands of journals now exist. Although most are valid and trustworthy, some are not. How can you tell the difference? The answer can be important when trying to decide where to submit a paper.

Last week a new online resource became available in this regard. This resource is called Think. Check. Submit. It features a checklist to help researchers determine whether a journal is somewhere to consider publishing research.

The checklist consists of the following main questions:

• Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
• Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?
• 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?
• Do you recognise the editorial board?
• Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?

On the website, some of the questions are followed by information to aid in answering them. The resource advises researchers to submit their work to the journal only if the answers to most or all of the questions are “yes.”

Think. Check. Submit. is a collaborative effort of multiple groups in publishing and related fields. One of the supporting organizations is INASP, where AuthorAID is based. Others include the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers.

As noted on its website, Think. Check. Submit. is just beginning. I look forward to seeing this resource develop further. Meanwhile, I have added it to the AuthorAID Resource Library. I encourage you to look at it.

Until the next post—

Barbara