Scientific Publishing in the Age of Open Access

In recent decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of open-access research publications. These journals have often garnered support from universities and libraries because they can provide wider access to scientific research results, particularly for early career scientists who may not have personal or institutional subscriptions to major journals. However, the uptick in such publications has also opened the door for less reputable, and sometimes fraudulent organizations that prey upon scientists looking to distribute their work.

Rather than charging readers to access content, open access journals must turn to other income models to offset the cost of publication and to turn a profit. Some publications are subsidized or financed by institutions, societies, or government agencies. However, many open-access journals charge authors to publish. The “article processing” fees that authors pay have been estimated to average 178 USD (Shen and Björk, 2015), but can be in the thousands of dollars. This model relies on authors as the customer base instead of the readers, which raises concerns about conflict of interest on the part of publishers.

The more articles a journal publishes, the larger its income stream. The end goal of such a journal is not to attract readers, but is instead to attract authors. A drive to publish as much content as possible can lead to less emphasis on good editorial practices at questionable journals. Stringent guidelines on what is acceptable to publish, such as a thorough peer review by established members of a relevant scientific discipline, would only limit the number of articles the journal is able to put in print. Ultimately, a journal seeking profit from its authors need not be concerned about the quality of content they are distributing due to the fact that the level of readership is a moot point.

These journals have become a thriving business online. In their study, “‘Predatory’ open access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics,” (BMC Medicine 2015, 13:230), authors Shen and Björk state:

“…predatory journals have rapidly increased their publication volumes from 53,000 in 2010 to an estimated 420,000 articles in 2014, published by around 8,000 active journals.”

For researchers, sifting through the ever-growing pile of journals for robust scientific findings is increasingly difficult and time consuming. Likewise, scientists at every stage of their careers need to be more and more careful about selecting venues in which they would like to see their work published. Many journals of disrepute prey on early-career scientists and graduate students, spamming inboxes with invitations to submit manuscripts or attend makeshift conferences designed to bring in dollars. There are cases where established scientists have found their names on a list of ‘editorial board members’ without permission, and where journals have printed plagiarized content (Beale 2012).

In a study published in Nature last year, a team of researchers describe “questionable marketing schemes,” “lax or non-existent peer-review procedures,” and failures in scientific rigour and transparency identified in potentially predatory open access journals. Lead author Piotr Sorokowski and his team created a fictitious scientist named Anna O. Szust (oszust meaning “a fraud” in Polish), and sent her CV to 360 journals. The journals included an equal number selected from:

• Journal Citation Reports (JCR). These are journals with an official impact factor as indexed on the JCR.
  
• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
  
• A list of questionable open-access publications compiled by University of Colorado librarian Jeffrey Beall, unofficially known as “Beall’s list” (which now exists online only in archived form).

Ultimately, the fake scientist, Anna O. Szust, was rejected by JCR journals, but appointed an editor by eight DOAJ journals and forty journals identified as predatory. Four publications immediately appointed Szust editor-in-chief upon receipt of her CV. The responses received included varying demands including payment, requirements to publish in the journal (for a fee), and even a request that the fake Szust organize a conference in which presenters would pay to have their work published in a special proceedings edition of the journal, and where she and the publisher would divide the profits.

Open-access journals do play an important role in scientific publishing today, and many open-access journals perform a diligent review of material and provide a valuable contribution to the distribution of scientific findings. There are a number of open access journals of high value to the astrobiology research community. But, more than ever scientists need to be careful about the publications they select.

“High quality, open access journals can remove many barriers to publishing your research, and making sure that your work is available to other scientists in the field,” said Mary Voytek, director of the NASA Astrobiology Program. “But it is important to seek advice from your advisors and colleagues so that you can make an educated choice. Stringent peer review practices are essential, not just for the journals, but for the continued development of your career. Quality science deserves a quality publication.”

It is important to mention an additional aspect of scientific publishing that has grown in popularity with the advent of online publication, which is the use of pre-print repositories. Pre-print papers are research articles that have not yet been vetted by an official peer-review process and, instead, are effectively ‘rough drafts’ released by researchers in order to solicit feedback from the community. This practice can increase the efficacy of your research, gathering insight and advice from colleagues before publishing your work through traditional channels. Pre-print repositories also help scientists gather feedback for continuing work that can otherwise be delayed due to the lengthy process of peer review and publishing. Pre-print papers should be taken as a means of showing progress in an investigation and points for discussion, and not as finished research due to the fact that the work has not been thoroughly peer reviewed.

Services of particular relevance to the astrobiology community include https://arxiv.org/ (Astronomy and Astrophysics), https://www.biorxiv.org/ (Biology), and https://eartharxiv.org/ (Earth and Planetary Science).

We asked principal investigators and other scientists from across the research elements supported by the NASA Astrobiology Program about the advice they give to colleagues, students, and early-career scientists who are looking for reliable scientific publications. Below are a selection of responses:

Amy C. Barr Mlinar
Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute
Habitable Worlds Program

“Check the publisher’s information and the journal’s impact factor before submitting your paper. Known publishers (i.e., Elsevier, IOP, Cambridge, Wiley, etc.) are far better than publishers that are relatively unknown.”

“Be extremely suspicious of e-mails from journals enticing you, personally, to submit an article. Typically, ‘real’ invitations for papers are issued by the editor of the journal to you, as an individual, and come from someone you will know, or whose name you recognize. You may also get approached by predatory publishers looking to turn your PhD thesis into a book.”

“As a student and early career scientist, don’t publish in any journal with an impact factor less than 1, or in a journal that is too new to have an impact factor.”

“If you’re unclear about the quality of a journal, open a dialogue with the editor:”

’Dear Editor,
I am considering submitting a paper to your journal. Can you tell me about the scope and aims of the journal, who is on the editorial Board, and how long the journal has been operational? Can you tell me about your peer-review process?’

Roger Buick
Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) – NAI

“Go for a journal with a long publication history, preferably one published by a scientific society (or affiliated with one) rather than one from a strictly commercial publisher.”

Anthony Del Genio
Research Physical Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS)

“In general, the first question I urge people to ask is: Who is your intended audience? That’s particularly necessary now that the study of astrobiology and exoplanets has become multi-disciplinary, and so the journals that some of us have been used to publishing in may no longer be the best ones for particular papers, depending on what community you want to be aware of them. Ideally, everyone would look at every relevant journal; in the real world that does not happen.”

“The second issue is: What is a particular journal’s self-archiving policy? I strongly believe that the results of federally-funded research should be available to everyone, regardless of the resources of the institution that employs them. Thus, I would urge people to publish in journals that permit self-archiving (in venues such as arXiv.org) of the accepted manuscript version of a published paper. Fortunately, more and more journals have begun to recognize the need for this and so it is not as much a filter as it used to be.”

“I’d advise people to publish in the journals that they and their colleagues are reading and citing themselves, since that is an indication of where the most useful research is appearing. Why bother with a journal you wouldn’t read yourself, regardless of whether its provenance is OK, questionable, or known to be predatory? To paraphrase the old saying, if a paper is published in a journal and no one reads it, does it make a sound? The point is not just a list of publications that can be measured with a ruler on a CV, it’s to have an impact on the field. So, publish in a journal that people are likely to read, and that permits self-archiving of the accepted version so that access to it is not restricted to those with sufficient personal or institutional resources.”

Shawn Domagal-Goldman
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS)
Habitable Worlds Program

“I tell my students to have multiple options in mind – and different tiers, just like “safety schools” when they applied to graduate school. Also, head into the review with a mind-set of getting negative feedback.”

“My workflow usually runs through publication search engines such as Google Scholar and arXiv, not through specific journals. So I’ll end up wherever I find interesting research. I will note that the journal and sometimes the discipline of the journal does influence my impression once I’m there. Some journals/disciplines ask for different numbers of reviewers – as few as one in some fields and as many as four or five in others. So, for interdisciplinary (astrobiology) work, I always have that in the back of my mind as I read the paper.”

“I’ve never submitted a paper to a request that came over email unless I knew the individual sending the request, or the specific journal/institution/publisher that it came from.”

Woodward Fischer
Professor of Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“Look to publish in the journals that you read regularly, journals that publish articles you find interesting, and journals that publish articles you respect. Publish in journals with good editorial staff and handling. The latter point is admittedly a moving target.”

Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra
Research Scientist, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science
Habitable Worlds Program

“Splashy papers in Nature or Science are always nice, but it is important to establish a publishing relationship with a few technical journals in your sub-discipline. Look for consistent editorial standards, approachable editors, and wide distribution to libraries as important features, which can sometimes be more relevant to the publishing experience than a numerical rating like impact factor. The best way to identify places to publish is to look at the publication record of your colleagues and advisors.”

“There are also an abundance of predatory publishers and new journals that attempt to solicit contributions through phony invitations to be a contributor or editor. Often, these predatory publishers can be identified by charging high publication fees for a relatively low level of service, with the quality of papers being much lower than other mainstream journals. These journals should be avoided, as papers published in these will usually not even be catalogued in major academic databases.”

“In my study of planetary habitability, I regularly look to The Astrophysical Journal and Astrobiology as important journals to search for relevant resources. I also make a regular daily habit of checking new publications listed in the Earth Science category of arXiv.org, where preprints and newly accepted papers are posted for public access.”

“I publish my climate-related research in journals like The Astrophysical Journal, Astrobiology, Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Earth & Planetary Science Letters, which all are mainstream journals with a regular readership and a reasonable impact factor.”

“For SETI-related work and other topics on the intersection of astrobiology and the future, I publish in journals like Space Policy, International Journal of Astrobiology, Futures, or Acta Astronautica. All of these journals have a long business history and are managed by major publishers, so there is no risk of confusion with small predatory publishers.”

Betül Kacar
Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Astronomy, University of Arizona
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“I support publishing in societal journals. When we publish our work in society journals, publication fees go directly to societies, which in return support science. Besides, members benefit from a considerable amount of publication fee discounts.”

“Also, do publish in journals that support open-access as much as possible. Making our publications open-access broadens the impact of our work, since not all of the universities, or interested researchers, have access or membership to the journals.

“I encourage students and postdocs to post their manuscripts in pre-print depositories (like biorxiv.org, eartharxiv.org/, and arxiv.org). Community feedback might improve your work, and various funding agencies consider pre-prints as solid evidence of on-going work. This is helpful, especially considering the time it takes for a peer-reviewed publication to come out.”

Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy
Associate Professor, Chemistry Department, Scripps Research Institute
Center for Chemical Evolution

“I ask my students to start with ‘decent to good to excellent’ journals in their own field of specialization, unless their work has a broad enough appeal to go to mainstream journals. For example, prebiotic chemists who are also practicing organic chemists have a choice of journals like Astrobiology or Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres as their go-to journals for describing very specialized results. But, if their work has broader significance, they can expand to journals like Nature: Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chemistry: A European Journal, or Angewandte Chemie (for example).”

“Of course, there are always the top tier ‘magazine-journals’ such as Nature or Science, but the editors control what gets reviewed based on ‘impact factor. These impact factors are so nebulous that ‘magazine-journals’ should not be the first choice unless the results have enough of a ‘wow-factor’ to convince editors to send the paper out for reviews.”

Karen Lloyd
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“A good short-hand to identify a predatory journal is to look at its publisher. If it is from an academic society (AAAS, ASM, ASLO, AGU, EGU, ISME, ACS, FEMS), or a known scientific publisher (Wiley-Blackwell, Nature Publishing Group, and Taylor-Francis come to mind), then you’re probably okay.”

“If the journal emails you asking for a contribution, unless it’s a special issue and you know that the editor has targeted your field of work specifically, it’s probably a predatory journal. Always talk to your advisor or someone you trust in your field before deciding to submit to a journal.”

Anupam Misra
Researcher, Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics & Planetology, University Of Hawaii at Manoa
Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASO)

“My general advice is to publish in a peer review journal, preferably with high impact factor. I do not restrict my search to few trusted publications. I always do a complete search using Scifinder, Google scholar and Science Direct, because any publication similar to our research can affect our publication. We may be simply repeating research work that someone has already published somewhere.

Ulrich Muller
Associate Professor Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California San Diego
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“I think that a good guide is to publish in journals that existed before the [predatory journal] trend started (~2000-2010) in order to avoid journals that are simply trying to cash in. There are a few exceptions, for example the Public Library of Science (PLoS) journals and eLife.”

“My feeling is that the issue may not be as problematic as it seems. PIs with an interest in good science are able to read a few articles in a journal and then figure out whether this is good science. Also, many people (including myself) don’t go by journal, but by searches in resources like PubMed. If the abstract of an article sounds interesting, I will read the full paper and decide based on the paper (not the journal) whether I like the science. Sometimes, high-ranked journals can publish problematic research, and some underrated journals often publish excellent research.”

Jeremy Owens
Assistant Professor of Geology, Florida State University
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“For my own group, we discuss several options for publishing papers prior to writing or submitting. In general, we look for reputable and trusted journals/publishers that have published well-respected science for several years. I generally do not trust journals that ask for submission (unless I know the person directly), offer a ‘good rate’ or suggest easy publication. I am also looking at the editors and associate editors to make sure the journal is: (1) a good fit, and (2) backed by knowledgeable scientists.”

“I am generally looking publish in well-respected journals that include Nature and Science group publications, Elsevier publishing, or society journals such as GSA or AGU group publications. There is generally a range of topics and interests that publish well-respected science but other, less-known journals require some research to ensure quality publications.”

Fabia Ursula Battistuzzi
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Oakland University
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program

“Mostly look at where similar research to your own has been published, because this means your work will fit the journal scope of interest.”

Michael Way
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Uppsala University
Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS)

“I would advise that students and early career researchers should consider the community they are trying to reach. For example, if you want to reach geophysics people then Geophysical Research Letters or Nature GeoScience would be appropriate. If you are trying to reach Astronomers, then maybe the Astrophysical Journal, or Planetary Scientist, or Icarus. And for ‘Astrobiologists,’ Astrobiology.”

“But in all cases I strongly encourage them to ALSO post to arXiv.org so that those that cannot afford the ridiculous prices of journals like Nature can still read their work. I also find that some departments do not have subscriptions outside their field, but as astrobiology is cross-disciplinary arXiv.org becomes all the more important. I have ‘pontificated’ at many conferences to my planetary and geological science colleagues to please post to arXiv so that we can read their work!”

“I avoid expensive journals like Nature and Nature Astronomy since many institutions around the world cannot afford them, and normally I find their format is too short for many of the articles they publish. At least with Science you get a subscription if you are a member of the AAAS, although it has the same problem of format length as Nature.”

Loren Williams
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology
Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology Program
Center for Chemical Evolution

“Here are some things to watch for:

(1) Weirdly friendly tone of a solicitation letter,
(2) Typos and other evidence of lack of professionalism,
(3) Short turn around (submit your paper in one week to avoid charges),
(4) Journal is not relevant to your work, or
(5) Offer to be an editorial board member”

“An example Offer would be:”

’Greetings for the day!

Warm greetings from the Journal of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics. Hope you are achieving success in your research work.

Journal is inviting you to contribute a manuscript (Research/Review/Case reports/Commentaries/Short communication or any type of article) for publication in next issue of the journal. It would be cherished if you can submit a manuscript by 20 September 2017, so that we could process it for the next Issue.

If it is not feasible for you, then please let us know your feasible time to contribute. Editing and publishing will be of course of a very high standard. Your contribution will help the journal to establish its high standards and get indexed by prestigious indexing services soon. On this happy occasion we are here to announce that those who contribute their manuscripts will receive Complete Wavier to the articles submitted before September 15th, 2017.

If you are interested to become an Editorial Board member, we request you to send a recent passport size photo, your C.V, Biography (150 words) and Research Interests to display at Journal website.’

“I never ever publish in journals that send emails soliciting submissions. The exceptions are invited reviews. For those I carefully investigate the journal and the editor before I commit.”

Robin Wordsworth
Assistant Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
Habitable Worlds Program

“My advice is to keep it simple and go for quality, established journals such as Icarus, The Astrophysical Journal and Journal of Geophysical Research. Definitely submit exciting results to Science or Nature if you want to, but don’t feel pressured to always aim for the general readership journals. And always put your preprints on arxiv.org and/or your website! That way people who don’t have direct access to the journals can still read your work.”

In discussions concerning the publication of scientific results, we have also compiled a list of journals that were frequently cited as trusted publications by PIs supported by the Astrobiology Program. This list is by no means comprehensive, but provides some insight into the journals that PIs turn to for research results they trust, and venues in which to publish. (*denotes open access journals).

Biology/Biochemistry/Chemistry

• Angewandte Chemie (Wiley-VCH)
  
• Applied and Environmental Microbiology (American Society for Microbiology)
  
• Archives of Microbiology (Springer)
  
• Biochemistry (American Chemical Society)
  
• Chemical Biology (American Chemical Society (ACS) Publications)
  
• Chemical Communications (The Royal Society of Chemistry)
  
• Chemistry: A European Journal (Wiley-VCH)
  
• eLife (eLife Sciences Publications, Open Access)*
  
• Environmental Microbiology (American Society for Microbiology)
  
• Environmental Microbiology (Wiley Online)
  
• Frontiers of Microbiology (Open Access)*
  
• Global Biogeochemical Cycles (American Geophysical Union)
  
• International Journal of Plant Sciences (University of Chicago Press)
  
• Journal of Bacteriology (American Society for Microbiology)
  
• Journal of Biological Chemistry (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the United States)
  
• Journal of Molecular Evolution (Springer)
  
• Journal of Organic Chemistry (American Chemical Society)
  
• Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society)
  
• mBio (American Society for Microbiology, Open Access)*
  
• Microbiome (BioMed Central, Open Access)*
  
• Nature Reviews: Microbiology (Nature)
  
• Nature: Cell Biology (Nature)
  
• Nature: Chemistry (Nature)
  
• Nucleic Acids Research (Oxford University Press)
  
• Origins of Life & Evolution of Biospheres (Springer)
  
• Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Royal Society)
  
• Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (Royal Society of Chemistry)
  
• Public Library of Science (PLOS): Biology (Open Access)*
  
• Public Library of Science (PLOS): Pathogens (Open Access)*
  
• RNA (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the behalf of the RNA Society of the United States)
  
• Synlett (Georg Thieme Verlag KG)
  
• The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology (Nature)

Astronomy/Physics

• Astronomical Journal (IOP Publishing for the American Astronomical Society)
  
• Astronomy & Astrophysics (Édition Diffusion Presse Sciences)
  
• Astrophysical Journal (IOP Publishing for the American Astronomical Society)
  
• Astrophysical Journal Letters (IOP Publishing for the American Astronomical Society)
  
• Astrophysical Journal Supliment Series (IOP Publishing for the American Astronomical Society)
  
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (American Geophysical Union)
  
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Oxford University Press)
  
• Nature: Astronomy (Nature)
  
• Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (IOP Publishing)

Geology/Geobiology/Geochemistry/Planetary Science/Earth and Environmental Science

• American Journal of Science (American Journal of Science)
  
• Biogeosciences (European Geosciences Union, Open Access)*
  
• Bioinformatics (University of Oxfor Press)
  
• Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Elsevier)
  
• Environmental Science and Technology (American Chemical Society)
  
• Genome Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)
  
• Genome Research (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press)
  
• Geobiology (Wiley-Blackwell)
  
• Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (American Geophysical Union)
  
• Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (Elsevier)
  
• Geological Society of America Bulletin (Geological Society of America)
  
• Geology (Geological Society of America)
  
• Geomicrobiology Journal (Taylor & Francis Online)
  
• Geophysical Research Letters (Wiley Online, Open Access)*
  
• Icarus (Elsevier)
  
• Journal of Geology (University of Chicago Press)
  
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (American Geophysical Union)
  
• Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (American Geophysical Union)
  
• Journal of Paleontology (The Paleontological Society)
  
• Journal of Sedimentary Research (SEPM Society for Sedimentary Research)
  
• Lethaia (Wiley-Blackwell)
  
• Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences (Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Meteoritical Society)
  
• Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)
  
• Nature: Geosciences (Nature)
  
• Nucleic Acid Research (Oxford University Press)
  
• Organic Geochemistry (Elsevier)
  
• Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (Elsevier)
  
• Palaios (Society for Sedimentary Geology)
  
• Paleobiology (The Paleontological Society)
  
• Physics of the Earth & Planetary Interiors (Elsevier)
  
• Precambrian Research (Elsevier)
  
• Sedimentology (Wiley Online Library – Open Access)*
  
• Terra Nova (John Wiley & Sons Ltd)

General/Multidisciplinary/Instrumentation

• AAS Journals (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
  
• Acta Astronautica (Elsevier)
  
• Annual Reviews (Annual Reviews)
  
• Applied Optics (The Optical Society)
  
• Applied Spectroscopy (Society for Applied Spectroscopy)
  
• Astrobiology (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.)
  
• BMC Journals (BioMed Central, Open Access)*
  
• Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press)
  
• Futures (Elsevier)
  
• International Journal of Astrobiology (Cambridge University Press)
  
• Nature (Nature)
  
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS)
  
• Public Library of Science (PLOS): One (Open Access)*
  
• Science Advances (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
  
• Science Magazine (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
  
• Scientific Reports (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
  
• Space Policy (Elsevier)
  
• Space Science Reviews (Springer)
  
• Spectrochimica (Elsevier)

Resources and Further Reading:

Beall, J. 2012. Predatory Publishing: Overzealous open-access advocates are creating an exploitative environment, threatening the credibility of scholarly publishing. The Scientist, August 1, 2012.

Chawla, DS. 2017. Mystery as controversial list of predatory publishers disappears. Science, Scientific Community. DOI: 10.1126/science.aal0625

Goossens, D. 2017. Science Spammers. Available at:
https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/science-spammers/

Grant, B. 2016. US Gov’t Takes On Predatory Publishers. The Scientist, August 29, 2016.

Grant, B. 2013. OMICS in Hot Water. The Scientist, May 14, 2013.

Redd, NT. Fake Science Paper About ‘Star Trek’ and Warp 10 Was Accepted by ‘Predatory Journals.’ Space.com. February 13, 2018.

Scholarly Open Access: Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access journals. Available at: https://archive.fo/9MAAD

Shen, C., and Björk, B. 2015. ‘Predatory’ open access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine 201513:230

Sorokowski, P., et. al. 2017. Predatory journals recruit fake editor. Nature 543, 481-483. doi:10.1038/543481a

Straumsheim, C. 2016. Feds Target ‘Predatory’ Publishers. Inside Higher Ed. August 29, 2016.

University of Michigan Libraries. Finding Reputable Open Access Journals. Available at:
http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283034&p=1885803

Yale University Library. Choosing a Journal for Publication of an Article: List of Suspicious Journals and Publishers. Available at:
http://guides.library.yale.edu/c.php?g=296124&p=1973764