Quality assessment: a brief guide to identifying reputable journals
Guest post by Robert Tinkle and Sam Andrews
This post originally appeared on Sage Perspectives blog here
As the world of academic publishing continues to expand, authors must be savvy about where they submit their work. With bad actors attempting to leverage systemic vulnerabilities, special care must be taken to identify high-quality publishing outlets.
Like any complex system, scholarly research and publishing can find itself vulnerable to less-than-trustworthy actors and various forms of manipulation and misconduct, from paper mills to fraudulent publication offers. Fortunately, there are also safeguards built into the system and strategies that authors can employ to verify a publication outlet before submitting their research. Below are some tips for identifying reputable journals; using indexing databases to your advantage; and making use of whitelists, blacklists, and journal grading systems to ensure that your intended publication outlet is a safe home for your research.
Look for the hallmarks of a quality journal
Quality journals can be identified by several markers. A reputable journal will include a clear, specific (not overly broad) Aims & Scope outlining the journal’s priorities and intellectual field of vision. The journal’s current and past issues and individual articles will be easy to locate, even if they are behind a paywall. It’s also a good idea to review the journal’s editorial board to verify that the listed names are real scholars who are legitimately associated with the journal—by, for example, cross-referencing the member’s CV or institutional bio. A reputable journal will include detailed submission guidelines that transparently outline the manuscript expectations and peer review process. If metrics such as peer review turnaround times or Impact Factor are provided, ensure that these data are realistic (for example, not outlandishly quick in the case of time-to-decision).
Importantly, reputable journals will always state any application, publication, or Open Access fees upfront. Carefully scrutinize any journal representative who demands payment of an unexpected or unlisted fee in order to proceed to the next step of peer review or publication. A reputable journal will never guarantee publication either on its website or via agents using the journal’s or publisher’s social media channels, and Sage journals will never require payment over WhatsApp as a condition of submitting or publishing your research.
Finally, reputable journals follow guidelines set by trustworthy organizations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Be wary, though, of unscrupulous outlets that invoke the names or logos of these organizations in an attempt to lend themselves legitimacy. Of particular concern are so-called hijacked journals, which replicate the metadata of legitimate journals (including titles and ISSNs) and solicit publication for a fee. You can consult Retraction Watch’s Hijacked Journal Checker for an updated list of hijacked journals, and this short guide from Clarivate offers some tips on identifying hijacked journals (for example, look for overly quick peer review times, poorly edited articles, and fake editorial boards).
Lean on indexing databases as quality curators
In the absence of universal journal quality standards or a single independent governing body, indexing databases have come to function as de facto signals of journal quality. Most of the major international indexes apply explicit criteria that journals must meet before they can be included. As a result, these databases operate as curated collections of journals that have demonstrated compliance with baseline standards of editorial practice and research quality.
One prominent example is Clarivate’s Web of Science, which outlines 24 quality criteria designed to assess editorial rigor and best practice at the journal level. These criteria include the presence of ethics statements, an adequate peer review structure, and appropriate engagement with relevant literature.
Scopus applies a comparable approach, using a defined set of journal selection criteria assessed by its Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB). As part of this process, journals are evaluated on the quality and consistency of their published content, conformity to their stated aims and scope, the readability of articles, and the standing and subject relevance of the editorial team.
Subject‑specific indexes apply similarly tailored standards within their disciplinary contexts. For example, in the biomedical sciences, MEDLINE applies particularly detailed qualitative criteria. These include assessing whether a journal’s ethical policies are aligned with current best practices; whether authors consistently disclose conflicts of interest and funding sources; and whether conclusions are supported by the data presented.
Other examples of subject-specific indexes with comparable benchmarks include, in Psychology, PsycInfo’s selection criteria, which requires that articles be substantiated by empirical data. In education, ERIC evaluates whether content addresses its subject scope in a professional and authoritative manner.
Finally, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is another useful resource for verifying the legitimacy of a particular open access research outlet. The DOAJ rigorously curates its index in line with transparently published criteria for inclusion, and regularly audits its database to ensure that included sources remain in compliance with these criteria.
For a quick search of journals that have been de-indexed from Web of Science, Scopus, or the DOAJ, you can use this handy “De-indexed journals” tool, which also provides the reason for the de-indexing decision
While the specific criteria vary from database to database, the underlying principle is consistent: journals included in these indexes have demonstrated their ability to meet defined standards of editorial quality, transparency, and scholarly integrity.
Pay attention to whitelists, blacklists, and journal grading systems
Academic institutions and governments in many regions have also created their own journal lists to guide or regulate where researchers are encouraged to publish. These lists can take several forms, including whitelists, blacklists, or graded journal rankings.
Institutional whitelists are vetted lists of journals that researchers are permitted or encouraged to publish in. In some cases, institutions rely directly on major indexing databases (for example, allowing publication only in journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science). In other cases, institutions curate their own internal lists using locally defined criteria.
Conversely, some institutions and national bodies maintain blacklists of journals that their researchers are not allowed to publish in. Journals may appear on these lists because they have failed to meet minimum quality standards or because concerns have been raised about their editorial or peer review practices.
At the national level, some countries incorporate journal lists directly into their research assessment and funding systems. These lists may function as whitelists or blacklists, or they may take the form of graded journal rankings. Notable examples include JUFO (Finland), the Norwegian Register (Norway), and Qualis (Brazil). Journals are assigned levels or grades, and researchers are typically given more credit for publishing in higher-ranked titles. In some systems, a zero rating can effectively prohibit researchers from publishing in some journals.
These lists play a significant role in vetting journals and in incentivizing adherence to recognized publishing standards, since journal grades are often linked to funding, promotion, or institutional evaluation.
In conclusion
Bad actors can, unfortunately, infiltrate any system, and academic publishing is no exception. However, there are checks in place and reliable indexes, like those described above, that help safeguard the scholarly record by steering authors toward reputable outlets.
Before submitting your research, we encourage you to visit Think. Check. Submit., a free-to-use online resource whose checklists, informational slide decks, videos, and other evaluative tools will help you perform a thorough quality assessment of your intended publication outlet. Above all, it’s crucial to pause, assess, and do your due diligence before sending out your hard-won research and writing.