Open Access
A guide to open access publishing for faculty and researchers.
Evaluating a Publication
When evaluating a publisher, think about what factors are most important to you as a scholar and researcher:
- Journal's impact factor
- Peer review process
- Publication fees
- A large audience
- Abstracted & indexed in databases
- Promotion and Tenure requirements
- Copyright and licensing restrictions
Find a Journal's Impact Factor
- Google Scholar MetricsMore limited than JCR, Google Metrics inclue the top 20 for each subject area.
- SCImagoSearch journal rankings by country, subject, and category ranking.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowUse Web of Science's Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to search individual journal titles or journal discipline category rankings.
Criteria and Standards for Open Access Publishing
With the growth in open access publishing, it is important to carefully evaluate each publisher before agreeing to publish your work, serve on an editorial board, or as a reviewer. Some points to consider in your evaluation include:
- Does the publisher comply with commonly-established ethical standards of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association's (OASPA) Code of Conduct?
- Does the publisher list full and accurate contact information?
- Does the editorial board include people who are not experts in the fields supported by the journal? Are you asked to transfer your copyright? Is there a peer review process in place?
- Does the publisher charge author fees, and are they clearly listed?
- OASPA Members DirectoryPublishers and individuals listed as members of OASPA.
