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?