Predatory journals are online free journals that promise to provide quick peer review for submitted articles, but which instead send authors large bills for publishing articles without providing the promised peer review. Predatory journals hurt the readers of their articles by claiming that the articles have been reviewed by experts, when they have not.
This guide includes resources and suggestions to help you determine whether or not to use a particular online journal.
Most library databases include only articles from reputable journals and most library databases make public the list of journals they index. Here are two ways to use those lists:
Google Scholar does not make judgments about the journals it finds and predatory journal articles have appeared in Google Scholar results. Before you use an article found in Google Scholar, evaluate the journal using the resources above.