Publishing Safelists, Watchlists and Checklists

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Journal Safelists*

Journal safelists are curated lists of scholarly journals or publishers that have met certain criteria, as outlined from the curating institution. The list of journal safelists below provides an example of the variety of sources that are creating safelists as a way of helping scholars determine if journals are legitimate and ethical.

• Australian Business Dean's Council Journal Quality List (ABDC)
• Berlin Institute of Health- Open Access Journal Whitelist
• Cabells Journal Whitelist
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
• JournalGuide Whitelist
• Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS)
• Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
• Publons

 

Journal Watchlists*

Journal watchlists are curated lists of scholarly journals or publishers that have been evaluated to be participating in one or more predatory activities by the curator. The list of journal watchlists below provides an example of watchlists that are accessible to scholars wishing to determine if a journal they are interested in publishing in has been flagged as engaging in predatory behaviors.

• Beall's List of Predatory Journals and Publishers
• Cabells Journal Blacklist
• Dolos List
• Stop Predatory Journals

 

Checklists

Scholarly publishing checklists, aimed at giving authors agency in the journal vetting process have become more common. Many university library websites now offer these checklists to help authors identify possibly predatory journals. There have also been several scholarly publications aimed at presenting checklists authors can use to evaluate journals. This list below is far from exhaustive, and instead shows a sampling of the variety of checklists available to authors. 

• AuthorAID (Nobes, 2018)
• Beall's Criteria for Identifying a Predatory Publisher
• Blobaum's Checklist
• Declan Butler's Checklist
• Duke University Medical Center Library- be INFORMed
• GVSU Open Access Journal Quality Indicators
• LKS-ASE Guide to Predatory Journals
• Think.Check.Submit.
• Thompson Rivers University Library
• (Vence, 2017) Article by Vence in The Scientist (2017)
• (Walters, 2015) Scholarly Article by William H. Walters

* In solidarity with other industry leaders to discard the racist symbolism associated with the terms "whitelist" and "blacklist," the STEPP project has adopted new terminology for the curated lists displayed here.