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Journal safelists are curated lists of scholarly journals or publishers that have met certain criteria, as outlined from the curating institution. 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. 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. View curated lists of publishing safelists, watchlists and checklists.
Since the term “predatory publishing” came into the awareness of academics in the mid-2000s, the definition has evolved and fractured, with many different organizations and scholars attempting to define what it means for a journal or publisher to be “predatory.” View timeline of predatory publishing definitions.
The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) published a comprehensive report to understand the global impact of predatory journals and conferences. The full report is available in English, and summaries are available in 7 other languages.
* 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.