Predatory journals – The Rotation: A Himmelfarb Library Blog

Looking to Publish? Find the Right Journal!

Ruth BueterNovember 17, 2025November 14, 2025

Photo of a manuscript spread out on a desk with highlighted sections and notes written on it. — Photo by Catherine Cronin; CC BY-SA 2.0

Do you have an article manuscript ready to submit for publication, but aren’t sure how to find the right journal? Finding an appropriate journal for your research can be daunting. With so many scholarly journals to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start when selecting a journal. But don’t fret - Himmelfarb Library is here to help! There are tools available to help you navigate your options and find the right journal for your research!

Journal Selection Tools

There are numerous tools available to help you identify possible journals that could be a good match for your research.

Abstract Matcher Tools

The following tools let you copy and paste your abstract into the tool, and they provide you with a list of possible journals that could be a good fit for your manuscript:

Publisher Manuscript Match Tools

Multiple large publishers also have services that will help you match your abstract to an appropriate journal.

Journal Information Tools

Once you have a list of potential journals, do your research about each title to determine which journal would best fit your needs. The following tools provide information about specific journal titles that can help you decide where to submit your manuscript:

Journal Citation Reports: Look up key journals in your field, sortable by impact factor, Eigenfactor, and other metrics.
Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities: Look up journal titles to find contact information, manuscript and submission guidelines, and metrics to support selecting titles for submission. Cabells also tracks predatory journals, which are described further below..

Learn more about these tools in Himmelfarb’s video tutorial: Journal Selection Tools: Choosing the Right Journal for Your Research

Is Your Manuscript a Good Match for a Journal?

Journals usually have “information for authors” pages on their websites that lay out the Aims and Scope of the research they publish. Once you have a list of possible journals, take a look at the Aims and Scope sections of each journal's website and decide whether or not your manuscript matches the research and topics the journal normally publishes. If you’re not sure if your paper is a good fit for the journal, reach out to the journal editor, send them your abstract, and ask them if they think your manuscript is a good fit for the journal.

Making Sense of the Metrics

Journals advertise citation metrics to demonstrate their relative importance in the field. Journals with higher citation metrics are usually more selective in the articles they publish. Various metrics evaluate relative journal quality, and each metric uses different methods. These metrics signify how frequently articles published in a specific journal are cited in other journal articles. Two important metrics to consider are Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore.

Journal Impact Factor

Journal Impact Factor (JIF), calculated by Web of Science, can be found on the Journal Citation Reports website (may be paywalled for non-GW affiliates). The Journal Impact Factor is the number of times a journal is cited during a given year divided by the sum of the number of articles published during the previous two years. Learn more in our Journal Impact Factors: What You Need to Know tutorial.

CiteScore

CiteScore, similar to JIF, is calculated by Elsevier’s Scopus. CiteScore is the number of citations articles in a journal received during the last four years divided by the number of articles published in the same four-year period. Check out CiteScore Methodology to learn more about this metric.

Metrics and Your Manuscript

It’s important to have realistic expectations when selecting a journal for your research. Journals with higher JIF or CiteScores are more likely to publish cutting-edge research with novel or important findings. Research with less novel findings tends to find homes in journals with lower JIF or CiteScores. Knowing how likely your article is to be published in a journal with a higher or lower JIF and CiteScores can help you save time by submitting your manuscript to a journal with an appropriate JIF or CiteScore.

Open Access Journals and Support From Himmelfarb

Deciding whether to publish your manuscript as open access is another key decision to make when considering where to publish. Publishing open access will make your article publicly available to everyone. Publishing in a traditional subscription-based journal means that your article will be paywalled and only available to readers who subscribe or have access through a library's purchased subscription to the journal. The following terminology is important to know when considering publishing open access:

Fully Open Access: Every article is published Open Access and made publicly available to read. Authors are often required to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) to cover the cost of publication.
Hybrid Journal: These journals allow authors to choose to pay an APC and publish their articles as Open Access or not pay an APC and have the article published behind a paywall.
Subscription Only or Closed Journal: These journals do not offer Open Access options, and all articles are published behind a paywall. These journals rely on revenue from libraries and other subscribers to pay for access via yearly subscriptions.

Free APCs at GW

GW has current “transformative agreements” with Cambridge University Press and The Company of Biologists that allow GW authors to publish research as open access at no cost to authors. Article Processing Charges (APCs) are waived with these publishers! Cambridge University Press publishes roughly 50 health sciences-related journals covered under this agreement. The Company of Biologists agreement includes 5 titles:

Look Out for Predatory Journals

Before submitting your manuscript to a journal, do your due diligence to ensure that the journal is not predatory. Predatory journals pretend to be legitimate academic journals, promote false or misleading metrics, and have unethical business practices that fail to follow scholarly publishing best practices. Predatory journals often promise quick article publication, frequently lack a peer review process, and don’t have archiving policies, which can result in your work disappearing from the internet.

Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities tracks predatory journals and provides violations of scholarly publishing best practices to help you avoid submitting your paper to a predatory journal. Be aware that not all predatory journals in the medical and health sciences fields are listed in this resource. If you have reservations about a title and can’t find it in Cabells, contact Ruth Bueter (rbueter@gwu.edu), who will investigate the journal on your behalf.

Learn more about how to identify predatory journals on Himmelfarb’s Predatory Publishing research guide.

Questions? Himmelfarb Can Help!

Still have questions about choosing a journal for your manuscript? Reach out to us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu, and we can help you navigate the resources discussed in this post!

Predatory Publishing Alerts from Cabells Now Available in the Library Catalog and Nomad!

jltFebruary 10, 2025January 14, 2025

Cabells is a trusted source for tracking and reporting predatory publishers and journals, including within the health sciences. Now Cabells data is incorporated into article records in Health Information @ Himmelfarb (the library catalog) and the LibKey Nomad browser extension to alert users to potentially problematic or fraudulent research.

Journal article records in the catalog that are enhanced with LibKey links to direct PDF or journal contents will include alerts when the journal is listed as predatory in Cabells. The alerts look like this in Health Information @ Himmelfarb:

Library catalog record image with Problematic Journal link highlighted

Clicking the Problematic Journal link provides more information on why the article was flagged:

LibKey record image with details on why the article was flagged as predatory

If you use the LibKey Nomad browser extension to easily link to full-text in other databases and content providers, you will see the same notifications.

PubMed search screen with Nomad full-text link and Problematic Journal link in article record

We encourage library users to install LibKey Nomad for the best full-text linking experience.

At this time the predatory journal notifications only appear in article records. To check on the status of a journal, access Cabells directly to look up the journal title.

Notifications of retracted articles are already provided in Health Information @ Himmelfarb and Nomad through an integration with Retraction Watch.

PubMed record screenshot with Article Retracted link

For assistance with linking to full-text content or other Himmelfarb Library resources, please contact us by email (himmelfarb@gwu.edu) or phone (202-994-2962) or use Library Chat services during business hours.

Comic: Predatory Publishing

r.kyserMay 29, 2024September 19, 2025

Sometimes researching can be more complicated than it appears. Below, we take a look at predatory publishing, what it is, and how to avoid it.

A title card that says predatory publishing

Narration: A label next in the bottom left corner denotes the speaker as “Rebecca, Librarian, Amature Cartoonist.” — Pp Page 1

Rebecca in the boat, looks down concerned at the sea, where multiple shark fins can be seen poking through the waves. The speech bubble states “But there metaphorical waters can prove treacherous. And unlike real sharks, these threats to scientific knowledge provide little benefit to the scholarly ecosystem”

Narration: “Introducing Predatory Publishing” is at the top of the page. At the bottom, there is a label for the shark, which states “Ponzi, the Shark”
Image: A shark wearing a top hat and bow tie waves a fin, looking smug.

Panel 4 Narration: “But what are predatory publishers?”
Image: Rebecca looking stern, looks forward with a parrot on her shoulder. “Predatory publishers are journals that only exist to make money.”

panel 5
Image: A white man with blonde hair and old fashion clothes, holding onto ship wreckage like Jack in Titanic, looks at a mermaid with brown skin, black hair and a purple tail. In the background there is other evidence of a ship wreck. The man says “What do you mean “make money?” to which the mermaid replies “You didn’t know?” — Pp Page 1

Image: Now under the sea, the mermaid from earlier gestures to a treasure chest full of gold. Other sea life float in the background. She says “Scientific publishing is a huge business. One publisher, had a profit margin of almost 40% in 2023 (1). In contrast, Apple’s was 44% (2). — Pp Page 1

Panel 1 Narration: To best understand how publishers make so much money, one must learn how the publishing process works.
Image: The parrot from earlier says “Polly want an explanation!”

Panel 2
Narration: “Traditional publishing looks something like this. Scientists submit to journals who publish it to the world (ideally). And money flows like this: scientists submit to journals for free (or a small fee) and publishers pay to publish the work to the world, who pay higher costs in return for access. Publishers get work for free that is edited for free and then charge individuals, libraries, ect for access.
Image: A flow chart of a beaker, a journal and the Earth is shown demonstrating the relationship described in the narration.

Narration: This can lead to science being behind a paywall, especially for scientists, schools and others who can’t afford to pay.
Image: Rebecca and Polly the parrot stand on opposite sides of a poster with a picture of a journal on it. The poster says “$$$$ science.” Rebecca, talking to Polly, says “I can’t afford this.” Polly, who is resting on a bird perch, says “Polly can’t even afford a cracker…”

Panel 1
Narration: SO a new model was born: open access. It looks like the traditional model but money flows like this (authors pay to journals to publish their work and journals pay to publish to the world). The idea is the author pays a fee to ensure wider access.
Image: A flow chart of a beaker, a journal and the Earth is shown demonstrating the relationship described in the narration.
Panel 2:
Narration: Ideally, the rest works the same. Scientists submit their best works, it’s peer reviewed and if it passes muster, it’s published like traditional publishing.
Image: We see the Earth in space with an Astronaut floating in the foreground. The astronaut says “I even get access out here!” There is also a UFO floating over the Earth as a gag.

Narration: Except…what if instead of being discerning about what you publish, you just accept everything? After all, the more articles you accept, the more money you make in fees. — Pp 2

Narration: This is the business model of predatory publishers: accept anything and make a profit from the fees. Some tactics of predatory publishers include:
Image: A wanted poster of Ponzi the shark is affixed to a brick wall. On the poster, Ponzi looks alarmed. The text of the poster says “wanted: fraud.”

Narration: Pretending to be respected journals by spoofing the name of a more reputable publication.
Image: A bald Black scientist wearing glasses looks concerned at Ponzi, who looks the same except for a drawn on fake mustache. Both of them stand next to posters. The scientist’s poster says “submit to Nature.” Ponzi’s poster states “submit to Natures.”

Panel 1

Narration: Or they’ll ue the name of a defunct journal that has a better reputation.
Image: Ponzi the shark is seen floating underwater over a human skeleton. There are two labels affixed to each. The skeleton is labeled as “human sciences.” Ponzi is labeled as “human sciences 2.0”
Panel 2:
Narration: They might offer services like peer review with no intention of doing it, or claim rapid turn around times.
Image: A white and yellow tropical fish stares at a piece of paper on a fish hook. The paper says “pls review in 24 hours.” Question marks are shown over the fish’s head.

Narration: The reason this is a huge issue is partially one of quality. Predatory publishers flood scientific literature with B.S that can be dangerous. — Pp 2

Narration: The other issue impacts scientists: those tricked into publishing in these journals can see a hit to their reputations.
Image: A line up of three figures is shown with a text box underneath. The first two figures are literal clowns in full makeup while the third is a scientist with brown skin and brown hair looking horrified in their direction. The text underneath the three states” This issue: Balloon animals found to boost happiness page 8. The speed of trick flowers page 32. New cells found in clinical trials page 41.

Panel 1:
Image: The shipwrecked sailor holding onto wood planks from page 1 floats in the ocean. He asks “So what do we do about this? Give up on open access?”
Panel 2:
Image: Rebecca is seen balancing on the mast of the ship with the sail behind her. He says “of course not! Open science is important. We just need to be careful.”

Narration: Look for red flags. Things like:
Image: A red flag is seen in the sky. On the red flag there is a yellow circle which showcases Ponzi the shark.

Panel 1
Narration: Editors who have frank credentials, lack expertise that matches the journal or don’t exist at all.
Image: A volleyball with a face painted on it in red (much like Wilson in Castaway) rests on a beach. Below it, a text box states: “Editor in Chief: Wilson V. Ball”
Panel 2:
Narration: Having a weird street address for a business or no about page.
Image: An underwater cave is shown, There is a wooden sign in front of the cave that says “home of Natures.”

Panel 1

Narration: You’re naked to submit work entirely unsolicited.
Image: An anglerfish with a letter in the place of its light antenna, floats in the deep sea. With sharp teeth it says “You got mail.”
Panel 2:
Narration: Promising rapid publication.
Image: A stopwatch on a chain is shown with the intervals of 15, 30 and 45 on it. The top interval says “publish.”

Panel 1 Narration: Unsure about a publisher? You can ask a librarian or try using Cabells, a director of publishing opportunities. It identifies predatory publishers. We offer access to Cabells through Himmelfarb.
Image: The interface of Cabells is shown where journals are marked as predatory.

Panel 2

Narration: Good luck!
Image: Rebecca is seen in the bird's nest, giving a salute to the audience. The ocean and sun can be seen behind her,

Sources:

Yup K. How Scientific Publishers’ Extreme Fees Put Profit Over Progress. Published online May 31, 2023. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/neuroimage-elsevier-editorial-board-journal-profit/
Miglani J. Apple Sales And Profits Analysis For FY 2023 — Top 10 Insights. Forrester. Published November 21, 2023. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.forrester.com/blogs/apple-sales-and-profits-analysis-for-fy-2023-top-10-insights/
Bueter R. Research Guides: Predatory Publishing: Home. Himmelfarb Health Science Library. Accessed May 29, 2024. https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/PredatoryPublishing/Home

Ready to Publish? Find the Right Journal with Cabells!

Ruth BueterAugust 12, 2022January 30, 2024

Selecting a journal in which to publish your research is an important decision. With so many journals from which to choose, it can be daunting to compare journals and avoid publishing in a predatory or questionable journal, all while trying to find submission requirements, peer review information, and author guidelines to inform your decision making process. GW users now have access to Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities which can help you compare journals and identify predatory journals to avoid!

GW’s access to Cabells includes access to Journalytics and Predatory Reports. The Journalytics portion provides information on reputable journal titles including manuscript and submission guidelines, discipline, intended audience, peer review information, and acceptance rates. This information can help authors compare journals and make an informed decision regarding where to submit a manuscript for publication. Inclusion in Cabells Journalytics is by invitation only and criteria for inclusion can be found in the Journalytics Selection Policy.

The screenshot below is an example of the submission and review information listed for the Journal of Advanced Nursing found in Cabells Journalytics:

Screenshot of submission and review information.

Journalytics also allows you to compare up to 5 journals by selecting the titles you wish to compare, and clicking on the “Compare 5” button at the top of the search results. The screenshot below shows a side-by-side comparison of 5 emergency medicine journals:

The Predatory Reports portion of Cabells tracks journal titles that have been associated with predatory journal publishers based on violations of scholarly publishing standards and best practices. Cabells has established criteria for identifying deceptive, fraudulent, and/or predatory journals and provides a list of violations for each title listed in Predatory Reports. Examples of severe violations include: false qualifications or credential claims; fake ISSNs; fake, non-existent, or deceased editors; false peer review claims; publication of non-academic or pseudo-science papers; false indexing claims; lack of published articles or archives; misleading metrics; and misleading or false fee information. Cabells provides access to the complete list of Predatory Reports Criteria on their website.

The screenshot below shows an example of a list of violations from a title listed on Cabells Predatory Reports:

If you’d like a second opinion, or are unable to find a title you are suspicious of listed on Cabells Predatory Reports, don’t hesitate to use Himmelfarb’s Predatory Journal Check-Up Service by contacting Ruth Bueter (rbueter@gwu.edu).

Whether you want to check to see if a journal in which you are interested in publishing could be a predatory journal, or you want more information about potential journals to which you might want to consider submitting your manuscript, Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities can provide you with the concise information you need all from a single, easy-to-use interface! To learn more, or if you have questions about this resource, contact Ruth Bueter (rbueter@gwu.edu).

Tag: Predatory journals