Criteria for assessing the integrity of a journal for the formation of the Academic Integrity League's recommended journal list.

• Criteria for assessing the integrity of a journal for the formation of the Academic Integrity League's recommended journal list.

 

This document is created to provide a clearer understanding of the work of scientific journals. The list of scientific journals developed based on these criteria should serve as a foundation for evaluating the faculty, PhD students, and candidates, as well as researchers from organizations affiliated with the Academic Integrity League, and for assessing publications by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This document presents key criteria that can be supplemented by users.

Users of this document should remember that the scientific content of an article is more important than journal metrics.

** The criteria were developed by the Working Group of the Council of the Academic Integrity League based on the experience of recognized higher educational institutions (see bibliography).

 

• Main provisions

1. Publication in scientific journals is an integral part of research activity and contributes to scientific progress. Scientific journals serve as platforms for exchanging research findings and ensure a high level of quality control through the peer review process.

2. The widespread implementation of publication requirements, particularly for academic titles and degrees, has led to the emergence of predatory journals, which provide services for accelerated publication of "scientific articles" without ensuring their proper quality.

3. Predatory or fraudulent publishers produce journals with low academic credibility solely for financial or other benefits. The failure of such journals to adhere to accepted norms for scientific publications undermines the quality of the end product and perpetuates dubious research results, thereby damaging the reputation of science and society as a whole.

 

4. Since the terms "predatory" and "reputable" journals do not have universally accepted definitions, it is important to consider a combination of factors when individually and fairly assessing a journal. A predatory journal/publisher is typically one that solicits payment for publication without providing publication services such as peer review and editing..

5. 5. The choice of publication venue is entirely up to the authors. However, members of the Academic Integrity League should not count articles published in predatory and fraudulent journals for evaluation, recommendation for academic titles and degrees, or author recognition..

 

• Criteria for scientific journals:

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1. Peer Review - the process by which a manuscript submitted by an author is reviewed by individuals with sufficient knowledge and expertise in the field to assess its adherence to scientific principles, the reliability of the research, the soundness and logic of the arguments and conclusions, and its suitability for publication. Peer review is the foundation of all scientific research, and it represents an objective critique. Some publishers employ double-blind peer review, where the manuscript is reviewed by two experts who are unaware of the author's identity and other details. The absence of peer review or its sole reliance on the editorial board is indicative of a lack of integrity on the part of the publisher. A journal that does not engage in independent peer review cannot be considered a scientific journal. A reputable journal never guarantees publication. If you receive a review of your submitted manuscript that lacks substantive remarks, questions, or comments about the content of the work, it raises doubts about the integrity of the publisher/journal.

2. Reputable publishers often cannot provide a specific timeframe for the peer review process and, therefore, do not impose any limitations on it. For most publishers, the average review time for the initial version of an article ranges from 2 weeks to 3 months.

 

3. When formulating requirements for publications in scientific journals, it is important to consider that the process from article submission to publication in a journal can take a significant amount of time, sometimes up to a year or more.

4. Alignment with the journal's thematic focus. Each scientific journal has its own scope of interests within which it considers, reviews, and publishes articles. The scope of interests is typically outlined in the corresponding section on the journal's website. If a submitted article does not align with the thematic focus of the journal, it is rejected by the editor. Editors of journals published by major publishers may recommend another journal published by the same publisher if they find the article more suitable for that journal.

5. Transparency. The official website of a publisher should have a professional appearance. A reputable publisher/journal openly communicates its mission, shares information about its practices, and provides easily accessible contact details on their website. Good publishers have their own email addresses, and their newsletters are free from spelling or grammatical errors. Authoritative publications clearly state and enforce their citation rules on their official website, including requirements such as:

• The submitted article should not have been previously published, accepted, or under consideration for publication elsewhere.

• The abstract of the article should accurately reflect the main content of the entire paper.

• The article should have a clear structure and logical flow.

• Authors of the article should reference authoritative and reliable sources.

• Authors should adhere to the journal's citation style.

A reputable journal has policies or practices for digital preservation to ensure that all content does not disappear from the internet in the event of journal discontinuation.

 

Reputable journals/publishers allocate resources to prevent and address author misconduct, as they are not interested in unethical authors. They refuse publication and terminate any collaboration with an author upon discovering various forms of plagiarism, data manipulation, and other violations of research ethics in their work. Most of these journals adhere to the principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics, publicationethics.org).

6. Indexing. Reputable journals are typically indexed and included in large databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, as well as specialized databases. However, it should be noted that there may be valid reasons why a particular journal is not indexed, such as if it is new. Sometimes a journal may have an index under its previous name, so it is important to check if it has undergone rebranding.

There are counterfeit indexes, such as Index Copernicus, or fake impact factors, such as Universal Impact Factor (UIF) and Global Impact Factor (GIF). To verify, it is important to use the original database that publishes the relevant metrics. For example, you can use Journal Citation Reports by Clarivate Analytics to check the presence and value of Impact Factor and Eigenfactor Score, as well as Scopus Sources to verify the presence of CiteScore, Source Normalized Impact per Paper, and Scimago Journal Rank.

Some unscrupulous journals may prevent search engines from scanning their published content, thereby avoiding indexing in academic indexes..

7. Membership in Associations. If a journal claims to be an Open Access journal, it is important to verify its membership in the Open Access Scholarly Publishers' Association (OASPA) or the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Additionally, it is advisable to check if the journal adheres to the code of conduct for publishers and is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)..

8. Editorial Board. The members of the editorial board should be listed along with the editor-in-chief on the publisher's website. Editorial board members are typically recognized experts in the field to which the journal belongs and have a sufficient number of publications in reputable journals. The same individuals cannot serve on the editorial boards of a large number of journals simultaneously. If a journal positions itself as international, the editorial board should be diverse, taking into account gender, nationality, and country of origin of the board members. In reputable journals, the editorial board consists of more than ten highly regarded scholars.

9. Publication Fees. Any author fees should be clearly explained prior to publication and easily accessible to potential authors. Any "hidden" fees that arise during the publication process and are not disclosed on their website may be an indicator that the journal is predatory..

It should be noted that many reputable high-quality peer-reviewed journals do charge authors a full article processing fee if they wish to publish their article in open access. Additionally, there is a growing number of strong subscription-based scientific journals that publish all their articles in open access.

10. Copyright. The publisher should adhere to clear, specific, and accessible rules regarding the rights of the author or copyright holder, which should be publicly reflected in the terms, policies, and other documents, or directly stated in the agreement between the author (or copyright holder) and the publisher.

Predatory publishers/journals demonstrate a lack of understanding of well-established standards for licensing articles in open access journals or provide contradictory licensing information. They may also require authors to transfer their copyright upon manuscript submission. Generally, authors retain their copyright when publishing their article in an open access journal.

11. The presence of an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) and an electronic ISSN (eISSN).

12. Plagiarism checking policy. Reputable publishers usually have plagiarism detection systems in place, such as iThenticate. Predatory open-access journals often block their PDF files, making it difficult for automated plagiarism checks.

 

 

• Recommendations

• Thoroughly check the website to avoid submitting an article to a fake journal. Some predatory journals mimic the websites of well-known publishers.

• Pay attention to the signs of predatory publishers:

• Correspondence is conducted through public domain email addresses (gmail.com, yahoo.com, mail.ru, list.ru, bk.ru, etc.), rather than corporate domains (e.g., @elsevier.com).

• Manuscript submission is done via email rather than through a specialized online platform (common ones include Editorial Manager and ScholarOne Manuscripts) on the official publisher's website.

• Communications from the editorial office contain numerous grammatical and spelling errors.

• Check the writing style and grammar in previously published articles by the journal. Previous issues from the same publisher should demonstrate quality. The presence of obvious errors may indicate a lack of peer review.

• Ensure that the articles published in the journal align with its thematic focus. Ethical journals avoid publishing articles they are unable to assess and review thoroughly.

• To ensure transparency in the publishing process, authors are advised to document and save all interactions with the publisher (correspondence, reviews, submissions, policies, references, screenshots, and other materials) that provide insights into the publisher's practices at the time of interaction.

• Exercise caution and critical thinking when a publisher combines multiple fields that are typically unrelated. For example, an International Journal of Business, Ecology, and Philosophy.

• It is recommended to check the online presence of editorial board members to see if their participation in the journal is mentioned on their personal pages. Also, pay attention to the journal's profile and its reviewers on Publons (publons.com).

• Pay attention to the number of journals published by a single publisher. If a publisher is opening multiple journals simultaneously and their websites appear one after another, it is not a common practice.

 

 

 

 

• Helpful links

 

• Think, Check, Submit - a platform that provides a simple algorithm for identifying predatory publishers. Main website:

https://thinkchecksubmit.org/. Algorithm in Kazakh:

http://thinkchecksubmit.org/translations/kazakh/. Algorithm in Russian:

http://thinkchecksubmit.org/translations/russian/.

• Checking the ISSN validity at https://portal.issn.org/

• List of clone journals: https://predatoryjournals.com/

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): https://doaj.org/ - an online directory that provides access to high-quality, open access, and peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is fully independent.

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