Instruction: Evaluating Scholarly Journals

It's important to know that not all scholarly journals are equal and need to be evaluated for credibility. 

Predatory journals exploit scholars and the academic publishing industry for financial gain.

Through aggressive solicitation, misleading metrics, poor transparency, and low editorial standards, predatory journals prey on researchers and authors who need to publish for academic tenure. 

Predatory journals can have ISSNs, DOIs, and professional looking websites.

Determining if a journal is predatory takes some detective work.

• Check the Beall's List to see if the title of the journal is listed as a predatory journal. Just because it's not listed doesn't mean it's not predatory.
   
• Check the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to see if the journal is whitelisted as an approved open-access journal. Note, not all journals are open-access. 
   
• Check Ulrichsweb (a UAF Rasmuson Library database) to verify where the journal is indexed. Be aware that many predatory journals provide misleading information about where a journal is indexed. 
   
• Ask your librarian or professor. 

Journal quality and ranking vary significantly across disciplines.

Use Scopus (a UAF Rasmuson Library database) to help 

Free tools for determining ranking include:

• Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR)

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