With the advent of open access publishing, printing barriers are removed and the assembly and dissemination of information requires little more than Internet access. Unfortunately, this has led to a proliferation of open access publishers with little or no subject expertise and of questionable repute. Scholars and researchers may receive email solicitations for fee-based paper submissions to journals that make false or misleading claims about the stringency of their peer-review process, members of their editorial board or indexing status. The following sites are a good place to start when investigating the legitimacy of a journal or publisher.
Before deciding to publish in any journal, consider the following criteria:
Here are some resources that can help you vet an OA journal:
Adapted from Paul Blobaum's Checklist for Review of Journal Quality, Governor's State University