Karen and I have both recently received invitations to submit/review for what we think are likely “predatory journals” (actually, I’m sure mine was!)

When you are looking for a journal to publish in, please be careful and be aware that there are many bogus journals out there.  Be sure to check out a journal that you are not familiar with, as to the quality of papers they have published.  Other clues include promises of extremely fast reviews, no vetting of reviewer qualifications, and the same editorial board for all journals the publisher publishes.  Fortunately, someone has already done much of this work for you.  Beall’s list is a comprehensive and evolving (and long!!) list of suspicious publishers, which will be useful for a first step in checking out a journal:

http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/

As an example, I received an invitation from Higher Education Studies, published by the Canadian Center of Science and Education which is on Beall’s list.  I was suspicous before I even checked the list though, because the invitation from the editorial assistant said that after reading one paper of mine, she could “tell from [your] work that [you] are an expert in the field of education”.

Definitely suspicious!

** Update: Beall’s list has been criticized by some for being biased against Open Access.  Perhaps the main message should be – be aware!! For more info see Margy’s more recent post here: http://blogs.mtroyal.ca/isotl/2014/03/13/update-on-predatory-journals/