Table 4: “Warning Sign” features that should increase suspicion that a journal is predatory (although features may be absent even in a predatory journal)

No information as to whether there are author fees in the Instructions for Authors.

Peer review is not mentioned in the Instructions for Authors.

Little or no information is provided regarding the editor or editorial board.

No location is listed for the journal offices, or location is very different than the location of the editors and editorial board.

The journal Web site is not easily accessible in an Internet search (could be a problem in a legitimate journal in a low- or middle-income locale).

The journal publishes either an unusually small, unusually large, or markedly variable numbers of articles each year.

You or your colleagues have received formulaic e-mail solicitations for submissions that do not specify an interest in particular projects or areas that you are working on.

Promised routine turnaround times for review and publication are so rapid that they seem “too good to be true” and would be unlikely to encompass the time necessary for true peer review.

You do not receive a response to e-mail or telephone messages sent to the editor or journal office within a few days.

The name of the journal is very similar to the name of a well-known, established journal with a good reputation.

The publication fees are atypical for the scholarly publishing industry (much higher or much lower fees can both signal problems [with recognition that journals in low- or middle-income countries may have legitimately low fees]).

It is difficult to identify articles published in the journal when searching Google Scholar or other databases (with recognition that new journals or those in low- or middle-income countries may face lags in indexing).

Information about author affiliations and/or contact information is not present in published articles.

Someone you know listed on the editorial board or journal staff, when you query them about the journal, is unaware of their supposed affiliation with the journal.