Research and Publishing: Checking for Quality

• Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
  – Have you read any articles in the journal before?
  – Is it easy to discover the latest papers in the journal?
• Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?
  – Is the publisher name clearly displayed on the journal website?
  – Can you contact the publisher by telephone, email, and post?
• Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses?
• Are articles indexed in services that you use?
• Is it clear what fees will be charged?
  – Does the journal site explain what these fees are for and when they will be charged?
• Do you recognize the people on the editorial board?
  – Have you heard of the editorial board members?
  – Do the editorial board mention the journal on their own websites?
• Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?
  – Do they belong to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ?
  – If the journal is open access, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) ?
  – If the journal is open access, does the publisher belong to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA) ?
  
  Source: https://thinkchecksubmit.org/check/

Organizers & Sponsors

• Are you aware of the society or the association organizing this conference?
• Can you easily identify the venue of the conference?
• Is it the first time this conference has been held?
• Have you or your colleagues attended this conference before?
• Is it clear what fees will be charged (e.g. conference fee, registration fees) and if these will be waived if you are accepted as a speaker?
• Are any sponsors involved in the conference?
• Are you aware of any of the sponsors, especially with industry-related fields?
• Did you check the conference website? Can you find all the information presented in a proper way such as the (attendance fees, submission date, conference date, editorial committee, program details, venue)?
• Have you read any papers from this conference proceedings before?

Agenda & Editorial Committee

• Is there clear information about the timeline and the agenda for the conference?
• Do the scope and objectives of the conference fit your field and core interest or not?
• Have you heard of the Keynote speakers?
• Is the Editorial Committee listed on the website?
• Have you heard of the Editorial Committee members before?
• Is the Committee clear about the editorial control over presentations and the type of peer-review it uses?

Conference Proceedings

• Is the Organizing Committee clear about where the proceedings will be published?
• Does the conference make it clear which indexing services it can guarantee published proceedings and to which indexers it will submit the proceedings for evaluation?
• Is the publisher of the proceedings a member of a recognized industry initiative such as COPE, DOAJ, OASPA?

Source: https://thinkcheckattend.org/check/