Predatory Publishing Policy

At Scholastica, we value good scholarship and we’re excited by the possibilities presented by the web and open access publishing. We’re wary, however, of predatory publishers attempting to exploit academics and scholarly authors.

While we don't strictly adhere to the characteristics of predatory publishers outlined on Wikipedia, the warning signs listed there closely mirror our own concerns.

Exploitative or predatory behavior that does not belong on Scholastica includes charging authors exorbitant or surprising fees and providing inadequate peer-review.

We want our platform to reward academic excellence and intellectual honesty.

Before a journal can accept submissions from authors on our system, we do a basic background check to ensure that they meet certain criteria that allow us and the community to hold them accountable:

• Journals charging publication fees must disclose the fee on their Submission Guidelines page.
• The journal’s editorial board and masthead must be listed on the journal’s Scholastica page.
• At least one of the journal’s editors must have an account in Scholastica.
• If the journal has a website separate from their Scholastica page, that site must include a link to the journal’s Scholastica page indicating that authors can submit to the journal via Scholastica.