Scholarly Communication Support: Planning, Conducting, Disseminating, Promoting, & Assessing Research

There is no definitive list of quality publishers. Rather than relying on a list, you should use multiple sources to comprehensively investigate any publishers that you are considering for your manuscript. If you find you are unable to get a contract with a quality publisher, you may need to re-consider your topic. Use the feedback from publishers to help you identify publishable topics in your area.

When considering a publisher:

1. Have you or your colleagues heard of the publisher? If colleagues have published with them, how do they describe their experience?
2. Have you read other of their works in your discipline and found them of quality? Are you comfortable with the idea of your name and work being associated with the publisher's name?
3. Have any of the publisher's works been nominated for or won awards?
4. Does the publisher actively promote their services, such as exhibiting at conferences?
5. Does the publisher send unsolicited invitations for manuscripts? This may be a sign of a low-quality or predatory publisher.
6. Does the publisher explain how the quality control of your manuscript would be managed, e.g., type of peer review or editorial support?

Avoid vanity publishers (or vanity presses), which require authors to fund the publication of their own works and which may provide no editing or quality control in the process. Publishing with a vanity press may harm your academic reputation and may not meet your requirements for tenure and promotion.