Every partner journal must meet these standards before it is listed, and continue to meet them while it remains a partner. We re-check every partner each year.
1. Zero fees for authors
The journal must not charge any submission, processing, publication, review, fast-track, membership or other fee at any stage.
The one exception: a journal may pass on the actual cost of registering a Crossref DOI for the article, if it states the amount upfront, before submission, and provides proof of the actual cost. No mark-up is allowed.
2. Genuine peer review
- A clearly published peer-review policy stating the type of review (for example double-blind) and the usual number of reviewers.
- Reviews by people with relevant expertise, independent of the authors.
- Realistic timelines. Promises of acceptance within days are a warning sign.
3. A real, named editorial board
Editors and board members must be real people with verifiable affiliations who have agreed to serve.
4. Honest claims
- Indexing claims must be verifiable on the official Scopus or Web of Science lists, DOAJ or other stated index.
- No invented impact factors or misleading metrics.
- A valid ISSN and a stable, accessible website.
5. Publication ethics
- Clear policies on plagiarism, corrections, retractions, conflicts of interest and authorship.
- No citation coercion and no participation in citation trading.
- Copyright and licensing terms stated plainly.
6. Openness to review
The journal agrees that CollabCite members may report concerns, that our team may ask it to respond, and that it may be warned or delisted if it breaks these standards. Delisted journals are named publicly with the reason.