JournalGuide – a free tool created by Research Square to help researchers choose the best journal for their manuscript – has added a new designation to its database to help authors identify the most reputable publishing options.
Journals with this new Verified status are confirmed to be included in at least one high-value index or vetted by more than one subject-specialized index, saving researchers time and energy comparing multiple websites and formats to validate the coverage of a journal. In addition to viewing this status on the journal's profile page, users can filter their search results to only display Verified journals.
Instead of creating a new set of criteria to evaluate journals, JournalGuide builds on the work of the specialists and scholars who already select materials for scholarly indexes or research assessment, making the Verified tag a concert of voices – collected and filtered by JournalGuide into a centralized source. Because JournalGuide is intended to be comprehensive rather than selective, a positive "whitelist" approach was adopted to this process that highlights legitimate journals instead of attempting to exclude "blacklist" journals or publishers.
According to Research Square VP of Business Development Keith Collier, the need to evaluate the legitimacy of a journal has become an almost everyday occurrence. While intended to be inclusive, the list of Verified journals is not exhaustive. Journals lacking a Verified designation are not necessarily predatory. It is also important to note that the Verified list is non-tiered, and that a journal's impact and reputation were not considered as part of the inclusion criteria. JournalGuide will continue to expand their survey of scholarly indexes to identify additional journals that are accepted sources of validated research in their communities.
JournalGuide was designed to support multiple sources of journal information. Each title in JournalGuide, whether or not it has been identified as Verified, has been provided with a unique profile page that includes basic publication information provided by publishers, journals, or other public sources. However, the journal cannot and should not be the only voice, especially in the emerging environment where there exist journals that are known to misrepresent their content with the presumed intent of deceiving potential authors. This new Verified status is an independent check of journal data against major indexes that authors can use to make data-driven decisions about where to publish.
