Research Support

Identify trusted publishers for your research at Think.Check.Submit

"Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications".

Find checklists for both journals and books so you can be sure you are choosing a suitable and reputable publisher

Predatory publishers or journals are those which charge authors a fee for publication with no intention of providing the expected services – such as editorial or peer review – in return.

Predatory journals and vanity publishers may have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Deceptive tactics like using similar names to reputable journals
• Very wide scope
• Displays unofficial impact factors
• No editorial board is listed, or the editorial board comprises dead or retired scholars, or fraudulently lists researchers as editors
• Unclear ownership of the journal
• Spams researchers with many emails inviting submissions
• Publishers out-of-scope articles
• Publishes nonsense articles
• Lacking quality editorial services, poor or non-existent editing of articles
• Either no peer-review or the peer-review they do offer doesn't meet industry standards
• Advertises very fast times from submission to publication
• Lack of transparency around policies, fees and contact details

To avoid predatory publishers refer to the Think.Check.Submit checklists and consider participating in one of the Read & Publish agreements for no charge open access.

About ISBNs
An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13 digit number that identifies a book or book-like product. Each ISBN identifies a unique edition of a publication from one specific publisher, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.

ISBNs can be allocated to books and reports. An ISBN cannot be allocated to ephemeral material such as diaries, calendars, advertising material or prospectuses etc.

To be eligible, the publication must be:

• a saleable item or an externally funded publication (not for sale) for which the funding body has specifically requested an ISBN for distribution purposes.
• have been approved for external publication by a delegated manager of the author’s business group.

Obtaining an ISBN

If the publication meets the eligibility criteria, email ris.enquiries@daf.qld.gov.au with the title, author, publisher, digital copy of the publication (draft or final) and email approval for external publication.