Open Access (OA) & Scholarly Publishing

Research monographs can be reworked editions of dissertations, theses, or other substantial research reports. Edited for a broader or more specialized audience depending on the publisher's target market, monographs are commercial works typically aimed at readers with varying levels of expertise – from students and academics to practitioners and even laypeople. University presses and commercial scholarly publishers handle monograph publication, with a key distinction being royalty payments for authors. Unlike most research dissemination formats like journal articles and conference papers, monographs offer authors the potential for financial compensation.

Choosing a reputable publisher is crucial for successful publication. Evaluating publishers can be complex, as not all books or chapters are indexed in central databases. Since a definitive list of quality publishers doesn't exist, consider multiple sources when researching potential publishers. Your peers, colleagues, and academic advisors familiar with your field's publishing landscape can offer invaluable advice. Additionally, publisher catalogs provide inventories and descriptions of their published works.

Here are some factors to consider when evaluating a monograph's scholarly quality and impact:

Does the Publisher carry weight? What are the credentials of the editors and publishers?

• Journal Citation Reports (JCR): is a product of Clarivate Analytics and is an authoritative resource for impact factor data. This database provides impact factors and rankings of many journals in the social and life sciences based on millions of citations. It offers numerous sorting options including impact factor, total cites, total articles, and immediacy index. In addition, JCR provides a five-year impact factor and visualized trend data.
• WorldCat: Provides publisher information and can tell you how many libraries own a copy of the manuscript. 
• Publisher profile: Have you (or your colleagues) heard of the publisher? Can you quickly identify and contact the publisher, or is the publisher's website just a web front? Have any books published by the publisher been nominated or won awards? Legitimate publishers will be upfront with their publication practices. 

Is the publisher considered a high-impact?

For books and chapters, scholarly quality/impact indicators may be available at:

• Web of Science: is a database focused on scholarly research that offers citations for academic articles, conference proceedings, and books. It lets you search across many disciplines to find relevant research and see how different studies connect through citations. It's a powerful tool for researchers to track the impact of their field and discover new knowledge.
• Google Scholar: is a free resource available online.

• American Association of University Presses (AAUP) has a list of member university presses. By visiting particular publishers' websites, you can find these catalogs and see precisely what the press is publishing in your discipline.

Publishing process and added value:

• Legitimate publishers will be upfront about their publishing guidelines. Does the publisher specify how the quality control of your manuscript would be managed i.e. type of peer review or editorial support? 
• Does the publishing house offer services such as the design and layout of your monograph (including designing the cover), indexing, copy-editing and proofreading, good review coverage, and a wide and effective promotion of your monograph?

What is Predatory Publishing?

Predatory publishing refers to the exploitative business practices of certain journals or publishers that prioritize profit over scholarly rigor. These publishers often use deceptive tactics, such as aggressive solicitation and false claims of indexing or impact factors, to lure authors into publishing with them. They typically charge publication fees without providing the expected editorial and peer-review services, resulting in the dissemination of low-quality or even fraudulent research.

Key points about predatory publishing:

• Lack of rigorous peer review: Predatory journals often bypass or offer only superficial peer review, leading to the publication of flawed or unsubstantiated research.
• Misleading marketing tactics: They may falsely claim to be indexed in reputable databases or inflate their impact factors to attract authors.
• High publication fees: Predatory publishers often charge exorbitant fees for publication, without providing the corresponding editorial and publishing services.
• Potential harm to scholarly communication: Predatory publishing undermines the integrity of academic research and can mislead researchers, policymakers, and the public.

Handy peer-reviewed resources:

• Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K.,... & Lalu, M. M. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature, 576(7786), 210-212.

• Shen, C., & Björk, B.-C. (2015). “Predatory” open access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine, 13(1), 230–230.

• Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489(7415), 179-179.