The world of academic publishing has a relatively new tool to fight predatory publishing, Chronos Hub. The website brings together researchers, funders, institutions, and publishers to help academics find the appropriate journal for their scholarly publication.
Chronos Hub automates compliance checks so an academic knows at a glance which journals meet the funding institution’s policies and reporting requirements. The site also enables academic authors to submit to journals using Chronos.
What is a predatory journal?
While Beall’s goes a bit too far, calling any open access journal predatory, the equally respected Library Guides of Roger Williams University defines a predatory publisher as one that exploits academic authors by charging excessive publication fees without providing a peer review process, editorial or publishing support.  It does concede that some open access journals maintain an appropriate level of quality control.
Good Open Access Journal Behavior
Some open journals affiliate themselves with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and/or the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA). They also typically join the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to which venerated journals belong.
Most peer-reviewed journals avoid the predatory label since they do provide a vetting and editing process. You can check Ulrichsweb to find a list of peer-reviewed journals and what database catalogs their published papers. You can also check the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) of a journal to determine its quality.
The legwork to choose a journal before the advent of Chronos proved extensive. The Hub has proved handy for publications that Beall’s erroneously named predatory because they provide open access such as Bentham Open. Bentham Science Open partnered its more than 200 journals with Chronos Hub to ensure an open, honest submission process that includes all relevant parties. The transparency of Chronos simplifies one of the most complex undertakings of an academic while adding to the veracity of both authors and journals.
