In addition to the criteria for a one-star journal, this journal is compliant with additional JPPS criteria for publishing practice quality:
- The journal has an editorial policy statement (including an accurate and detailed explanation of the validity of the peer-review and the quality-control processes applied to all manuscripts or authors’ texts submitted for publication).
- The masthead (“about the journal” information) includes:
- An eISSN for the online version of the journal registered with the ISSN International Centre.
- As well as the Editorial Board member information, any other oversight body involved with the journal, for example, an International Advisory Committee, named with up to date and accurate information. Names and titles are written out in full, and all persons listed are actively and verifiably involved with the journal; the list also includes the primary and up to date institutional affiliation (or connection with a larger organization, for example a society or university) of each person listed. NOTE: The JOL requires applicant and partner journals to provide accurate contact details, including institutional (and other) email addresses for ALL persons listed on the masthead, as part of our review process. These contact details will not be made publicly available by the JOL unless we are instructed to do so by the journal/publisher.
- The journal provides clear and comprehensive instructions to authors, including:
- Information about copyright (please note the importance of telling authors whether the journal will be the copyright holder after publication of an article, or whether copyright remains with authors).
- If the journal charges readers subscription fees, or charges authors or authors’ institutions any handling fees, publication fees or similar, the amount/s should be clearly stated and publicly available on the JOL website as well as on the journal’s own website (if it has one) and in the journal’s hard copy (if it has one).
- Basic information displayed on the front page of each article includes:
- The journal title; volume and issue number; page numbers.
- Article keywords.
- The article DOI (digital object identifier, which is a string or set of numbers that uniquely identifies a published article).
- The journal publishes at least one issue per year and/or at least eight articles per year, and publishes issues on time, according to the stated publishing frequency.
- The journal has a publicly-available, accurate and detailed description of its peer-review process on the JOL and on its homepage, if it has one.
- Language and copy editing provide clarity for readers; layouts are consistent; tables, graphs and images are of good quality; and the same style is consistently used throughout the journal.
- The cover of the journal looks professional or competent (no clip art or pre-made pictures, or low-quality images).
- If the journal or publisher has its own website or is included on websites other than the JOL (for example, on a university website), the website quality is good (having a professional and functional or well-working site design with no garish or over-decorated, flashing images), and the journal content is up to date.
Recommendations
- The journal is strongly recommended to have clear and comprehensive instructions to peer reviewers, which are also placed on the journal’s own website and/or its JOL homepage.