Is this journal trustworthy? (Think. Check. Submit.)

Before you send your manuscript to any journal, including ours, check that the journal is trustworthy. Tick each statement you were able to confirm yourself.

• I know the journal: I or my colleagues have read articles in it, and its name, ISSN and publisher are stated clearly on its website.
• I can easily find the journal's editors and editorial board, with their real affiliations, and contact them.
• The journal states its peer-review process clearly and how long a decision usually takes.
• The journal's articles carry DOIs and can be found in the indexes and databases it claims (I checked at least one claim on the database's own site).
• Any fees are stated openly on the website before submission: what they are, when they are charged and whether waivers exist.
• The licence of published articles (for example CC BY 4.0) and who keeps the copyright are written clearly.
• The journal has published policies on ethics, conflicts of interest, corrections and retractions, and follows COPE guidance.
• The publisher is a member of recognised initiatives (for example COPE, Crossref, DOAJ), and I confirmed the membership on that organisation's own website.
• I was not pressed by unsolicited e-mails, promises of guaranteed acceptance or unrealistically fast publication.