Solution

There are many reputable and respected journals operating in the chemical sciences. However, so-called predatory journals are becoming more common. These often operate without peer review and fail to meet expected standards in editorial practice. As a result, the papers they publish are largely ignored. Where you choose to publish is an important measure of your research quality. You can only publish your work in a journal once, so take care to identify the best journal for your work, for example by talking to an experienced colleague or looking to see which journals are cited in literature reviews. The website thinkchecksubmit.org provides a checklist to help researchers identify journals they can trust.

Emily Skinner is a publishing ethics specialist at the Royal Society of Chemistry

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