When looking at potential journals, you'll want to make sure you publish in a good quality journal and avoid predatory publishers.  The ways to evaluate quality include the following considerations:

• Peer Review
• Rejection number
• Reputation

What Is Peer Review?

Journals submit their articles to the peer review process.  Peer review attempts to ensure the quality of articles published in a particular journal by having experts in the field evaluate author submissions.  

When looking at a journal for submission, you'll want to find a journal with a well-defined peer review process.

Elsevier offers a good primer on peer review and the types of peer review if you'd like to learn more. 

Predatory journals (deceptive publishing) are journals that prey on the "publish or perish" atmosphere that can exist in academia.  Their business model is based on accepting authors' fees without doing the quality control or peer-review of articles they claim they will.  There have been examples of authors submitting gibberish or case studies based on television shows to trick those publishers.  If those articles get through their process, it could mean more legitimate-appearing articles get through even if there are grave mistakes or even fraud.  

Avoid publishing in those journals.  

Things to look out for:

• They appear more concerned with recruiting submissions than sharing their publications.
• They promise a quick publishing model.
• Author fees are low.
• Displays elements of spam emails: typos, emails not associated with a publication or a publisher, no online submission form.
• Lacks information provided by more reputable journals: no information about scope and aim, few author submission guidelines....etc. 
• Lacks information about corrections, retractions and version control.  
• You can't find information about where it's indexed. 

To get more information about what to look for, check out Think. Check. Submit.'s web page.  

Main Page Link

Journal Checklist Link
Book Checklist Link