Choosing a suitable publisher for your scholarly book is integral to maximising its visibility, credibility, and impact. With so many book publishers to assess from, there are certain trusted tools you can use to help narrow your search. The Think. Check. Submit checklist is one tool that provides a clear, practical checklist to guide researchers through the selection process and make choosing the right publisher for your book much easier.

In this article, we’ll explain the Think. Check. Submit criteria and why following this guidance is important in today’s scholarly publishing landscape.

What is Think. Check. Submit?

Think. Check. Submit is an industry-recognised tool that serves as a checklist for researchers looking to find trusted publishers for their work. They have checklists for journals and books and chapters, each with their own unique criteria.

The tool was launched in 2015 by an international group of scholarly organisations, including OAPEN, COPE, STM, and USKG. Thier aim was to tackle concerns about predatory publishing by educating researchers about the typical characteristics of credible publishers. To guide researchers, Think. Check. Submit published easy-to-follow checklists for both scholarly journals and books.

This is how the Think. Check. Submit criteria looks for books and chapters.

Think

This is the preliminary stage of the search where authors must demonstrate caution. Authors are advised to stop and consider how they can be sure that the target publisher is the right one for their book.

In today’s scholarly ecosystem, where more research is being published globally, new publishers are being launched every week, and guidance on finding the right publisher often proving insufficient, how can you be sure as an author that you are making the right decision?

This is where the next step comes in.

Check

The Check criteria functions to guide authors carefully through the process of finding a book publisher. Check if your target publisher can be trusted by using the following checklist:

Reputation and discoverability

• Have you previously encountered books or chapters published by the publisher?
• Is it easy to discover the publisher’s latest books?
• Is it clear how their books are distributed or promoted?

Format and pricing

• Is the format and pricing of their books clearly stated? (e.g. print or open access).

Reputation of academic editors

• Do the academic editors have a proven record in your field?

Publisher information

• Can the publisher be easily identified and contacted?
• Is the publisher’s name clearly identifiable on both the website and book front matter?
• Can the publisher be contacted by telephone, email, and post?

Peer review

• Is it clearly stated on the website what type of peer review is used?
• Does the peer review involve an expert editorial board or independent/external reviewers in your subject area?

The following information about services and charges is also crucial to keep in mind:

Indexing and archiving

• Will your book or chapter be indexed?
• Is long-term digital archiving and preservation guaranteed via OAPEN or CLOCKSS?
• Are persistent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) used?

Finances and author fees

• Are financial relationships that support the publisher clearly stated on the website?
• Is it clearly stated if authors must pay fees to publish? And if so, are these fees explicitly described?
• Is it explained whether waivers are available to authors?

Open access and licensing conditions

• If an open access book publisher, are the open access conditions made explicit?
• Does the publisher clearly communicate their license policy?
• Does the publisher allow you to retain copyright of your work?
• Is the publisher clear about contracts and royalty agreements, where applicable?

Conflicts of interest

• Is there a clear policy regarding conflicts of interest?

Other services

• Are services such as copyediting, marketing, and rights management clearly described?

Performance metrics

• Are performance metrics for your book measured and communicated to authors?

Other things you may want to check include:

• Is the publisher a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and does it follow their guidelines?
• If the book will be published as open access, will it be listed in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)?

Submit

If you have been able to check most if not all the above criteria, then you are encouraged to submit, so long as you have identified that the topic and projected audience of your book aligns with the publisher’s own interests and readership.

Why the checklist matters

Predatory publishing is a big issue in scholarly open access book publishing. It refers to publishers who promise rapid publication and rigorous peer review or are not transparent about book processing charges (BPCs).

The Think. Check. Submit checklist provides authors with a practical checklist that focuses on specifics that predatory publishers are likely to be misleading or non-communicative about.

A trusted publisher will always be transparent about their policies and conditions. For example, if they typically use peer review to evaluate scholarly content but a particular book did not undergo this process, this should be stated on the book’s web page as part of its metadata.

Publishing an open access book

If you are interested in publishing an open access book and want to learn more about the format, see our comprehensive guide on open access books. If you are looking to submit to a trusted publisher that meets the Think. Check. Submit criteria, submit a book proposal with MDPI Books today.