Publishing in predatory journals or with predatory publishers can jeopardise scientific careers. Researchers should therefore avoid such publishers wherever possible.

At the oa.talk on 2025-04-29 from 1pm to 2pm, Dr Tobias Pohlmann, subject librarian and open access officer at the University Library of Kassel, will provide guidance on how to select a suitable publication medium on the basis of basic criteria and concrete case studies.

Questions to be answered:

• How can you tell how serious a publisher is?
• Why should positive and negative lists be treated with caution?
• How can controversial publishers such as MDPI or Frontiers be categorised?

The main target group are researchers from all disciplines who are looking for well-founded decision-making criteria when selecting journals and publishers.

The event will be held online via Webex (in German only). Registration is not required. The registration link can be found at https://open-access.network/fortbilden/open-access-talk/oatalk-am-29-april-2025

oa.talk is a series of online events on open access. Once a month, experts will present information and interesting facts from the world of open access.

If you have any questions about open access and digital publishing at TU Darmstadt, please contact the Digital Publishing Team of the ULB.