Research Integrity
A Publisher Self-Audit: What Was Wrong in Our 60 Guides
We checked sixty published guides against our own live policies and fixed what did not match, including a line that cast our own lawful invoicing as a...
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Trusted Research · Since 2026
Directive Academy
Guides on peer review, research integrity & scholarly publishing — for authors, reviewers and editors
Research Integrity
Audit Us: Checks You Can Run on Directive Publications Yourself
We hand over the queries, name ourselves as the specimen, and pre-state every result — including every one tha...
Directive Editorial Team · 7 min
Research Integrity
You Published in a Predatory Journal. What Can and Cannot Be Undone
Almost nothing is written for the author who has already paid and already published. What a withdrawal request...
Directive Editorial Team · 7 min
Research Integrity
Answering a Predatory Journal Listing, Criterion by Criterion
A calm, line-by-line reply to the standard predatory-publisher criteria, including the four we do not meet: cu...
Directive Editorial Team · 7 min
“Legitimate journals are transparent about their fees, peer review and editorial board — verify all three before you submit.”
— Directive Publications Editorial Standards
More from the Academy
Browse all guides →
Research Integrity
Who Owns a Journal Publisher — and Who Can Overrule an Editor?
Ownership and governance without the gloss: the decision chain that ends with the Editor-in-Chief, a six-question due-diligence table, and the pages w...
Open Science
Our DOAJ Application: Where We Stand and What Is Still Missing
Not listed in DOAJ, and here is why: a ten-row readiness table against DOAJ's criteria areas, the gap we are honest about, and seven checks you can ru...
Research Integrity
Is This Journal Email Genuine? What We Send and Never Send
A full inventory of publisher-to-author correspondence, the solicitation patterns that never come from us, and a verification reply you can send to an...
Research Integrity
Why We Do Not Send Unsolicited Journal Invitations
The economics behind cold journal emails, an incentive table keyed to when a publisher takes payment, a decline-and-report script, and a triage rule f...
Research Integrity
Paper Mills and Authorship for Sale: The Offers to Refuse
The paper-mill marketplace from the buyer side: five offer types in one table, the wording that gives each away, and a seven-step rule for the email y...
Open Science
What Happens to Your Article If a Journal Shuts Down — Ours Included
The question every author should ask a publisher, answered directly: our preservation gap stated without euphemism, and three steps that keep your pap...
Research Integrity
How to Report a Problem With an Article We Published
Found an error in something we published? Send the article title, DOI, the specific concern and what you want done. This is the route that exists toda...
Editor Resources
Manuscript Transfer Between Journals: What to Insist On
Rejected, then offered a move to another journal? Pin down the consent, the fee, the review standard and the reviewer reports in writing before you re...
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