Editor Resources
Two Reviewers, Opposite Recommendations: What a Handling Editor Actually Does
A split is not a tie to be broken. A reconciliation worksheet for handling editors, a triage for unusable reports, and the decision letter that saves...
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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
You Have Found a Problem in Someone Else's Published Paper: Who to Tell, in What Order
Almost nothing is written for the reader who has spotted something wrong in a published paper: the order of co...
Directive Editorial Team · 7 min
Editor Resources
You've Been Invited Onto an Editorial Board: What to Ask Before You Say Yes
A masthead listing is a loan of your reputation, easier to give than to take back. Twelve questions to send be...
Directive Editorial Team · 7 min
Editor Resources
When an Editor Submits to Their Own Journal: The Firewall, and Ours
Editors publishing in their own journals is normal. Editors deciding on their own manuscripts is not. Six ques...
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
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Research Integrity
Is It the Real Journal? Detecting a Hijacked or Cloned Journal Website
A clone is not a low-quality journal. It is a real journal's identity worn by someone else, which is why quality checklists pass it. Five ownership te...
Research Integrity
What That Indexing Badge Actually Means: A Decoder for the Logo Wall
A journal homepage shows nine logos. Some represent an admission decision you can verify in a public register, some were bought, some just mean a craw...
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 that goes against us. Wrong on the day you...
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 can achieve, what it cannot, and what b...
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: curated indexing, board verification, pres...
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...
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...
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