Predatory Journals

These are journals that publish scientific papers of questionable quality and do not adhere to academic publishing standards (e.g., peer review).

It is extremely important to evaluate carefully and critically the journal you choose for publishing your article. Once an article is submitted for publication in a predatory journal, withdrawing the manuscript or canceling the publication there is practically impossible. Therefore, if doubts arise regarding the credibility of a journal, we recommend contacting the KTU Library (biblioteka@ktu.lt; +370 (37) 300 652).
Useful links:

• Think. Check. Submit. A tool for verifying a journal’s credibility.
• How to find the right journal for publishing an article (library training).

APC discounts

Kaunas University of Technology has signed transformative agreements with 7 publishers for year 2026.

A Transformative Agreement defines the access to subscribed resources and also allows authors affiliated to subscribing institutions to publish their articles in Publishers’ fully open access and/or hybrid access journals without paying article processing charges (APC).

An APC voucher is a document or confirmation that fully covers or reduces the cost of the APC. APCs are fees that authors (or their institutions or sponsors) pay to publishers to have their articles published in open-access journals. This fee is intended to cover the costs of publishing, peer review, editing, and distribution of the article.

Below is information about publishers and the terms of transitional agreements, requirements for authors, and the discount application process. Additionally, lists of journals eligible for APC discounts are provided, along with journal metrics (Web of Science, Scopus).

NOTE: Full list of publishers offering APC discounts, including also those negiotiated by EIFL, are presented here.

 American Chemical Society (ACS) Web Editions

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Authors from institutions subscribing to ACS who meet the publisher’s requirements may publish their articles in open access at no cost.
• Free open access publication applies to articles in hybrid and fully open (gold) access journals.
• A complete list of journals is available on the LMBA website.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

• When registering on the ACS publishing platform and communicating with the publisher, the author must use a KTU institutional email address.
• The author must be the corresponding author of the article.
• It is mandatory to specify the KTU affiliation at the time of article submission process.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• When an author, affiliated to KTU, uploads an article to the ACS publishing platform, the system automatically recognizes them as an author eligible for an APC voucher.
• In the article submission form, under the “Funding options” section, the author must select:
  • open access publication;
  • the LMBA association as the paying institution. The LMBA administrator will be notified automatically and must approve the voucher allocation for the publication;
• Authors are encouraged to choose a CC-BY license for their publication, which grants users the most rights to read, adapt, and distribute the work without infringing on the author’s intellectual property rights to the work.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL METRICS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences

 Emerald Premier eJournals Collection

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026. Subscribing institutions are allocated 15 APC vouchers in total.
• APC vouchers are provided on a „first-come, first-served“ basis for all subscribing institutions.
• The current balance of APC vouchers and the full list of journals are regularly updated and published on the LMBA website.
• The discount does not apply to full (Gold) open-access journals and journals that are not included in the Emerald Premier collection.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

APC voucher is granted to an author who:

• is a KTU researcher, lecturer, or doctoral student,
• is the corresponding author of the article,
• the author’s affiliation must be listed as KTU,
• it is recommended to use a KTU institutional email address within submission process and for communication with publisher.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• The author has create an account on the selected journal’s publishing platform (each journal requires a new registration to their platform).
• The publisher identifies eligible authors using standard identification methods (Ringgold ID, etc.).
• During the submission process on the journal’s platform, the researcher is asked whether the article chould be published as open acces under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC-BY). If yes, the APC voucher is issued to that article.
• We recommend that authors choose the CC-BY license, which grants the widest range of rights to read, adapt, and distribute the work without infringing on the author’s intellectual property rights to the work.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL INDICATORS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences
• Journas in Social Sciences and Humanities

IOP Publishing

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Unrestricted publication agreement – authors from institutions subscribing to IOP who meet the publisher’s requirements may publish their articles in open access at no cost.
• Free open-access publication applies to articles in hybrid and fully open-access (gold) journals.
• A complete list of journals is available on the LMBA website.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

APC voucher is granted to a KTU author who:

• submits an article to an IOP or partner journal (list),
• is a KTU member who is employed or enrolled at KTU at the time of submission,
• is the corresponding author of the article, with whom communication takes place during the peer review process,
• only one person may be the corresponding author of an article,
• the corresponding author cannot be changed retroactively without the written consent of IOP.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• Authors can register with the IOP publishing system using their ORCID ID.
• IOP determines whether an article meets the criteria for free open-access publication and informs the corresponding authors of their articles’ eligibility for open-access publication. If the article meets the conditions, it is automatically published in open access.
• The corresponding author may decline to publish the article in open access by notifying the publisher in writing within 5 days.
• The corresponding author may decline publication in open access in writing within five days of being notified of the potential publication of their article in open access.
• Publisher’s default copyright license for the article: CC-BY.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL METRICS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Limited publication agreement – under this agreement, KTU authors may publish five articles in hybrid journals with an APC waiver.
• The balance of APC vouchers is updated regularly, and the full list of journals is published on the LMBA website.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

Requirements for KTU authors:

• the author must be the corresponding author; this must be indicated in the article submission system,
• the corresponding author’s KTU affiliation must be indicated both in the article and in the submission system,
• when registering in the submission system, it is recommended to use a KTU institutional email address so that the publisher can verify the author’s eligibility based on the institution’s email domain.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• RSC uses the ScholarOne Manuscripts system. Each journal requires the creation of a separate account. Depending on the selected journal, the article submission process and the types of documents accepted may vary.
• An author wishing to publish an article in open access must agree to the Publisher’s open access publishing terms.
• The author submitting the article selects an appropriate Creative Commons license. CC-BY is recommended, as it grants users the most rights to read, adapt, and distribute the work without infringing on the author’s intellectual property rights.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL INDICATORS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences

SAGE Publishing

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Unrestricted publishing agreement – authors from subscribing institutions who meet the publisher’s requirements may publish articles in open access in the publisher’s hybrid access journals free of charge*. Full list of hybrid access journals.
• In fully open access (Gold) journals, researchers can publish with a 20% APC discount under the agreement signed by EIFL. Full list of fully open access journals.
• A discount of 200 GBP (~230 EUR) off the full APC applies to journals in the iMechE Full list of iMechE journals.

* IMPORTANT: Some SAGE journals have additional article length or publication fees that are not covered by the APC.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

• The corresponding author of the article is a researcher, lecturer, or student employed at Kaunas University of Technology.
• The corresponding author signs an open-access publishing agreement with SAGE.
• The corresponding author uses their institutional email address for registration and communication with the journal’s editors.
• If the person designated as the corresponding author does not meet the publisher’s requirements, this role may not be transferred to an author affiliated with KTU after the peer review process has concluded. In such a case, the APC voucher cannot be used.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• SAGE uses the ScholarOne Manuscripts system. Each journal requires the creation of a separate account. Depending on the journal selected, the submission process and the types of documents accepted may vary.
• When a manuscript is submitted and the corresponding author meets the publisher’s requirements for an APC voucher, the publisher informs all co-authors of the opportunity to publish the manuscript in open access at no cost. If none of the authors responds to the publisher’s offer, the publisher repeats it after 7 days.
• Any author of the article (including the corresponding author) may be the author entering into the agreement.
• The author entering into the agreement confirms their identity and the status of the authors’ intellectual property rights.
• The author entering into the agreement selects an appropriate Creative Commons license (recommended: CC-BY 4.0). If there is a need to select a different type of license, the author may consult the Publisher’s Open Access Help Center.
• The author entering into the agreement confirms that they agree to publish the article in open access and electronically signs the open access license agreement. If this agreement is not signed within 14 days, the article is published in traditional subscription access.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL METRICS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences:
  • 100% discount on APC
  • 20% discount on APC
  • 200 GBP discount on APC
• Journals in Social Sciences and Humanities:
  • 100% discount on APC
  • 20% discount on APC

Oxford University Press Publishing (OUP)

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Limited open access agreement – subscribers may publish up to 14 articles per year in open access (Gold) and hybrid access journals.
• APC vouchers are provided on a „first-come, first-served“ basis for all subscribing institutions.
• The current balance of APC vouchers and the full list of journals are published on the LMBA website.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

APC voucher is granted to an author who:

• is the corresponding author of the article,
• the author’s affiliation must be listed as KTU,
• it is recommended to use a KTU institutional email address,
• the article must meet the requirements—it must be a research article, review article, short report, or case study accepted for publication in a journal included in the list of journals offering APC discounts and submitted for publication during the contract period.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• Detailed instructions for obtaining an APC voucher are provided in the publisher’s guide.
• OUP uses the ScholarOne Manuscripts system. Each journal requires a separate account.
• Important: Depending on the journal you choose, the steps for submitting an article and the types of documents accepted may vary.
• The agreement does not specify the default copyright terms; therefore, the CC-BY license is recommended for authors, as it grants users the most rights to read, adapt, and distribute the work without infringing on the author’s intellectual property rights.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL METRICS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences
• Journals in Social Sciences and Humanities

John Benjamins

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2026.
• Unrestricted publication agreement – authors from institutions subscribing to John Benjamins who meet the publisher’s requirements may publish their articles in open access at no cost.
• Free open access publication applies to articles in hybrid and fully open access (gold) journals.
• A complete list of journals is available on the LMBA website.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

Author may publish their article in open access free of charge if they:

• are the corresponding author of the article,
• list KTU as the author’s affiliation in the submitted article,
• use a KTU institutional email address for communication and when submitting the article for publication,
• the article meets the requirements—it is a research article, review article, or introductory article accepted for publication in a journal included in the list of journals offering APC discounts and submitted for publication during the contract period,
• It is recommended to provide the author’s persistent identifier (e.g., Ringgold, ORCID).

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• The author submitting the article selects an appropriate Creative Commons license. CC-BY is recommended, as it grants users the broadest rights to read, adapt, and distribute the work without infringing on the author’s intellectual property rights.
• The publisher determines whether the article meets the conditions for free publication in open access. If the article meets the conditions, it is automatically published in open access.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL INDICATORS

• Journals in Social Sciences and Humanities

Taylor&Francis

AGREEMENT INFORMATION

• The agreement is valid until December 31, 2028.
• This is a discount negotiated by the international organization EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) for researchers from Lithuania.
• The full list of journals is provided by EIFL.
• A 50% discount applies to authors from Lithuania for fully open-access and hybrid Taylor & Francis journals.

TERMS FOR AUTHORS

The discount is granted to an author who:

• is the corresponding author of the article,
• must list KTU as the author’s affiliation in the submitted article,
• uses a KTU institutional email address for communication and when submitting the article for publication.

VOUCHER ALLOCATION PROCESS

• Information for authors wishing to publish in open access with a discount: Taylor & Francis instructions for authors.

LIST OF JOURNALS WITH JOURNAL INDICATORS

• Journals in Natural, technological, medical & health sciences, agricultural sciences
• Journals in Social Sciences and Humanities

Registration of publications in eLABa repository

KTU research publications are registered in the Lithuanian Academic Electronic Library (eLABa). The authors  can generate and print bibliographic lists of publications and prepare some statistical reports in eLABa.

eLABa is the national Lithuanian academic electronic library, which collects and makes publicly available scientific and academic documents and/or their metadata. KTU research publications are registered in the eLABa.

INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS:

• How to upload a publication to the eLABa repository (link)
• How to prepare a list of your publications

Publications can be uploaded to eLABa by:

• authors logged in to the eLABa repository (link);
• Library staff: Rita Jašmontienė (NTMA), Edita Ražanskaitė (HS).

For questions regarding the uploading of publications and the preparation of lists, please contact:

Persistent identifiers (PID)

Persistent identifier (PID) is a unique code assigned to an object or a person that allows it to be separated from other objects or individuals. Persistent identifiers can be categorized into identifiers for publications, objects, and researchers. The relevance of applying persistent identifiers:

• Provide the ability to identify and locate objects or individuals, helping to avoid confusion caused by changed or similar names and attributes;
• Most persistent identifiers not only indicate a specific object or subject, but also store metadata associated with it. This reduces administrative burden, as data can be transferred between systems without repeated manual entry;
• Persistent identifiers are suitable for machine readability, thereby supporting the automation of research administration processes and saving institutions time and resources.

Identifiers for publications and objects

The identifiers of publication and object are unique codes used to identify objects, publications, or their parts and distinguish them from other objects,  publications, or parts in information systems, databases, or catalogs. Such identifiers make it possible to precisely locate a specific object, publication, or part of it, cite it, and link it with other information.

Identifiers for Publications and Objects

Researcher identifiers  

Researcher identifiers are unique persistent identifiers designed to identify a researcher and link them to their publications, projects, and other scientific activities, even when multiple researchers have identical or similar names. Researcher identifiers facilitate tracking and analyzing scientific output across various databases. Some of the most popular researcher identifiers include ORCID ID, Researcher ID, and Scopus Author ID.

Researcher Identifiers