Fraudulent submissions and acceptances

Taylor & Francis has recently been made aware of an increase in fraudulent manuscript acceptance letters and emails being provided to authors who have been led to believe they have submitted to a Taylor & Francis journal via a submitting agent or manuscript editing service.

These authors have often been provided with a fake submission ID number, or an entirely fraudulent acceptance letter/email. Sometimes these are sent via the submitting agent or by an individual pretending to have a connection with the journal.

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Some submitting agents suggest that Taylor & Francis journals only accept submissions via submitting agents- this is not true. Anyone may submit directly to a Taylor & Francis journal, all of which have clear details within their journal homepages on how to submit manuscripts. This can be found under “Instructions for authors”.

Taylor & Francis is exploring solutions to help protect and support our authors, and we offer the following advice for all authors on how to spot fake literary agents, and actions you can take if you suspect that a company or individual you have been in contact with is fraudulent.

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How to avoid fake acceptance scams

  • Be wary of any individual or company who states they can guarantee publication in a journal.

  • Be vigilant about any third party who approaches you (e.g. via email or social media), offering to help with the submission of your manuscript.

  • Make sure you check the scope of the journal- is your submission the right fit for the journal the submitting agent is recommending?

  • Speak to your peers- have they used this submitting agent before? If they haven’t, be vigilant.

  • Be aware of expected costs. In addition to submission details, if the Taylor & Francis journal is an Open Access or Open Select title, the journal homepage will also explain the Article Publishing Charge for that journal, which is the amount an author should expect to pay to publish in that title if their article is accepted after peer review. If a journal has submission charges, this will also be made clear on the journal homepage. If the submitting agent is requesting more than that amount, be suspicious. Taylor & Francis will never ask for repeat payments; if someone contacts you requesting multiple payments, please contact us.

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  • Check the average dates from submission to acceptance on the journal homepage under “Journal metrics”- it is highly unusual to receive an acceptance email within a few days of making an article submission.

  • Make sure you are contacting a legitimate Taylor & Francis email address- check that it spells out “Taylor” and “Francis” correctly, i.e. it’s not “Taylo” or “FrancIs”.

  • Consult resources such as Think.Check.Submit.

  • Resist pressure to submit your manuscripts via a process you are not comfortable with- no journal will require you to submit your manuscript when you are not ready to do so. If you feel the submitting agent is rushing you, do not send them your manuscript or any money.

If you think you have received a fake acceptance letter, or been in contact with a company or individual that you suspect is fraudulent, follow the steps below.

What to do if you suspect a submitting agent or editing service is fraudulent

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  1. If you have any doubts about who you’ve engaged with, or someone is requesting money from you that doesn’t seem right, please contact us using this form or via ethics . We’ll be happy to check if a submission has been made, or is under consideration by our journals.

  2. If the individual or company you are engaging with are fraudulent, we also recommend that you block the sender and report the relevant email address to your email service provider and/or report the relevant social media accounts to their respective platforms.

Further reading