Recently, an "open-access" publishing model has been widely adopted by many journals, in which authors typically pay for an article processing charge to make their journals freely accessible to readers. However, there are an increasing number of low-quality journals aiming to swindle article processing charges by exploiting this model. These corrupt journals invite scientists, via various methods, to submit their work, and accept promptly submitted papers without appropriate peer-review. This results in the publisher claiming expensive charges from authors, which eventually lowers their value as a scientist. There are lists of corrupt journals (black lists) and trustworthy journals (white lists), but neither reach perfection. The most useful criteria may be reputation, based on recommendations from reliable colleagues in the field. To avoid submitting to such corrupted journals, it is important to know and understand the methods and various trappings they employ.
Keywords: Article processing charges; Journal selection; Open access.