A common practice of untrustworthy journals is that instead of providing unambiguous information about their publisher, they either do not mention the publisher at all or they replace it with the name of the journal. Being able to unambiguously identify the publisher is vital because it helps the reader or potential author learn who owns the journal. In this way authors immediately get an idea about the expected quality of the editorial work, especially when the owner is a traditional publishing house such as Elsevier, Springer, etc.

When verifying this criterion, the publisher can commonly be found in the footer of the website with information about copyright. In the example below, the website footer of the journal Medicine includes a statement that the publisher is Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. The name of the publisher serves also as a link to its website.

By contrast, the website of the journal Neuropsychiatry mentions in the footer only the name of the journal and next to it an address without any addressee.