Open Science Online Course

What is predatory publishing?

The increase of open access journals and open access publishing has brought predatory publishers to the market. The main target of these publishers is to charge publication fees from researchers by exploiting the gold OA route of open access publishing.

The predators cash in on the article processing charges by collecting (sometimes costly) fees and in return publishing almost anything regardless of the quality: you pay, you get published. And usually you get published pretty quickly, since there is no actual peer review process. The names and titles of  the publishers and their journals are often misleadingly titled to resemble established and well-respected publishers and publications. Unfortunately, there has also been an increase in predatory conferences that operate in the same way.

Predatory publishers fish for articles by sending emails directly to researchers who have previously published something online (articles, conference papers etc). These emails are usually easy to distinguish, simply because of poor grammar and a clumsy way of writing, but sometimes they can be quite convincing. Whenever in doubt, it is advisable to google the name of the publisher and/or journal in question and see what comes up - the internet is full of warnings on predatory or otherwise shady publishers.

Questionable open access journals

Watch the video below to learn eight different ways to identify a questionable open access journal.

Red flags to look out for in predatory publishing

A predatory journal/publisher may display one or more of these characteristics:

• A journal title which can be easily confused with another journal or that might mislead potential authors and readers about the journal’s origin, scope or association with other journals.
• Very wide scope.
• Displays of unofficial impact factors.
• False claims of being indexed in major services like PubMed or DOAJ.
• No publisher address or contact information.
• Unclear ownership of the journal.
• Spams researchers with many emails inviting submissions, often unrelated to expertise. These emails are often easy to distinguish simply because of poor grammar and a clumsy way of writing.
• Advertises very fast times from submission to publication.
• Publishes out-of-scope articles.
• Publishes nonsense articles.
• Poor or non-existent editing of articles (many spelling mistakes or very poor grammar).
• Hides information on charges.
• No editorial board is listed, or the editorial board comprises dead or retired scholars or scholars who are not specialized in the topic.
• Lack of information on the policies of the journal, such as peer review, licensing and copyright.

Source:

Think. Check. Submit. (2024) About predatory publishing. Available at https://thinkchecksubmit.org/resources/about-predatory-publishing/ (Accessed: 26 Sept 2024)

How to identify trusted publishers and conferences?

Identifying predatory journals and publishers can be tricky, but luckily the scientific community has taken action to help researchers navigate the open access landscape without stumbling to predatory publishing. One of these initiatives is Think.Check.Submit, with it's sister initiative Think.Check.Attend.

Publishers

Think.Check.Submit helps researchers identify trusted journals and publishers for their research.Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications. The campaign has been produced with the support of a coalition from across scholarly communications in response to discussions about deceptive publishing. The website offers separate checklists for journals and books to help you assess whether or not a publisher is suitable for your research.

Watch the video below to learn more about Think.Check.Submit.

Conferences

Think.Check.Attend guides researchers and scholars when deciding whether to attend a conference or submit an abstract and present their research. The 3-step approach encourages academics to ‘Think’ about the problem posed by predatory or substandard conferences, ‘Check’ the conference against a set of criteria designed to highlight attributes of good and bad quality conferences, and ‘Attend’ only if the conference adheres to the criteria consistent with a legitimate conference.