Predatory Journal Challenges and Responses

Journal of Postgraduate Medical Institute, 2020

There has been a major trend in academic publishing from traditional print publication to open access journals and online publication in recent times. The authors now find more avenues to publish their work than before, but at the same time vulnerable to become prey to predatory journals. The term ”Predatory Journals” was first coined by Jeffrey Beall 1 , Associate Professor and librarian at the university of Colorado Denver. According to Beall predatory publisher is one“which publish counterfeit journals to exploit the open access model in which the author pays.” The most recent clear, comprehensive and consensus definition of predatory journal was formulated in April 2019 in Ottawa, Canada by 43 researchers belonging to 10 different countries. 2 Their definition reads“ Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication prac...

The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles

PEARL - A Journal of Library and Information Science, 2023

Research published during the last decades has shown that there is immense growth in the number of fake publishers and predatory journals. There is misconception about the Open Access (OA) publishing and often is compared with predatory publishing, whereas open access resources are qualitative and free for multipurpose usage and reuse. A severe threat is being posed by the predatory publishing to science and its credibility through avoiding or faking the peer review process, pollution of scholarly literature with junk articles and through commercial interests. This research paper throws light on the concept of the predatory publications, criteria for identifying the predatory journals, librarian’s role and has suggested some preventive measures to avoid such journals.

Library Hi Tech News, 2020

This first Data Deluge Column of the new decade focusses on converging forces which were a growing presence during the previous decade and are likely to increase in importance during this decade. These forces are open science, managing the growing glut of electronic information of which the data deluge is a part and predatory publishing. Much has been written recently on the topic of predatory publishers and predatory elements in scholarly communications. Journal database searches as well as general internet searching quickly confirm this. In fact, narrowing a search to articles published in 2019 alone still produces an overwhelming number of results. These results include not only academic journal articles but also letters to the editor, opinion pieces, news articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, copious social media comments and other examples of practically every form of electronic communication in existence. Certain opinion pieces and letters published in 2017 and 2018 were the focus of much of that discussion. For example, Sorokowski et al. (2017) reported on an investigation of predatory journals. This investigation was a sting that tested the reaction of suspect journals to the submission of an application by unqualified sham academic to become a journal editor.

Toxicologic Pathology, 2020

Predatory journals—also called fraudulent, deceptive, or pseudo-journals—are publications that claim to be legitimate scholarly journals but misrepresent their publishing practices. Some common forms of predatory publishing practices include falsely claiming to provide peer review, hiding information about article processing charges, misrepresenting members of the journal’s editorial board, and other violations of copyright or scholarly ethics. Because of their increasing prevalence, this article aims to provide helpful information for authors on how to identify and avoid predatory journals.

Acta medica portuguesa, 2018

Nature

promise was doubtful and its validity unlikely to have been vetted. Predatory journals are a global threat. They accept articles for publication-along with authors' fees-without performing promised quality checks for issues such as plagiarism or ethical approval. Naive readers are not the only victims. Many researchers have been duped into submitting to predatory journals, in which their work can be overlooked. One study that focused on 46,000 researchers based in Italy found that about 5% of them published in such outlets 1. A separate analysis suggests predatory publishers collect millions of dollars in publication fees that are ultimately paid out by funders such as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2. One barrier to combating predatory publishing is, in our view, the lack of an agreed definition. By analogy, consider the historical criteria for deciding whether an abnormal bulge in the aorta, the largest artery in the body, could be deemed an aneurysm-a dangerous W hen 'Jane' turned to alternative medicine, she had already exhausted radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other standard treatments for breast cancer. Her alternative-medicine practitioner shared an article about a therapy involving vitamin infusions. To her and her practitioner, it seemed to be authentic grounds for hope. But when Jane showed the article to her son-in-law (one of the authors of this Comment), he realized it came from a predatory journal-meaning its Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing that can protect scholarship. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach.

Along with the increasing use of the Internet, scholarly publishing was affected by the rise of 'predatory journals'. Many authors attribute the success of these journals to the open access provided to potential readers. While many authors have attempted to propose criteria for identifying predatory journals, very little research was directed to explaining their success, and underlying strategies. This study uses a biological sciences perspective, based on the five stages of predation, and examines the strategies accordingly. The results indicate that predatory journals use the same strategies as all Internet-based scams in identifying their prey. The largest number of strategies addresses approaching the authors. The recent trends include personalized call for papers, use of fake metrics, hijacking reputed journals, faking location and editorial structure, addressing a broad range of topics and providing fast services (at the expense of quality). In addition to these strategies, publishing fees are often hidden. In summary, the pressure to publish and metrics-based career advancement procedures are the main attractors driving authors to predatory journals, despite the efforts of scientists and Internet-based means of identifying these journals and publicizing their dishonest practices.

Library Philosophy and Practice, 2021

The publication journey for most of the researchers starts from the Ph. D. onwards. University guidelines for the Ph. D. enable the researchers to publish one or two papers in peer-reviewed journals. The inexperienced or young researchers are in a hurry in the process of publishing their articles. They are unaware of the predatory journals and they publish their articles in these predatory journals. The focus of the present paper is to create awareness among the young researchers and offer some basic knowledge so that they can avoid publishing in predatory journals.

2017

Introduction: Librarians and Predatory Publishing Librarians have a key role to play in educating users about predatory publishing. Predatory publishing can be described as low quality, amateurish, and often unethical academic publishing that is usually Open Access (OA). Understanding predatory publishing helps authors to make more informed decisions about where to publish. In the process of educating our users, librarians can set the ground for important conversations that encourage critical thinking about the scholarly communications process. Predatory publishing stems from broader problems including overemphasis on publication quantity, an OA models based on traditional, for-profit publishing, and resource disparities in the Global South. When users take fuller responsibility and ownership of scholarly communications, knowledge can be a public good and not a commodity. A more sustainable and just scholarly communications ecosystem can be a reality. As effective advocates for OA, ...