Predatory publishing refers to publishers that charge authors to publish but provide no or only superficial editing, peer review, and other publishing support services. Such publishers typically have extremely low rejection rates and often use spam-like tactics to solicit submissions, resulting in a very low quality of overall scholarship in their publications.
Predatory publishers can sometimes be hard to identify, particularly those marketing themselves as new open access journals. The following are good questions to consider when trying to decide whether a publication you are unfamiliar with is predatory or not:
Predatory publishers often boast a peer review process that only takes a few days/weeks rather than the several months (or more) that is typical of most peer-reviewed publications.
It can be a red flag if the journal does not list either editors or peer reviewers, or if the information listed does not include things like qualifications or institutional affiliations. The lack of such information obviously does not by itself mean a journal is predatory, but some predatory journals mask their lack of qualified staff by listing the names of unqualified (or in extreme cases, fabricated) editors/peer reviewers without any information that could be used to check credentials. Some have also been known to list the names of scholars as editors or reviewers without their knowledge.
If you do not recognize the name of the publisher or publication, checking lists of top journals in your field (like Harzing’s List, or, if none is available, a general list of periodicals like Ulrichsweb), lists of quality open access publications (like the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)), and lists of predatory publishers (like Beall’s List) can be helpful. Sometimes even a quick Google search can help with getting a handle on how the academic world perceives a publisher or journal; look for any news stories, academic forum discussions, or social media chatter linking it to predatory practices. While none of these sources are definitive by themselves, collectively they can help you get at least a general sense of a publication's history and reputation.
A journal’s site will often list any prominent databases or research tools where it is indexed. If this is not listed or you do not recognize the indexes/databases listed, it is useful to find out more. Predatory concerns aside, journals that are not indexed anywhere are limited in their reach since what is published in them does not appear in prominent research tools. Similarly, if a journal is not indexed or archived anywhere apart from on its own website and you cannot see a stated commitment to preservation of the journal's content, your work will not only be hard to find, it may disappear entirely if the journal ceases operations.
Being required to sign your copyright over to the journal is common for subscription-based journals, but uncommon for open access journals. If a journal proports to be open access but charges a fee for publication while also requiring you to sign over your copyright, it is important to look into why.
Just because a journal has a publication fee does not make it predatory. Many journals, both prominent and obscure, charge a publication fee--sometimes referred to as an "article processing charge" (APC)--to make an article open access, and normal fees range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. HOWEVER, if an APC is combined with other red flags, it should raise suspicion. Particularly large red flags include a journal notifying authors of fees only after a paper has been accepted, charging a publication fee when the resulting publication is not open access, or requiring both a publication fee and that authors sign over their copyright.
Sometimes a legitimate-looking website can mask journal issues that are full of plagiarized, nonsensical, or poor-quality articles. Looking through a journal's archives and paying attention to the frequency and quality of the published articles can sometimes raise red flags.
Some predatory journals try to pass themselves off as more well-known titles by creating a website and branding that look similar to and/or imply an affiliation with a more prominent journal, publisher, or scholarly society. Some even choose a title that is almost exactly the same as a prominent journal, but with an extra word added.
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