Helpful for research scholars

1. Dr. Vinay Kumar
Assistant Professor,
Department of AIHC & Archaeology,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P)
Email: vinaykumar166@yahoo.com
05.11.2022
Predatory Publishing: Issues,
Challenges & Future Path

3. Research
R – Rational way of Thinking
E – Expert and Exhaustive Treatment
S – Search for Solution
E – Exactness
A– Aimful Analytical Analysis with Adequate
data
R – Relationship of facts
C – Careful Recording or critical
observation
H – Honesty and Hard Work

4. Academic publishing has changed tremendously
with the spread of open access journals and the
shift to online publishing. There are now more
journals for authors to publish their work in than
ever before. This benefits authors by providing
more avenues for publication, but it also puts
greater responsibility on them to avoid the
serious threat of publishing in a predatory
journal.

5. Predatory Journal
• Predatory journals or publishing is a
phrase coined by Jeffrey Beall, librarian
at the University of Colorado at Denver,
that refers to journals (and journal
publishers) whose main purpose seems to
be to exploit (“prey on”) scholars and
academics and their need to publish the
results of their research.

6.  Term “predatory” here to describe journals
that are self-serving and intentionally do
not seek to provide value to the research
community or maintain the integrity of the
scientific literature. Other terms in use
include “deceptive”, “pseudo”, “fake”,
“illegitimate”, “exploitative”, “unscrupulous”,
“scam”, “bogus”, and “non-reputable”
journals.

7. What is a predatory journal? Or What is
predatory publishing?
Many definitions..........
“A predatory journal is a journal that deceptively
takes from an author.”
This concept of deceptively taking from an author can have a number
of forms. Opinions can differ on whether certain publishers and
journals are predatory or not, but what is not in question is that the
bulk of predatory journals engage in clear fraud.
Predatory journals seek to obtain money from authors (usually via
article processing charges [APCs]) to publish their papers (usually
open access) but fail to uphold the standard editorial, peer review, or
other ethical publishing practices that reputable journals do. They
typically conceal, lie about, or mislead authors on fees and the
publication process.

8. The most recent definition of predatory journals
and publishers was published in December 2019 in
Nature.
“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 practices, a lack of
transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate
solicitation practices.”
Grudniewicz et al., Nature 576, 210-212 (2019)

9. Difference between reputable/reputed and
predatory journals?
Adequate, qualified review
Qualified, independent editorial oversight
Transparent fees, procedures, and policies
Acceptance by reputable scholarly organizations-
As Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, MEDLINE (for biomedical work), the
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly
Publishers Association (OASPA), and the Committee on Publication Ethics
(COPE). Being indexed means the journals have passed a review of quality
practices and procedures.

10. Why do academics publish in
such journals?
• In research environments, there is usually
more value for quantity over quality.
• Hiring and promotion of academics is based
largely on their number of publications.
Predatory journals has helped many
pseudo-researchers to prosper.

11. What is the harm caused by predatory
journals?
• Predatory and low-quality journals corrupt the
literature.eg.Medical science has been
particularly hit hard, with journals now devoted
to unscientific medicine.
• “Peer review is at the heart of academic
evaluation.
• Publishing without peer review (while
pretending that peer review was done) gives
poor and mediocre academics a chance for jobs
and promotions which should go to better
qualified researchers”

12. Impact upon the Researcher
Longer term reputation is sacrificed for
immediate gains-no academic gain
Permanent ? On your academic reputation
Even if your research is sound, it will likely be
disregarded by the academic community if
published in a predatory journal
Waste of your research funding-may be held
accountable by your funding agencies

13. The papers you publish in predatory journals are unlikely to be
cited, which will affect the impact of your research and, if you care
about such things, it will stop metrics such as your h-index
growing as fast as it could. Perhaps the most worrying aspect is
the lack of peer review, with all that entails.
The problem of predatory journals for authors:
 Damaging external reputation. ...
 Inexperience and lack of knowledge. ...
 Lack of quality control and reproducibility. ...
 Loss of information. ...
 Concealed conflict of interests.
What is the harm caused by
predatory journals?
Contd....

14. Warning signs that a journal or publisher is
predatory?
Here are some warning signs of a predatory journal.
Is included under "Predatory Reports" by Cabell's International
Cabell’s International uses 60 indicators to evaluate whether a journal is predatory.
Is not indexed in large, trusted databases of scholarly work
Is mentioned under Q2, check if the journal is indexed. See Q7 for a list of some of the largest databases and
organizations to check.
Has many mistakes in English (or the target language) on the journal's website
Promotes the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) or misleading metrics as a sign
of quality (The ISSN is simply an identifier; it is not an indicator of quality.)
Lacks clear and transparent information about processes and fees on the journal website
and/or in the guidelines for authors
Has an anonymous editorial board Reputable journals
Has a journal name, URL, and/or branding that is very similar to a reputable journal
Provides insufficient information or hides information about author
 The name of a journal does not adequately reflect its origin (e.g. a journal with the word
‘Canadian’ or ‘Swiss’ in its name when neither the publisher, editor, nor any purported
institutional affiliate relates whatsoever to Canada or Switzerland).

15. Before Submitting a manuscript
Ask yourself:
 Is your supervisor familiar with this journal?
 Is it indexed by Scopus or web of Science?
 Is the journal or publisher named on the
Predatory Publisher List?
 http://scholarlyos.com/publishers/

16. Checklist to Identify Fake Journal
• Do you or your colleagues know the journal?
• Can you easily identify and contact the
publisher?
• Is the journal clear about the type of peer
review it uses?
• Are articles indexed in services that you use?
• Is it clear what fees will be charged?
• Do you recognize the editorial board?
• Is the publisher a member of a recognized
industry initiative (COPE,DOAJ,OASPA)?

17. How to Spot a predator?
 Sends spam invitations to students and
academics
 Editorial Board either non-existent or
same person is names as Editor of
multiple journals
 Name of the journal does not reflect its
origin (or does not reveal its location)
 Name of the journal is VERY broad (to
attract more content)
 Grammatical errors on website

18. Questionable practices of
predatory journals
 Publishes pseudo-science articles
 Launches with fleet of empty journals
 No-value added services such as
reference linking
 Not indexed by genuine indexes such
as Scopus or Web of Science
 Misleading information about having an
impact factor

19. Cabells'
lists
• In 2008, Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of
Colorado, began what’s known as Beall's List, a
documentation of open-access publishers who did not
conduct legitimate peer review and published virtually any
submitted article in exchange for a fee.
• At the May 2017 meeting of the Society for Scholarly
Publishing, Cabell's International, a company that offers
scholarly publishing analytics and other scholarly services,
announced that it intended to launch a blacklist of
predatory journals (not publishers) in June, The company
had started work on its blacklist criteria in early 2016.
• In July 2017, both a black list and a white list were offered
for subscription on their website.
Measures to to combat predatory journals

20. Other Efforts
• More transparent peer review, such as open peer
review and post-publication peer review, has been
advocated to combat predatory journals.
• In an effort to "set apart legitimate journals and
publishers from non-legitimate ones", principles of
transparency and best practice have been identified
and issued collectively by the Committee on
Publication Ethics, the DOAJ, the, and the World
Association of Medical Editors.

21.  Open Access Scholarly Publishers
journal review websites (crowd-sourced
or expert-run) have been started, some
focusing on the quality of the peer review
process and extending to non-OA
publications. A group of libraries and
publishers launched an awareness
campaign.

22. Other Efforts
• A number of measures have been suggested to
further combat predatory journals.
• Others have called on research
institutions to improve the publication literacy
notably among junior researchers in
developing countries.
• Some organisations have also developed
criteria in which predatory publishers could
be spotted through providing tips that include
avoiding fast publishers

23. HRD ministry to remove all
bogus journals

24. HRD ministry to remove all
bogus journals
• “It is an alarming situation that such a huge
percentage of the journals are bogus.
of our
Globally, it hampers the image
country,” Patwardan said.
• The HRD ministry has adopted a very
positive approach to dealing with the issue
“and has decided to remove all the bogus
journals from the UGC list shortly,”
Patwardhan said.

25. Conclusion

26. Hijacking Journal Publishing
 Butler (2013), reported (in Nature) that two print-only
journals that do not offer electronic versions (only hard
copy version) were hijacked by cyber criminals. The
hijackers set up fake websites and took money from
authors who were attempting to publish their original
research work in one of the journals indexed by Science
Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), a Thomson Reuters
metric product that compiles impact factors (IF) for
covered journals.

27.  Hijackers make money by stealing the identities of legitimate
journals and collecting the article processing charges on the papers
that are submitted.
 The cybercriminals have cheated thousands of professors and Ph.D.
scholars (mostly from developing countries) and those who were in
the urgent need of publishing their articles in journals.
 Usually the target groups of the cyber criminals are journals with
not so high impact factor value (IF), because it would be difficult for
the hijackers to convince the authors that a high impact factor
journal invited them to publish their research work, with peer
review process done within just a couple of weeks.