Predatory Publishing

An exploitative practice that targets authors to submit articles to a journal, without providing the editorial or publishing services associated with legitimate journals.

Characteristics of predatory publishing:

• Soliciting for articles or asking to serve on editorial boards 
• High Author Fees
• Little or no peer review of submitted articles
• Create a fake profile to seem like a traditional journal in terms of:
  • Website
  • Journal name
  • Editorial Board
  • Journal Metrics

First Contact

• Were you contacted by email to submit an article for publication?
• What types of articles are accepted in the journal?
• Is their email or website filled with spelling and grammatical errors?
• Did they promise rapid publication?
• Is the email address non professional or non journal affiliated?
• Are there upfront fees before decision on acceptance?

Research the Journal's website

• Is the website aimed at authors or readers?
• Is the language of author information taken directly from other places?
• Is the journal's scope too broad?
• Are the images of high quality of distorted and fuzzy?
• Where is the journal indexed?
• What are the authors fees?
• Where are the editors based compared to where the journal is based?
• Is there information on preserving the article digitally?

Research the Publisher

• Can you easily identify the publisher?
• Is there a link provided to the publisher's website?
• Can you find the contact information for the publisher?
• Does the publisher seem to have a journal in every discipline?

Adapted from Shamseer et al. (2017). Potential predatory and legitimate biomedical journals: can you tell the difference? A cross-sectional comparison. BMC Medicine. 15:28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0785-9

• The cost associated with high fees.
• Your work may be subject to sub-par peer-review.
• Your publication will have low visibility or is difficult to find.
• Your article could disappear when journal ceases to exist.
• Serving on questionable journal boards will lower reputation.
• Potential embarrassment from falling for a scam.

This is just a guide.  It is ultimately up to each author to make a final decision on where to publish and what to expect from their publishers.