LibGuides: Predatory Publishing: Home

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What is Predatory Publishing?

Online digital publishing has allowed new publishers that use questionable practices to thrive. These so-called predatory publishers solicit articles from faculty through spam email. Their goal is to exploit faculty need to publisher in exchange for an article processing fee (APC), which is used by legitimate open access publishers as a way to fund the publication.

TACTICS include:

Online presence showing webpages for bogus journals. Often articles are plagiarized, fake, or employ unsound reasoning or discredited theories not approved in mainstream journals
Falsified impact factors; false editor lists using unwilling or unwitting people or fake names;
Expedited or waived peer-review process
Special theme issues to recruit more colleagues
Questionable business practices, including excessive APCs, undisclosed publication fees;

Resources to help verify journals

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
InCites Journal Citation Reports provides impact factors (Thomson Reuters)
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association's principles of transparency and best practices for journals and publishers.
Think. Check. Submit.
Think. Check. Submit. is a campaign to help researchers identify trusted journals for their research. It is a simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher.
Sherpa/Romeo
RoMEO is a searchable database of publisher's policies regarding the self- archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories.
UlrichsWeb
Ulrichsweb is an easy to search source of detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals. Information provided includes: ISSN, publisher, language, subject, abstracting & indexing coverage, full-text database coverage, tables of contents, and reviews written by librarians.
Google Maps
Look at the street view of a publishers address using Google Maps. Does it look like the type of office you would expect a publisher to operate from?

Journal Evaluation Tool
A rubric created by LMU Librarians to evaluate journals. The purpose is to assist researchers in determining where to publish their work.

Red Flags: Know the Signs of Predatory Publishers

If you're not sure if a publisher is legitimate or predatory, be on the watch for the following red flags:

Direct e-mailed solicitations to submit an article:
- Main red flag: Journals don't commonly need to ask for articles directly.
- Other red flags: email is not well written; i.e. includes typos or misspelled words; language awkward is or unprofessional; excessive praise and flattery to solicit your participation.

The journal title is strangely similar to prominent journals in the same field:
- Main red flag: the title is trying to make you believe it is similar to another well-respected journal (i.e. Science) or publisher with which you are already familiar. (i.e. Science Huβ, The Science Publishers, &c.)
Misleading geographic information:
- Main red flag: the journal title might suggest that it is based in the United States or England, but the publisher might actually be based in another country
Unprofessional Website Appearance:
- Main red flag: the website does not have a professional appearance :(typos, targeted advertisements)
- Other red flags: the 'About' section is incomplete or missing; aim or scope is not realistic; the journal is not sponsored or produced by a well-known, well-respected institution

Insufficient Contact Information:
- Main red flag: the journal fail to provide you with full contact information, including a physical address, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses; only provide a web contact form.
Lack of Editors or Editorial Board:
- Main red flag: the members of the journal's editorial board are not listed on the website
Editors with No or Fake Academic Credentials:
- Main red flag: the people listed are not recognized experts in the field and their credentials are not included.

Unclear Author Fee Structures:
- Main red flag: the policies regarding author fees are not easily located on the journals website, not clearly explained, or not comparable to other reputable open access journals.

Bogus Impact Factors:
- Main red flag: no impact factor or one that is fabricated; cf. Incites Journal Citation Reports.

Invented Metrics:
- Main red flag: metrics are not standard; other reputable journals don't use these metrics.

False Index Claims:
- Main red flag: journal isn't indexed in reputable places, or can't be verified on UlrichsWeb

Peer Review Process:
- Main red flag: journal's peer review process is unclear or not actually followed;
- Other red flags: speedy or expedited peer review process.

No ISSNs

"Instructions for Authors" Information is Unavailable

Evaluate Published Articles:
- Main red flag: published articles are not available on the site
- Other red flags: numerous articles were published by the same author(s); titles and abstracts seem inappropriate for the journal; articles not well researched or based on sound science.
Publisher has a Negative Reputation: