Cabell's Blacklist: A New Way to Tackle Predatory Journals.

Sir,

Predatory journals are threat to science. It demolishes the credibility of science by bypassing peer review, alluring authors toward quick publication, not giving importance to methodology of research.[1]

BEALL'S LIST

Jeffrey Beall first coined the term “predatory journals.” He initiated and maintains a listing of journals which could be potentially, possibly, or probably predatory. Beall's list has been shut down due to some unknown reasons.[12]

CABELL'S BLACKLIST

Cabell's blacklist was launched on June 15. It would publish both “White List” and “Black List.” Approximately 4000 journals were included to the list. Both open access- and subscription-based journals are included. The whitelist database includes 18 academic disciplines from more than 13,000 international scholarly publications as per the website. There will be continued partnerships with major academic publishers, journal editors, scholarly societies, accreditation agencies, and other independent databases including Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports. Cabell will provide accurate, up-to-date information about academic journals to more than 750 universities worldwide.[345]

CRITERIA TO CHECK PREDATORY JOURNALS

Beall's list was not objective and that his criteria for including journals were not transparent. In Cabell's list, 65 violations criteria are available currently. Whether a journal should be on its blacklist, adding points for each suspect finding. Examples include fake editors, plagiarized articles, and unclear peer review policies. Furthermore, it will explain why the journal is included based on which criteria.[5]

CRITICS

Even with all efforts, it might miss some journals who are really predators but almost similar to a good journal. Hence, researchers should rely on “White List” rather than blacklist and get training on the criteria to judge a journal rather than simply believing a list. The price might vary as per country and institutions to sign up for an account. However, it is a great step according to Beall[5] as it will warn the budding researchers about journals with bad intentions.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.