Young GI angle: How to recognize a predatory journal.

We encounter predatory journals every day in our email accounts friendly reminders to submit an article, desperate cries for help claiming that only your valued contribution is keeping this edition from being published or blatant request to submit NOW fill our accounts and get put to trash swiftly. While these usually badly formulated emails are easily recognized as phishing emails some predatory journals can deceive unexperienced or pressured scientist to cave in and send their work to one of these journals. This article is aimed at showing the evolution of predatory journals as well as point out subtler ways predatory journals try to lure authors in and how they can be spotted.

Predatory journals are publishers that take advantage of authors. Either they do not publish the research or they publish the articles without proper peer review process or editorial review and charge horrendous fees that have not been announced in the submission process.

Jeffrey Beall, an American library scientist, associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, known for his blog Scholarly Open Access (OA), coined the term “predatory open access publishing” in 2008 (Figure 1). He estimated that at least 25% of OA journals are predatory, whilst the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) director, Lars Bjørnshauge investigation showed that questionable publishing accounts for less than 1% of all author‐pays OA papers. The Committee on Publication Ethics, OA Scholarly Publishers Association, DOAJ, and World Association of Medical Editors provide transparency and best practice principles.

FIGURE 1

Timeline of Predatory Journals. , , , ,  * Beall’s list was a constantly updated report created by Jeffrey Beall in 2008 that presented for the first time potential predatory open‐access publishers. In 2017 Beall’s List was taken offline permanently, but successors continued Beall’s work, such as Cabell’s blacklist and whitelist. ◼ In 2019 FTC won the lawsuit. ▴While aspirant journals are science‐oriented though below‐average peer reviewed, fake and junk are profit‐oriented with superficial or even lacking peer review process

Predatory Journals have gained more and more territory due to several factors: the principle of “publish or perish”, the unchallenging collection of author information from PubMed/Medline, the competition for subscribers of OA journals, the need to publish internationally of young scientists in order to evolve professionally or to aim certain tenure‐track positions, the need for high‐quality use of English language in articles, the bias against OA journals from less economically developed countries. There is a symbiosis between certain academics who are ecstatic to publish in questionable journals and the “predatory journals” hence the term of exploiting is wrongfully used sometimes. Within the platform of OA, one’s work gains greater visibility throughout the scientific community and it is important to understand that there are OA journals that take pride on the quality of their work, being far from deceiving. OA journals require certain fees to publish and furthermore publishing online has become more and more accessible allowing great benefits both to authors and reader alike.

Beall's list was a constantly updated report created by Jeffrey Beall in 2008 that presented for the first time potential predatory Open Access publishers. In 2017 Beall's List was taken offline permanently, but successors continued Beall's work, such as Cabell's blacklist and whitelist. In 2019, FTC won the lawsuit. While aspirant journals are science‐oriented though below‐average peer reviewed, fake and junk are profit‐oriented with superficial or even lacking peer review process.

There are several factors one should take into consideration when being addressed by a journal also summarized in Figure 2:

FIGURE 2

Main features of predatory journals

1. Professional website or a trap?

Since good spelling and grammar show a high ethical and professional standard, any mistakes within the journal website might raise a question mark. Moreover, copying the name or even website of famous journals should be a red flag since the name should be unique. Be aware of different formulations such as “leading publisher” even though the journal was just launched. Different electronic and for print International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs) should be displayed on the website.

2. Truth or dare?

Check the journal's membership to any associations: DOAJ, Committee on Publication Ethics, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, European Association of Science Editors, International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, World Association of Medical Editors on the source website. If still you are not sure, then you can contact these well‐renowned organizations and ask for further information regarding the membership. All these associations define best practice in peer review process, editorial quality control, ethics criteria. Also, one can look to see if the journal is Medline‐indexed or Web of Science.

3. Double check contact information

One detail that is often missed regards the journals' contact information. Be sure to verify that the information regarding office and contact details since more than often predatory journals might present office in one country whilst providing contact details in another. Moreover, “International” journals should have more than one country editorial board. If you want to check even further be aware of the time stamps of incoming mail: these should be within working hours of the country of origin. Be careful when reading the ISSNs since predatory journals might use it improperly, itself not being a marker of quality. ISSNs should only have one X at the end, therefore any ISSN with multiple X's is a red flag. The affiliation the journal editor as well as contact information for the editorial office must be presented on the website. Journals' revenue sources should be clearly mentioned on the website.

4. Impact factor

Another trap might be the use of fake non‐Clarivate Analytics or non‐existing impact factors. Do not get tricked by high impact factors without verifying the validity of the information. Bear in mind that new journals only get an impact factor after 2 years of indexing, even though on occasion, Journal Citation Reports assign an impact factor considering the partial citation. Journal Citations Reports' master journal list can be consulted in order to verify impact factors and metrics.

5. Campaigning for academics

Phishing emails asking individuals to submit their articles or invitations to become a member of the editorial team are frequently used by predatory journals. Moreover, badly written spam e‐mails, some even stating that they are not spam, are specific for questionable journals. Another red flag is submission not via an online submission system but via one single email.

6. Quality or quantity?

Another characteristic of predatory publishers would be releasing a large number of new journals in one occasion or in a very short period of time. The quality of the published research is essential; therefore, every journal should state a clear policy for copyrighting, plagiarism, data falsification/fabrication. Moreover, publication ethics must be presented in detail and visible on the website.

7. Free or fee?

Even though there is a number of “serious” OA journals where the author or institution have to pay for publication, there are many “shady” journals that try to cash‐in prior to publication. Most importantly, all fees must be clearly stated in the website. Bear in mind that all fees should be requested only after the article has been accepted for publication, never upfront and there is no such thing as submission or handling fees.

The APC (article‐processing charge) business model refers to the importance of publishing rather than reading and has gained increasing popularity overtime.

8. Credibility of the editorial board

Editorial board of predatory journals can present with fake members, insufficient members (2–3 members), insufficient details or members without their permission. Therefore, one way to look at it is to search on the member profile (Research Gate or LinkedIn) for the aforementioned journal. Different fields of expertise for the editor in chief, who can have a role in other journals, can be concerning. Having more than two journals with duplicate editorial board is a red flag as mentioned by Beall.

9. Timeline of publication

Publishing schedule is essential to be presented on the website. Any errors or incomplete information is a red flag. Peer review process and author responsibilities must be presented in full since many predatory journals often skip this important step. Promoting fast peer review process might be a concerning factor and should make you investigate further. Every reputable, scholarly journal should present the option for post‐publication debate either online by letters to the editor or moderated externally. The options to correct, revise or retract articles are a must in respectable journals. Moreover, professional submission via website is mandatory, since no respectable journal would accept article admissions by e‐mail (Figure 1).

10. Journal past content

Since there might be no filters in predatory journals, they can publish anything regardless the advertised specialty areas. Mistakes in past articles, both typographical and fundamental or poor research quality articles, can raise suspicion regarding the peer review process. Moreover, missing or “coming soon” past issues are a strong indicative of predatory journals.

CONCLUSION

The increase in the number of predatory journals interfere with quality of science as many vote for “quantity” rather than “quality”. Moreover, due to these low‐quality articles, it has become even more difficult to establish legitimate science. Priorities for predatory journals remain self‐interest and the pseudo‐science that they promote might be even dangerous. Therefore, it is essential to learn how to identify and avoid these particular predatory journals. THINK. CHECK. SUBMIT (https://thinkchecksubmit.org/) represents a new campaign that aims to raise awareness against predatory journals by enforcing authors to read up upon the journals prior to submitting their research. In summary, don't publish to just publish but choose your journal wisely and critically to give your work the best possible platform.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.