IDENTIFYING PREDATORY JOURNALS 101 Lawrence Chikwanha LIBRARIAN – GREAT ZIMBABWE UNIVERSITY Workshop On Identifying Reputable And Predatory Journals, And Using Author Guidelines

Structure of Presentation  Introduction  Instruments of Identifying Predatory Journals  Beall’s Lists  Publishers  Journal Titles  Misleading Metrics  Hijacked Journals  Conclusion

Introduction  Academics involved in research are often evaluated based on their research output or publications. Whether they get a degree, get hired, get promoted or get tenure is often tied to the quantity and quality of the publications they have recently authored. And in some countries quantity takes precedence over quality and becomes a defining factor in career progression.

Introduction  Researchers working in such environments may be tempted to publish more and faster. Thus the demand for publication outlets increases, and so does the supply — in the form of more academic publishers and journals.  In scholarly publishing, no overall body sets standards and processes. Anyone can buy a domain name and set up a journal with a name of their choice. The sole motive may be making money by charging authors for publishing articles.  This scenario has given rise to predatory journals

What Are Predatory Publishers  Predatory open-access publishers are those that unprofessionally exploit the gold open-access model for their own profit. That is to say, they operate as scholarly vanity presses and publish articles in exchange for the author fee. They are characterized by various levels of deception and lack of transparency in their operations. For example, some publishers may misrepresent their location, stating New York instead of Nigeria, or they may claim a stringent peer-review where none really exists"

Identifying Predatory Publishers  There are a lot of online tools that assist in identifying predatory journals.  The most prominent of these online tools is a list known as Beall’s list of predatory publishers.  The list is published by Jeffrey Beall a librarian who is a critic of the open access movement.  His list has grown from one list to four lists by 2016

Beall’s Lists: Publishers  This is a list of questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. It is recommend that scholars read the available reviews, assessments and descriptions provided here, and then decide for themselves whether they want to submit articles, serve as editors or on editorial boards.

Beall’s Lists: Publishers  The following table shows the meteoric rise in the number of publishers appearing on the list  The following is a list of predatory publisherspredatory publishers

Beall’s Lists: Journal Titles  This is a list of questionable, scholarly open-access standalone journals. This list is only for single, standalone journals.  It is recommend that scholars read the available reviews, assessments and descriptions provided here, and then decide for themselves whether they want to submit articles, serve as editors or on editorial boards.

Beall’s Lists: Journal Titles  There has also been an exponential growth in the number of journals appearing on the list as can be seen in the table below   The following is a list of predatory journal titlespredatory journal titles

Beall’s Lists: Misleading Metrics  This is a list of questionable companies that purport to provide valid scholarly metrics at the researcher, article, or journal level.  The list includes companies that “calculate” and publish counterfeit impact factors (or some similar measure) to publishers, metrics the publishers then use in their websites and spam to trick scholars into thinking their journals have legitimate impact factors  This is a list of some journals with misleading metricsmisleading metrics

Beall’s Lists: Hijacked Journals  Sometimes someone will create a counterfeit website that pretends to be the website of a legitimate scholarly journal. The website creators then solicit manuscript submissions for the hijacked version of the journal, pocketing the money. In some cases the legitimate versions of the journals are only published in print form and they may not have websites.  The following is a list of hijacked journals:hijacked journals

How To Avoid Predatory Publishers 1  Check that the publisher provides full, verifiable contact information, including address, on the journal site. Be cautious of those that provide only web contact forms.  Check that a journal's editorial board lists recognized experts with full affiliations. Contact some of them and ask about their experience with the journal or publisher.  Check that the journal prominently displays its policy for author fees.  Be wary of invitations to submit to journals or to become editorial board members.

How To Avoid Predatory Publishers 2  Read some of the journal's published articles and assess their quality. Contact past authors to ask about their experience.  Check that a journal's peer-review process is clearly described and try to confirm that a claimed impact factor is correct.

How To Avoid Predatory Publishers 3  Find out whether the journal is a member of an industry association that vets its members, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals ( or the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association ( [Some questionable journals appear in directories such as DOAJ and Cabell's; we don't advise using this as your sole criteria.]  Use common sense, as you would when shopping online: if something looks fishy, proceed with caution.  Or contact your Faculty Librarian! We're happy to help assess journals and publishers.

Conclusion  Academics should avoid publishing in predatory journals at all costs.  Publishing in such journals eventually lose value and may even bring harm. Some researchers may be able to temporarily advance their careers on the strength of their publication count, but they may be shamed later on in front of their colleagues and students as awareness of predatory publishers increases.  Although Beall’s list is one of the leading instruments in identifying predatory publishers, it should be taken as advice rather than a prescription

The End  Questions?  Thank You  Source: This presentation is based largely on material obtained from the site: 