Predatory Journals

Learning about predatory journals in many fields has been an adventure in learning for me. I am no expert- is anyone? As the predatory practices evolve, we will keep learning more. Identification of a predatory journal is not black and white. It is not as simple as saying "XXX indicates that this is a predatory journal." Often, it is a combination of factors. Here are some things to look for (in completely arbitrary order):

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1. The list. Check this list: https://www.predatoryjournals.org/the-list/journals. Rather than relying on the browser version, open the Google Sheet and look there for the full experience. Sometimes people accidentally navigate to the predatory PUBLISHER list rather than the predatory JOURNAL list, so beware. Also we wary of any arguments about the journal on the list not being predatory. They made it on the list for a reason. Please note that it is possible for a journal to be in a publisher listed as predatory, while the journal itself is not. For that reason, it is better to consider if the journal itself is predatory rather than the publisher. 

2. Where is it indexed? This can serve as a clue, but alone is not an indicator of a predatory journal. For example, some student journals and journals on platforms not yet associated with a major publisher may not have done the work yet to become indexed there. Similarly, indexing in good places does not mean the journal is not predatory. It is less likely, but not guaranteed. For instance, some predatory journals have made their way into PubMed! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6148641/

3. Emails- Reputable journals will almost never email you directly to solicit your paper and promise to publish it. Often these predatory emails are not even in your field, and contain loads of errors. I recently got a request to submit a paper to a materials science journal (LOL) that was fraught with errors. The email may come from an email that looks personal (Gmail). Caveat- if you are VERY well established in your field, or working in a small niche, you may have folks that you know or know of contact you and ask you to submit a paper for a special issue.

4. Paying for publication is not a sign of a predatory journal. In some fields, you are unlikely to get a publication in a really good journal without paying. Further, you can sometimes elect to have your paper be "open access" by paying a fee to make it more available (and citable), which is a good step towards open science and development of the scholar. But, predatory journals do often charge a fee to publish work- which is what is in it for them. That being said, some new predatory journals may publish some things for free in the beginning to establish a reputation. So again, this is another example of how something is not a definitive sign of a predatory journal. Beware of wire transfers to foreign countries at addresses that do not exist. 

5. Evolving status. A journal can start out legit, and become predatory, so the presence of a publication on someone's CV that contains the name of a currently predatory journal does not mean the journal was predatory at the time of publication.

6. Crappy peer review. Be super suspicious if a journal wants to publish your article with no changes, or very minor changes. Again, this is not a clear cut sign of predation either- you might just have written the best paper of your career. This is the exception and not the rule. Unreasonable turn arounds (i.e. like those common with MDPI) are a red flag as well. A journal soliciting quality work should not want a revision turn around of 24-48 hours, for example.

7. Who is on the editorial board? Can you verify that? Do they work in your field? They could be made up or listed fraudulently without their consent. If you think they are listed there fraudulently, you can usually look up their CV online and see if they list the journal editorial board under service. You can also contact them.

8. Indexing in DOAJ: See if the journal is listed in the DOAJ: https://doaj.org/

9. Sometimes you may hear that speed of review is a factor in determining if a journal is predatory. In the age of both rapid pub journals, and COVID delays, this is almost impossible to use as a sign anymore.

10. When in doubt, ask a senior scholar in your field, and a research librarian! There are so many reasons to love librarians, and this is just one

11. Look up their address if it is provided- it might not exist!

12. I just want to acknowledge that impact factors are part of this conversation but I am not going to address it here.

13. If you or someone that you know has been affected by predatory publishing (not to sound like a commercial), it is not the end of the world. Things can be done! Just offer them support and love, and help direct them to take care of it- it is a scary thing to endure. Academia often asks us to wear our critical glasses when we look at the work of others, but you always have a choice to offer to help your neighbor in need instead of academically stab them. However, if we know there is a publication in a predatory journal, we should be taking action to get it out of there! 

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Other resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7237319/

https://guides.library.jhu.edu/open-access/predatory-journals