How to identify predatory journals: 4 suggestions and a couple of checklists

The time period ”predatory publishers” was coined in 2010 by Jeffrey Beall, a scholarly communications librarian on the University of Colorado, Denver.

Beall created the extensively standard Beall’s List of predatory journals, which ceased operation in 2017 however remains to be accessible on-line. A couple of different sources preserve a listing of predatory journals, together with one by the corporate Cabells, whose checklist is behind a paywall.

One of the seminal articles about predatory journals was published in 2015 in BMC Medicine, in keeping with the 2022 e-book “The Predator Effect” by Simon Linacre, chief industrial officer at Cabells, a scholarly analytics firm. The research put the variety of predatory journals at an estimated 8,000 as of 2015. It additionally revealed that the variety of articles revealed in such journals had elevated from 53,000 in 2010 to 420,000 in 2014.

Academics have tried to create a common definition for predatory journals.

One of essentially the most complete definitions got here from a gathering of researchers and publishers from 10 international locations in 2019:

“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices,” the group reported in an article published in Nature in December 2019.

In his book, Linacre gives this definition: “Predatory journals are deceptive and often fake, giving the appearance of legitimate peer-reviewed journals and impact academic stakeholders by exploiting the Open Access model while using misleading tactics to solicit article submissions.”

Also in 2022, the authors of the report “Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences,” a two-year research led by the InterAcademy Partnership, a worldwide community of science, engineering and medical academies, supplied a definition, providing a spectrum of behaviors that might make a journal predatory:

“At one end of the spectrum, traits common to both include deceitful practice; little, poor or no peer-review and/or editorial control; and the fraudulent use of the names of established journals, institutions or researchers,” write the authors of the report. “At the other end, there are questionable and unethical practices by some established reputable outlets, such as establishing a second tier of journals that publish rejected papers on payment, which can be harder to both identify and challenge.”

Even although the phrases “predatory publishing” and “predatory journals” are higher understood lately, they’re nonetheless topic to debate amongst lecturers.

For occasion, some students argue that some massive, established journals and publishing homes may very well be thought-about predatory as a result of they accumulate exorbitant charges from authors along with charging excessive subscription charges from libraries, or as a result of they’ve “aggressive commercial behaviors,” in keeping with Linacre’s e-book. Others say that some high-quality analysis may be present in predatory journals, so that they shouldn’t be fully dismissed.

“I don’t love the term ‘predatory journals,’” says Oransky, who can be the manager director of the Center for Scientific Integrity. “That being said, I think that what the discussion around predatory journals has accomplished is to let people know that not everything that is peer reviewed, –not everything that claims to be peer reviewed really is to any level of rigor.”

Checklists that will help you spot predatory journals

Here are some traits of predatory journals, in keeping with the 2019 Nature article, “Predatory Journals: No Definition, No Defense,” and the 2020 paper, “Predatory Journals: What They Are and How to Avoid Them”:

• False or deceptive info: “A predatory journal’s website or e-mails often present contradictory statements, fake impact factors, incorrect addresses, misrepresentations of the editorial board, false claims of indexing or membership of associations and misleading claims about the rigor of peer review,” in keeping with the 2019 Nature paper.
• Not following best editorial and publication practices set forth by the Directory of Open Access Journals, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, Committee on Publication Ethics, and the World Association of Medical Editors: “Warning signs should be assessed with care. For instance, journals are not eligible for listing on the DOAJ or joining COPE until after one year of operation. A well-meaning but poorly resourced journal might not be able to maintain a professional website. Also, some journals claim to follow best practice but do not,” in keeping with the 2019 Nature paper.
• Lack of transparency concerning operational procedures like how editorial selections are made and peer assessment is organized, and failure to offer contact info or particulars about article processing costs.
• Advertising an unrealistically brief timeline for publication.
• Publishing articles which have many grammatical errors with little or no copyediting.
• Hijacking the names of established and respected journals and creating illegitimate clones that may seem increased in search outcomes than the unique journal. Retraction Watch’s Hijacked Journal Checker might help you observe such journals.
• Requiring authors to signal away their copyright to the article on the time of submission.

Because researchers are weak to publishing in predatory journals, there are greater than 90 checklists to assist them vet journals earlier than submitting their work, in keeping with the 2019 Nature article.

One of the extra standard and free lists is created by Think. Check. Submit., a marketing campaign produced with the help of a coalition throughout scholarly communications in response to discussions about misleading publishing.

Although the guidelines is created for scientists, lots of its gadgets, listed beneath, may be useful for journalists to determine predatory journals:

Knowledge of the journal

• Have you learn any articles within the journal earlier than?
• Is it straightforward to find the most recent papers within the journal?
• Is the identify of the journal distinctive, and never the identical or simply confused with one other journal?
• Can you cross-check with details about the journal within the ISSN portal? An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit code to uniquely determine a periodical publication. It is particularly useful in distinguishing between publications with the identical title.

Publisher’s contact info

• Is the writer’s identify clearly displayed on the journal web site?

Journal’s peer assessment course of

• Is the journal clear about its peer assessment course of?

Fees for authors

• Does the writer clarify on their web site how they’re financially supported?
• Does the journal website clarify what its charges are for and when they are going to be charged?

Guidelines for authors

• Does the writer have a transparent coverage concerning potential conflicts of curiosity for authors, editors and reviewers?

Publisher’s membership in a acknowledged business initiative

• Is the journal a current member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and observe its guidelines?
• If the journal is open entry, is it listed within the Directory of Open Access Journals?
• If the writer gives an open entry possibility, is it a current member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association?
• Is the journal hosted on one of many International Network for Advancing Science and Policy’s Journals Online platforms (for journals revealed in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Central America and Mongolia) or on African Journals Online (AJOL, for African journals)?
• If the journal is open entry, is it hosted on Scielo (for Latin American scientific journals)?
• If the journal is open entry, is it listed in Latindex (for journals which can be revealed in Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal)?
• If the journal is open entry, is it listed by Redalyc (for journals which can be revealed in Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal)?

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Sophie Hogan. Research Professional News, September 2025.