Predatory publishing was first highlighted by Jeffrey Beall, a librarian, in 2008. He also put forward a tentative definition for this new concept in 2010:
“We use the term “predatory” cautiously, primarily in an attempt to initially categorize a certain class of Open-Access scholarly publishers with like characteristics. These publishers are predatory because their mission is not to promote, preserve, and make available scholarship; instead, their mission is to exploit the author-pays, Open-Access model for their own profit. They work by spamming scholarly e-mail lists, with calls for papers and invitations to serve on nominal editorial boards.. . . Also, these publishers typically provide little or no peer-review. In fact, in most cases, their peer review process is a façade. None of these publishers mentions digital preservation. Indeed, any of these publishers could disappear at a moment’s notice, resulting in the loss of its content.”
Credit: RSTF Joint Guide: Predatory Publishing (https://libguides.nie.edu.sg/RSTF-predatory-publishing)
The increase in predatory publishing is also associated with the rise in popularity of Open Access publishing, which speeds up the process of publication and facilitates dissemination to a wider audience by removing paywalls. This form of publishing usually operates on an author-pays business model, whereby the author pays a fee to have their research published online. However, predatory publishers then often exploit the author-pays model for their own profit.
Besides predatory publishing, there are also predatory conferences. This guide provides some tips when considering invitations.