Predatory Publishing

The following mnemonic is adapted from Rutgers University Libraries:

• Primary goal: to make money
• Reputation: questionable
• Emails: flattering, persuasive, and often with typographical or grammatical errors
• Databases: none of them index the journal title
• Authors are targeted by the publisher's website, rather than being aimed at the reader
• Title: suggests a vague or broad scope
• Open Access, but publisher retains copyright
• Revision: not required, instant publication guaranteed
• Yes, it’s predatory!   

Numerous guides and checklists have been published with the aim of helping authors spot possibly predatory publishers / conferences. The following is a compilation:

First Impressions

• Have you or your colleagues heard of this journal/conference before?
• If you received an email invitation, was it professionally written? Or did it have awkward phrasing, grammatical errors and/or typos?
• Could you contact the editorial board / organising committee? Or were you asked to fill in a web form if you had any queries?
• Did the website contain up-to-date information? Did the links work? Were the images sharp, or did they look fuzzy or distorted?

Faked Info / False Claims

• If it is a journal, does it have an international standard serial number (ISSN)? The ISSN can be checked here: https://portal.issn.org/
• If it is an open access journal, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)? Similarly, does the publisher belong to the Open Access Scholarly Publishers’ Association (OASPA)?
• What kind of metrics does it subscribe to? For example, an index such as Index Copernicus Value is regarded as questionable: https://scholarlyoa.com/index-copernicus-has-no-value/

Fields of Research

• Does it have a very broad scope? Does the journal have articles from many different fields? Is a high volume of papers published at frequent intervals? This could indicate that no peer review has taken place.

Fine Print

• Is there transparency regarding the fees, charges, terms and conditions, etc., or is there no fine print to be found?

FAIL

• If you have assessed the journal / conference along these lines, and have found it wanting in too many areas, it is probably best to ignore any invitation to submit or present a paper.

This 2018 video, Identifying Predatory Publishers, is courtesy of University of Manitoba Libraries:

Here is a quick guide (click to enlarge the image):

Evaluating Scholarly Journals infographic from FrontMatter by Allen Press / CC BY ND NC 3.0 (Expanded image uploaded from Stony Brook University Libraries)