Predatory Publishing: Further Information

Despite growing awareness of predatory publishing and research on its market characteristics, the defining attributes of fraudulent journals remain controversial. We aimed to develop a better understanding of quality criteria for scholarly journals by analysing journals and publishers indexed in blacklists of predatory journals and whitelists of legitimate journals and the lists’ inclusion criteria.

In this case study, the author reviews how he identified a predatory journal and persuaded his client to avoid publication. He also offers fellow editors tips on how to do the same in a publishing environment filled with predatory publishers.

This WAME document aims to provide guidance to help editors, researchers, funders, academic institutions and other stakeholders distinguish predatory journals from legitimate journals.

In this interview, Kelly Cobey and Larissa Shamseer (both of the Centre for Journalology, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute) share their thoughts on what is meant by the term “illegitimate journal,” why these publications are proving so successful at attracting authors, and the community actions needed to stop their spread.

The term ‘predatory journal’ blinds us to important possibilities, needs, and questions arising in the developing scholarly landscape. The current scholarly publishing environment cannot rely on such a simplified classification of journals into predatory or not.

This study examines author profiles for some of these “predatory” journals as well as for groups of more well‐recognized open access journals.