How do Predatory Medical Journals try to Seduce and Fool Potential Authors? Analysis of an 18-Months Monitoring Survey
Abstract
Background/Aim: Predatory medical publishers have developed – and still continue to develop – ‘tricks’ that are intended to fool potential authors with the objective to attract manuscripts. They do so because authors have to pay them article processing charges and these are commonly their exclusive business model. Authors become ever more reluctant to publish in predatory journals because such journals are not considered as scientifically reliable and the articles in such journals are commonly not or hardly read (and even more rarely cited). Particularly young scientists can nevertheless be relatively easily seduced by the promises of predatory journals, which tend to approach potential authors in an aggressive way. This study aimed to analyse how often aggressive advertising is synonym for predatory.
Methods: The 322 medical journals and their 105 publishers that approached from 1 January 2023 to 1 July 2024 period with the request to contribute a manuscript were analysed. The analysis dealt with several aspects that may give insight into the trustworthiness of these journals and their publishers, ie the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), the Editor-in-Chief, the publishing history, the publisher’s location and the journal title.
Results: Only 85 (26.3 %) of the journals under study had an Editor-in-Chief and 47 (14.6 %) of the journals had no ISSN. The great majority of the journals started after 2010; the journal titles seem aimed at raising confusion with established journals and many publishers were not housed where they pretend to be.
Conclusions: Checking the above aspects of journals is an important tool helping recognise the predatory character of a journal.
References
Andersen H. Publish or perish. In: Tierney R, Rizvi F, Ercikan K. International Encyclopedia of Education (4th ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2023; pp. 158–166.
Bowman JD. Predatory publishing, questionable peer review, and fraudulent conferences. Am J Pharm Educ. 2014 Dec 15;78(10):176. doi: 10.5688/ajpe7810176.
Elmore SA, Weston EH. Predatory journals: What they are and how to avoid them. Toxicol Pathol. 2020 Jun;48(4):607-10. doi: 10.1177/0192623320920209.
Beall J. Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature. 2012 Sep 13;489(7415):179. doi: 10.1038/489179a.
Beall J. Predatory publishing is just one of the consequences of gold open access. Learned Publ. 2013;26:79–83. doi:10.1087/20130203.
Beall J. Predatory journals exploit structural weaknesses in scholarly publishing. 4open 2018;1: 1–3. doi: 10.1051/fopen/2018001.
Giglio VJ, Luiz OJ. Predatory journals: fortify the defences. Nature. 2017 Apr 26;544(7651):416. doi: 10.1038/544416a.
Strielkowski W. Predatory journals: Beall's List is missed. Nature. 2017 Apr 26;544(7651):416. doi: 10.1038/544416b.
Kimotho SG. The storm around Beall’s list: A review of issues raised by Beall’s critics over his criteria of identifying predatory journals and publishers. African Res Rev. 2019;13:1–12. doi: 10.4314/afrrev.v13i2.1.
Predatory Reports. Predatory Journals in Science. [Internet]. [Cited: 2-Jan-2024]. Available from: https://journalsearches.com/predatory-publishers.php 2023.
Quaderi N. Supporting integrity of the scholarly record: Our commitment to curation and selectivity in the Web of Science. Clarivate. 2023(3). [Internet]. [Cited: 20-Aug-2024]. Available from: https://clarivate.com/blog/supporting-integrity-of-the-scholarly-record-our-commitment-to-curation-and-selectivity-in-the-web-of-science/.
Macháček V, Srholec M. Predatory journals in Scopus. [Internet]. [Cited: 16-Aug-2024]. IDEA 2017; summary: Available from: https://idea-en.cerge-ei.cz/news/46-predatory-journals-in-scopus.
Macháček V, Srholec M. Predatory publishing in Scopus: Evidence on cross-country differences. Quant Sci Stud. 2022;3:859–87. doi: 10.1162/qss_a_00213.
Scopus. Scopus de-listing 2023. [Internet]. [Cited: 17-Aug-2024]. Available from: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HRCPf0WBPmp8wKWuwuw_C2hCnOMDVs0Qr1Afwgp1_S8/edit?gid=489850379#gid=489850379.
Manca A, Moher D, Cugusi L, Dvir Z, Deriu F. How predatory journals leak into PubMed. CMAJ. 2018 Sep 4;190(35):E1042-E1045. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.180154.
Valencia-Chulián R, Heredia-Rizo AM, Moral-Munoz JA, Lucena-Anton D, Luque-Moreno C. Dry needling for the management of spasticity, pain, and range of movement in adults after stroke: A systematic review. Complement Ther Med. 2020 Aug;52:102515. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102515.
Anonymous Beall’s list of potential predatory journals and publishers. Updated 2021. [Internet]. [Cited: 30-May-2024]. Available from: https://beallslist.net.
Yildizhan E. Avoiding predatory journals: four main points. Noro Psikiyatr Ars. 2022 Aug 12;59(3):167-8. doi: 10.29399/npa.28243.
Resaim Publishing. [Internet]. [Cited: 19-Aug-2024]. Fast paper publications journals - The below-listed journals provide a decision on the manuscript within 24 hours. After the authors complete the post-acceptance steps, the article will be published in 3 days. Available from: https://www.resaim.com/fast-paper-publication-journals/.
Oreskes N. [Internet]. [Cited: 15-Jul-2024]. If you say ‘science is right,’ you’re wrong? Sci Amer. 2021;325:78. Available from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-you-say-science-is-right-youre-wrong/.
Van Loon AJ. Predatory activities require coordinated action by publisher’ and editors’ organizations: a case report. Eur Sci Edit. 2023;49:e113535. doi: 10.3897/ese.2023.e113535.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).