Predatory Publishers: Aggressive marketing to unsuspecting authors, fictional editorial boards, little or no peer review, unqualified reviewers, and generally poor editorial quality are issues that plague the journal publishing landscape. Regardless of whether a journal asks for an APC or is subscription based, authors can critically evaluate journals before submitting their manuscripts. Contact a Subject Librarian for assistance.
Librarians helping researchers avoid predatory journals and publishers
Open Access Publishing does have its detractors. Often critics of OA will note the existence of predatory publishers and malicious rights agreements as a way of defaming and discrediting the concepts and movement. Regardless of publishing in a traditional or oepn access environment, librarians and Intellectual Property Managers caution all scholars to read and analyze deposit and submission agreements.
We have included two resources to aid in the conversation:
Tactic | How to Recognize |
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Solicitation |
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Article Processing and Peer Review |
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Impact Factors |
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Editorial Board |
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Metrics and Indexing |
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Watch lists |
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Other Factors |
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