Predatory journals prioritize self-interest over scholarship. They do not conduct proper peer review and instead offer quick publication for a fee without editing. In contrast, legitimate open access journals maintain high standards. It is important to check if a journal is indexed in reputable databases like DOAJ or has an impact factor from JCR. Potential predatory journals can be identified using lists from Beall's or Cabell's. Librarians can help determine if a journal is predatory by investigating the publisher, editorial board, and review process.

1. Be Aware of Predatory journal
Addis Ababa University Research Office
September 2020
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y

2. Types of journals
• There are two main types of journal: open access & subscription.
• Subscription: Charge institutions, readers and libraries. Examples: Science,
The Lancet
• Open access: Charge article processing fees (about $1,000-$5,000) to
scientists once their manuscripts are accepted, and offer content free to
readers. Examples: The British Journal of Medicine, Public Library of Science
(PLOS)
Predatory journals are open access, but have low fees, low standards and high
acceptance rates.

3. What is a predatory journal?
• Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-
interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by
false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and
publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of
aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices
(https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y)

4. What is a predatory journal?
• Predatory Journals take advantage of authors by asking them to publish
for a fee without providing peer-review or editing services. Because
predatory publishers do not follow the proper academic standards for
publishing, they usually offer a quick turnaround on publishing a
manuscript.
• In contrast, high quality academic journals take longer to publish articles
because they go through a proper peer review and copy editing process.
• Predatory journals and publishers build on open access and discredit it at
the same time even if open access does not automatically lead to such
practices

5. How common are predatory journals?
• As of 2015, there were an estimated 996 predatory publishers (including
447 publishers of standalone journals) that published over 11,800
journals. Of those, roughly 8,000 journal titles were active and published
a total of approximately 420,000 articles. For comparison, this is roughly
the same size, in both journal titles and articles published, as the
legitimate open-access publishing industry. Not all of these predatory
journals are in biomedicine fields, but biomedicine is a major area for
predatory publishers, and the prevalence of predatory journals varies
between specific fields. (Shen and Bjork)
• Roughly 15% of articles published in predatory journals are from United
States authors. (Umlauf and Mochizuki)

6. How Open Access journals are different than
predatory journals?
• Open Access journals may solicit authors to publish for a fee, but
maintain high standards for peer review and editing. The goal of Open
Access publishing is to disseminate research to a larger audience by
removing paywalls.
• Open Access journals can have Impact Factors and can create a citation
advantage for authors.

7. How can you spot a predatory journal?
1. Do you or your colleagues know the journal? Do you recognize the
editorial board?
2. Do the editorial board uses institutional email address?
3. Can you easily contact the publisher?
4. Is the journal clear about their peer review process?
5. Is it clear what fees will be charged?
6. How long is the review process? Is the review process Short : less than
30 days
7. Does the journal entertain specific or Broad disciplinary focus – Science,
Technology, Social Science , business and so on

8. 8. Does the journal request standard publication charge: (or low in
hundreds or less than hundred dollar)
9. Is the journal indexed in reputable indexing databases like Directory of
Open Access Journals( DOAJ)

9. • If the answer is no for any of the above 9 questions, the journal is
most likely questionable, if not automatically a predatory journal.
• Predatory journals have also too much advertisement in terms of
Impact factor, indexes, call for reviewers, ISO and so on.

10. • Has the journal been identified by others as predatory? Is it listed on
some Predatory Reports?
• Google your journal title with the word predatory. You may be able to easily find
news stories about the journal and it's predatory practices. You can also
check the Predatory Reports of some webites to see if the journal is listed.
• Does the journal have an Impact Factor or do they list one on their
website? Beware!
• If a journal is claiming to have an Impact Factor, be sure to confirm this through
the official Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database. Only journals vetted
through the JCR can officially state that they have an Impact Factor. Many
predatory journals will make up an impact factor in an attempt to appear
reputable and high quality.

11. How do I check to see if the journal is
reputable?
• There isn’t a single bulletproof way to determine if a journal is
predatory. Here are a few places you can search to determine the quality
of an open access journal.
• Is the journal open access? If so, it is listed in the Directory of Open
Access Journals?
• Search the Directory of Open Access Journals. Be sure to limit your search
to Journals only. The DOAJ carefully vets open access journals for inclusion so
if the journal is not listed in DOAJ, it means it may be questionable.

12. • Is the journal indexed in Medline? (for medical online journals only)
• Search the NLM Catalog. If the record says "Not currently indexed for
MEDLINE", it means that the journal may be questionable. Just because a
journal is not indexed in MEDLINE, does not mean the journal is automatically
questionable. It could also mean that the journal is too new for MEDLINE or
out of scope.

13. • Does the journal have an Impact Factor or do they list one on their
website? Beware!
• If a journal is claiming to have an Impact Factor, be sure to confirm this through
the official Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database. Only journals vetted
through the JCR can officially state that they have an Impact Factor. Many
predatory journals will make up an impact factor in an attempt to appear
reputable and high quality.

14. • Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database is a unique and comprehensive tool
providing bibliometric analysis of more than 5,900 journals in the areas of science
and technology and of 1,700 journals in the social sciences. Coverage is international
and includes journals published by over 3,300 publishers in 60 countries.
• The aim of the JCR is to provide a systematic and objective means of determining the
relative importance of science and social sciences journals within their subject
categories.

15. Check reputable journals in the following
database.
#1. African Journals OnLine (AJOL)
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajol
#2. Check in Scopus indexed (use https://www.scimagojr.com/)
#3. Web of Science (https://mjl.clarivate.com/home)

16. Check the publisher?
• Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
https://oaspa.org/

17. Check the potential predatory journals using the following website
• https://beallslist.weebly.com/ (only until early 2017)
• https://www2.cabells.com/about-predatory (Cabell’s list, this is with
subscription fee)
• https://predatoryjournals.com/journals/
• https://thinkchecksubmit.org/ (Think.Check.Submit)
• http://www.serc.res.in/
These websites identify the potential predatory journals but need further
scrutiny to make the final decision.
Ask our librarians who might help you to spot predatory journals.

18. References
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y
• https://mdanderson.libanswers.com/faq/206446
(The University of Texas) (you can email: email: rml-
help@mdanderson.org)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_publishing#Other_lists
Wikipedia about predatory journal.
• https://www.ourwindsor.ca/opinion-story/7584847-to-catch-a-predator-
be-wary-of-journals-that-publish-bad-science/