The document discusses the rise of predatory publishers, which exploit the gold open access model to extract fees from authors, particularly targeting new PhD graduates. Characteristics of these publishers include convincing names, lack of peer review, and questionable contact details, along with advice on how to identify and avoid them. Recommendations for checking journals include consulting Beall's list, assessing quality factors, and considering green open access options that avoid processing fees.

1. Predatory publishing: pitfalls for the unwary!
Simon Huggard
Digital Infrastructure Manager
Sharon Karasmanis
Faculty Librarian and Team Leader (Health Sciences)
Library Research Forum, 25 October 2013
latrobe.edu.au
CRICOS Provider 00115M

2. Predatory Publishers:
• Gold Open Access Model has created opportunities
for corrupt publishers to flourish
• Open Access mandates have spawned more of these
recently, with a huge increase in reports of
questionable email requests
• Only exist to extract author processing fees (often only
charging when the manuscript accepted)
• Take advantage of authors who want to publish in
Open Access journals, note: new PhD graduates
targeted!
La Trobe University
2
2

3. Predatory publishers – some characteristics:
• Look convincing by using similar names to well known
publications (eg. IJCEE: International Journal of Civil &
Environemental Engineering vs International Journal of
Environmental Engineering ;SciMed Central vs Pubmed
Central)
• Websites littered with grammatical errors
• No peer-review process or bogus reviewer details
• Spam researchers, soliciting manuscripts but failing to
mention required author fee. After the paper is
published, authors are invoiced typically US$1,800
• List bogus contact details (tricky to spot!)
La Trobe University
3
3

4. How can you check?
• Look for publishers verifiable contact details,
be cautious if only a web form is provided!
• Does the editorial board list recognised experts with
affiliations
• Check that author fees are prominently displayed
• Be wary of email invitations
• Read previous papers and assess the quality
• Check peer-review process is clearly described, try to
confirm if the displayed impact factor is correct!
La Trobe University
4
4

5. More on checking:
• Check Beall’s list of Predatory Publishers
•
scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2013/
•
Further reading:
•
LibGuide on Predatory Publishing in:
latrobe.libguides.com/journalimpact
•
Butler, D. (2013). Investigating journals: the dark side of publishing,
Nature, 495(7442), 433-435. (Describes the emergence of predatory publishing
and provides an alternate view of the Beall’s list)
•
Bohannon, J. (2013). Who’s afraid of peer-review? Science, 342.
(Spoof paper concocted by Science reveals little scrutiny by some predatory journals)
La Trobe University
5
5

6. Consider Green Open Access!
• Upload a submitted manuscript or postprint of your
article to Research Online (LTU research repository)
• Article will be available freely online
• No article processing fees
• Contact repository@latrobe.edu.au
La Trobe University
6
6

7. One example:
La Trobe University
7
7

8. La Trobe University
8
8

9. Predatory/bogus publishers
La Trobe University
9
9

10. Where to Publish: Evaluating journals
• What are the main issues?
• Publishing in high impact scholarly journals
• Selecting journals relevant to your discipline
• Where are other experts in your discipline
publishing?
• Identifying a journal in consideration of ERA, FoR
codes and impact factors
• Ensuring your research is reaching relevant
audiences
La Trobe University
10
10

11. What quality factors should I look for?
• Use a range of criteria and compare with other journals
in the same category
• Quantitative and qualitative assessments such as:
• Journal impact factors
• Indexing and abstracting services
• Relevance to your discipline
• Ranking within your discipline
• Peer review process
La Trobe University
11
11

12. A range of Library resources are available:
(under Databases Tab)
• Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
• Eigenfactor calculation
• Scopus Journal Analyzer (SJR)
• SCImago (uses SJR data)
• InCites
• Further guidance available:
• latrobe.libguides.com/journalimpact
La Trobe University
12
12

13. • Contact your Faculty Librarian
• latrobe.edu.au/library/contact-us
• Research Education and Development (RED)
• latrobe.edu.au/research/red
• Research Services
• latrobe.edu.au/research-services
La Trobe University
13
13