The document presents an overview of predatory journals, which exploit the open-access model by charging authors fees without ensuring quality and legitimacy through peer review. Key characteristics include misleading titles, lack of editorial oversight, and the acceptance of low-quality articles. It highlights the consequences of publishing in predatory journals, including potential harm to public health and damage to the reputation of researchers and institutions.

1. PRESENTATION
ON
PREDATORY JOURNALAND PUBLISHERS
PRESENTED BY
JISU DAS
PhD Research Scholar,
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Assam University, Silchar (AUS)

2. INTRODUCTION
 Predatory publishing or deceptive publishing is an
exploitative academic publishing business model that
involves charging publication fees to authors without
checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and without
providing editorial and publishing services that
legitimate academic journals provide.

3. DEFINITIONS OF PREDATORY JOURNALS
 Jeffrey Beall: Early definitions by Beall describe
predatory publishers as outlets “which publish
counterfeit journals to exploit the open-access model in
which the author pays” and publishers that were
“dishonest and lack transparency” .
 Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):
“Predatory publishing is generally defined as for profit
open-access journal publication of scholarly articles
without the benefit of peer review by experts in the field
or the usual editorial oversight of the journals in
question.”

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF PREDATORY JOURNALS
 Predatory journals, which override standard
publishing practices, can be identified with the
following characteristic.
Basic Information about the Journal
 Titles and websites of the standard journals are
hijacked.
 Use of misleading words such as ‘International’,
‘Global’, ‘World journal’ ‘Asian’, ‘American’, in the
titles, while the journals lack the international scope
and editorial board.

5.  No contact details of publisher and editor are provided.
 False locations of the offices of the publisher and
editor/s are given.
 Lack of information on the editorial board members.
 Lack of information about the frequency of
periodicals/Journals/Serials.
 Fraudulent or improper use of ISSNs and logos of
standard publishers.
 Many editors are unaware of the inclusion of their names
on editorial boards.

6.  Contents of the Journals
Articles in such journals are characterized by:
 Low quality
 Several typographical mistakes
 Plagiarized work
 Out of sync with the aims and scope of the journal
 Multidisciplinary — not committed to any single
discipline.

7. LACK OF STANDARD PUBLISHING PRACTICES
 The peer review process is absent.
 Spam emails inviting articles are sent to authors.
 Attracting academicians to serve as editorial board members/peer
reviewers only for convenience or value addition.
 Articles are accepted only after the payment of submission charges.
 High acceptance rate.
 Lack of publication ethics, peer review..
 Article submission guidelines are not given.
 Very quick turnaround time for acceptance and publication of articles.
 False, non-existent, misrepresented Impact Factor (IF)is generated.
 Unscientific methodology for calculating the IF.
 The IF is purchased by publishers from fraudulent companies like
Universal Impact Factor (UIF), Global Impact Factor (GIF), etc. (More than 20
such companies exist to date).
 Journals are included in sub-standard indexing databases on a payment
basis (for example, Index Copernicus).
 False claims of indexation of journals in world-recognized databases.

8. CONSEQUENCES OF PREDATORY JOURNALS
 As discussed earlier, anyone can publish on any topic in
predatory journals. There are no efforts to check the
quality of research by predatory publishers as they are
interested in APCs alone.
 Research in the biomedical field often leads to improved
therapies, new medicines, new surgeries and improved
patient safety.
 Therefore, if the research results are published without
scrutiny, doctors and individuals may use false
information. Journalists or media people may mislead
people if they publish information, without ascertaining
journal credentials (predatory or legitimate).Therefore,
information published in predatory journals, without any
“peer review”, threatens the society .

9. OTHER IMPLICATIONS OF PREDATORY JOURNALS
 Corruption in Science and Other Disciplines
 Influence on Key Sectors such as Human Health
 Damage to the Career of Researchers
 Damage to the Institution’s Reputation
 Loss of Money
 Waste of time

10. CHECKLIST TO IDENTIFY PREDATORY JOURNALS
 ISSN: Although the ISSN is not an indicator of any quality, it should
be verified by researchers from the ISSN-providing agencies or from
some secondary source.
 Publisher address / Editor address: Addresses can be verified from
secondary sources Such as Google Map, or similar online searches.
 Impact Factor: Verify IF with Journal Citation Report by Clarivate
Analytics.
 Credibility of editor/s: Credibility can be checked with publications of
editors-in-chief and editorial board members in respectable journals.
 Publication in a short duration of time: Always check dates of
submission and acceptance of papers.
 Journal back volumes: Availability of the archives can be checked.
 Annual listing of reviewers: Does the journal publish a list of
reviewers in the Annual Issue/number.

11. REASONS FOR PUBLICATIONS IN PREDATORY
JOURNALS
 Apart from mandatory publications for career
advancement becoming a major cause of the growth of
Predatory journals, there are a number of other reasons
as well .
 Fear of job loss and the “publish-or-perish” pressure.
 Failure to publish in journals indexed in world
recognized databases.
 Rejection by standard/respectable journals due to
inadequate research skills .
 Competition among colleagues; desire to score higher
and gain respect.
 Lack of awareness among researchers and new faculty
members.

12. CONCLUSION
 Predatory journals exist solely for profit without any
commitment to publication ethics or quality of research.
They not only damage the reputation of individual
researchers or institutions, but more dangerously, they
contaminate scientific and other disciplines. Thus, the
authenticity and credibility of research is at stake. The
number of predatory publications with changing
modalities is on the rise, which makes it very difficult to
recognize them.
 Therefore, it is important that every individual researcher
takes serious cognizance of all the pitfalls of publishing
in predatory journals and remains worthy of the ethical
ethos that is the foundation of true scientific and
academic endeavour.

13. REFERENCES
 Asim, Z. and S. Sorooshian. 2019. Clone Journals: A
threat to medical research. Sao Paulo MedicalJournal
137 (6): 550–551.
 Beall, J. 2016. Best Practices for Scholarly Authors in
the Age of Predatory Journals. The Annals of TheRoyal
College of Surgeons of England 98(2): 77–79.
 Bjork, B.-C. and D. Solomon. 2015. Article Processing
Charges in OA Journals: Relationship betweenprice and
quality. Scientometrics 103(2): 373–385.
 Bohannon, J. 2013. Who’s Afraid of Peer Review?
American Association for the Advancement ofScience.

14. THANK YOU