My friend recently asked if I knew whether a journal was predatory.
That is, was it part of a pay for publication scheme?
I’ve had very little contact with this kind of journal in my career - I’ve never had the money to pay to publish - it has meant that this type journal was irrelevant to my career.
So.
I had to do some digging - and have been surprised by the number and quality of ‘journals’ designed to publish anything for a price.
I have also been surprised by the amount of literature- particularly in information sciences - devoted to teaching people how to identify predatory journals (I call them predators to save keystrokes)
It has been eye opening.
So what did I learn? And what can we all do about predators?
First, predators take advantage of opportunities created by the open source publishing model.
They were explicitly designed to part scholars from their money by creating the illusion of publication in a high quality outlet.
These journals are malicious by design.
Second, predators use many of the same techniques as phishers.
They solicit contributions (spamming thousands), they tailor messages (spearphishing), they advertise on social media (smishing) and more.
There is no question in my mind these are criminal endeavors.
Third, bc they leverage social engineering, e.g. predators are good at misrepresenting their work, that people fall for them is no surprise
Don’t judge the victims.
Fourth, predators maintain opaque practices, making it impossible to assess rigor or quality of published research
Even if there is peer review, there is no assurance or quality.
As a result, it’s hard to take work in these journals seriously.
Fifth, predators sometimes claim leading scholars are on their editorial boards.
They steal our identities to persuade others to submit to them.
If they don’t steal, they fool scholars into serving on their boards through flattery and an illusion of rigor.
Every academic needs to make sure their identity is not being used by these thugs.
Sixth, we need to train our students to recognize predatory publication practices.
Publishing in top and outside of top journals can help you.
Publishing in predatory journals can kill you.
Future scholars need to know how to identity, avoid & sanction predators.
Seventh, professional associations have let all of us down.
I found scant evidence that Associations are fulfilling their obligations to manage the instituonal landscape.
Associations need to police journals for their fields. They have the legitimacy to do it for all of us.
Finally, we need zero tolerance for papers found in predatory outlets.
If someone puts a paper in one, it must not count for tenure or promotion.
This will provide motivation to check out a journals provenance.
We can minimize predators’ impact on academe - but it will take communities working together to make it happen.
Comments