Predatory Publishers

A recent article in The Guardian “Predatory publishers: the journals that churn out fake science” reported on an investigation (in collaboration with German broadcaster Norddeutsher Rundfunk) into predatory publishers and fake science. According to the article more than 175,000 scientific articles have been produced by the five largest “predatory open access publishers”  and 5,000 scientists at British universities have published in predatory publications in the last 5 years.  The article mentions that many of the researchers were “exploited by the publishers, who aggressively seek new business from academics who don’t know their reputation.” Predatory publishing has been on the minds of librarians for quite some time, I often feel like it is old news.  Unfortunately, I think is still new news to many researchers and STEM authors.  I can point to examples of clinicians looking to publish a paper who didn’t even understand the difference between open access and traditional access.  In their mind a journal like NEJM appears open access to them because they are able to access it freely using the library subscription. So when you have this access perception problem it isn’t hard to see how some can be fooled by predatory publishers.  Their game is more difficult to spot than the Nigerian Prince who just needs you to send him $1,000 for you to receive $10,000.  The problem isn’t just with publications. There at pre...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs