MEDICALJOURNALSANDTHEPERILSOFPREDATORYPUBLISHERS

JeffreyBeallUniversityofColoradoDenverORCIDID:0000-0001-9012-5330

Objec&ves

1.  UnderstandthedefiniNonofpredatorypublishers,theircharacterisNcs,andhowtheyoperate

2.  UnderstandhowpredatoryjournalsaredamagingscienceandthecommunicaNonofscience

3.  Learnaboutrelatedscholarlypublishingscams,includingfakeimpactfactors

Conflicts of Interest: None

Spam,spam,spam,spam,spam,spam

Gold(authorpays)open-access

• PublishingcostsfinancedbyfeeschargedtoauthorsuponacceptanceoftheirarNcles

•  Thecustomersaretheauthors(notlibraries,notreaders)•  Lowbarriertostartup•  ImmediaterevenuegeneraNon•  Lowoverhead• Provenbusinessmodel,easytocopy•  Ever-growingcustomerbase

CharacterisNcsofPredatoryJournals/Publishers•  Theyusethegold(author-pays)open-accessmodel•  Theyusespamtosolicitsubmissions,editorialboardservice,adhocpeerreviews

•  ThepredatorypublisherspretendtobeassociaNons,insNtutes,academies,etc.

•  Theydoafake,low-quality,orpretendpeerreview•  Theyarenottransparent•  TheyusedecepNon•  Theydonotfollowscholarlypublishingindustrystandards

Myformerwork

Historyofpredatorypublishers

• IfirststartedtoreceivespamemailsolicitaNonsfrompublishersin2008and2009

• MyfirstpublicaNonaboutapredatorypublisherwasin2009• Icoinedtheterm"predatorypublisher"insummer2010• Istartedmycurrentbloginearly2012• Notallopen-accessjournalsarepredatory

Howpredatorypublishersdamagescience[1]• They'veincreasedpublishedresearchmisconduct,suchasplagiarism

• Thepseudo-sciencetheypublishgetsindexedinGoogleScholarandotheracademicindexes

• TheythreatendemarcaNon,thedivisionbetweenscienceandpseudo-science,thecumulaNvenatureofresearch

• TheyfeedbogusresearchtosocietalinsNtuNonsthatdependonauthenNcscience

• TheypublishacNvistscienceandconspiracy-theoryscience

Howpredatorypublishersdamagescience[2]• TheyarepolluNngtaxonomy• Manyalsosponsorbogusscholarlyconferences• PharmaceuNcalentrepreneursareusingpredatorypublisherstomakeinventedcompoundsappearefficacious

• Authorfeesmaypreventsomeauthorsfrombeingabletopublishtheirwork,especiallyinmiddle-incomecountriesandforunaffiliatedresearchers

APredatoryPublisherinCanada

• CanadianCenterofScienceandEducaNon• RedFamePublishing• MacrothinkInsNtute•  ScieduPress

“It finds that the majority of faculty with research responsibilities at a small Canadian business school have publications in predatory journals. In terms of financial compensation, these publications produce greater rewards than many non-predatory journal publications. Publications in predatory journals are also positively correlated with receiving internal research awards.”

QuesNonableconferences

IndirectVicNmsofPredatoryPublishers

•  Thosewhoareinundatedwithspam•  Thosepreparingliteraturereviews•  ThosepreparingreviewarNclesandsystemaNcreviews,andmeta-analyses

•  Thosewhotakethehighroad,onlytoseecolleaguesadvanceacademicallythroughhighnumbersofpublicaNonsinpredatoryjournals

•  Studentspreparingclasspapers•  Thoseengagedinboundary-work

Fakeimpactfactors

Hijackedjournals

HijackedversionOriginalversion

Pseudo-science/Fringescience

Reasonsforpublishingpseudo-science

•  Topromotemonetarygain,e.g.,reporNngthatanewcompoundisefficacious

•  TosupportapoliNcalorsocialagenda(advocacyresearch)•  Todocumentandproveconspiracytheories•  TopromotetheauthorastheonewhofirstansweredopenscienNficquesNons

•  ToconductsNngoperaNonsonpublishers

WhitelistsandBlacklists

•  Eachhasadvantagesanddisadvantages

• Don’tusePubMedasawhitelist

• DouseMedlineasawhitelist

• Hasabout5,600Ntles

Science

“Since science is our most reliable source of knowledge, in a wide variety of areas, we need to dist inguish scient i f ic knowledge from its look-alikes.”

—S.O. Hansson.

Conclusion

• Developa"scholarlypublishingliteracy"skillset• BesuspiciousaboutanyofferorsolicitaNonthatcomesthroughemail• ResistthetemptaNontousetheeasy,cheap,andfastpublishingthatpredatorypublishersoffer

• Preferknownconferenceshostedbynon-profit,scholarlysocieNesandassociaNons

Thankyou

• JeffreyBeall,jeffrey.beall@ucdenver.edu