Performing a solid research project, and turning that project into a manuscript which disseminates your hard work and the contribution to the scientific community that the research represents, is a demanding task. Not only do you have to work hard to secure funding, design and perform studies with integrity, analyse results and integrate them with the literature - you also have to write up a manuscript which presents your results in an accurate and readable way. It is thus a huge pity when hard-working and well-meaning researchers are duped by the unfortunate phenomenon of “predatory publishers”. Predatory publishers can be hard to distinguish from legitimate ones, and there are a host of negative consequences associated with being duped by them. This is why the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group is launching a brand new course, written for researchers, on this very topic. In the course, we cover what predatory publishers are, and how authors such as yourself can try to avoid them.
Predatory publishers are fraudulent entities that operate on an exploitative publication model, advertising publication services for a fee only to publish manuscripts with little to no editorial services or peer review. It can be very difficult to verify whether or not a publisher is predatory, as these entities mimic legitimate publication practices. As with paper mills, there is no single ‘smoking gun’ indicator that you are dealing with a predatory publisher. Rather, there are red flags that can come together to allow you to make an informed decision to avoid considering a specific publisher. The following scenario describes some of those flags - see if you know how to handle this tricky situation:
You receive an email from a journal praising your previous publication and inviting you to submit to them. As your previous publication was your first and you need to publish more in order to obtain your PhD, you are seriously considering submitting your latest manuscript to the journal. However, you’ve never heard of the journal before and the email and website are both vague, with no clear information on key aspects like article processing changes and contact details. They have also invited you to join their Editorial Board, which was surprising as you are an early career researcher with no relationship to this journal as yet. What should you do? Select all that apply.
A: Go ahead and submit your manuscript - you’ll get all the information necessary throughout the rest of the process, and there’s no harm in submitting
B: Ask your colleagues if they’ve heard of the journal or its publisher, and what they think of the offer.
C: Take a look at the website, editorial board and where the journal is indexed.
D: Accept the offer to be on the Board, as this will look great on your CV, but do not submit your manuscript as you’re holding out for a more prestigious journal to publish your work
E: Reply to the email inquiring further, ask for more transparency on costs, etc. and gauge the response you get.
F: Ignore the email and go elsewhere - all unsolicited invitations are to be avoided
[Image description: cartoon of two people on a laptop surrounded by shark-infested waters]
The correct answers are B, C and E.
When in doubt, it is always best to act on your suspicions, get better informed and reach out to colleagues whose opinions you trust. If no one has heard of the journal before, or any of the Editorial Board Members, you may want to investigate further before entrusting your work to them. It is also good practice to carefully look at the information available on the website, research the individuals listed as Editorial Board Members and verify their inclusion in any named indexing services, as well as the criteria of acceptance to the indexing service.
We highly recommend using the Think.Check.Submit checklist to make any further checks. This resource helps you make an informed decision and provides helpful guidance on where to look to verify a journal or publisher’s legitimacy. You can always also email the journal back with follow-up questions and requests for clarification. If they respond with a clear unwillingness to be transparent, this is extra information you can use to make your decision.
We would not recommend submitting a manuscript to an unknown journal without first performing these checks - if the journal is predatory, you may be charged a hefty fee under the guise of an Article Processing Charge (APC) in a matter of days! However, not all unsolicited invitations necessarily signal predatory behaviour - you may miss interesting opportunities if you were to ignore them all as a rule.
Finally, we would not recommend accepting to be on the Editorial Board in this situation - if the journal is predatory, this will reflect negatively on your judgement and may impact other journal’s willingness to work with you in the future.
New course: Predatory Publishers
To help you avoid predatory publishers and the slew of consequences that can arise from working with them, the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group has the following resource:
- our brand-new Predatory Publishers course, which outlines:
- what predatory publishers are;
- legitimate and predatory publication practices, and the differences and similarities between the two;
- the Think.Check.Submit checklist;
- real-life examples of predatory publisher’s emails and now-defunct problematic journals;
- interactive knowledge checks to help you put the information into practice.
We hope the course is helpful! Please let us know if you have any feedback or further questions regarding this resource at training@springernature.com.