Open Access Publishing
Open Access is a generally beneficial trend in publishing that has developed in the last decade, which aims to make academic research and information accessible to the public free of charge. According to the open access model, instead of the user being required to pay high subscription fees to publishers to read academic articles, the payment will apply to the researcher and the articles will be available on the internet free to anyone who wants to read.
The benefits of open access are disseminating knowledge, increasing the impact of research, and wider exposure to academic work and publications. In some funds, open access policies are a condition to get a grant for their research.
What are predatory journals?
As the number of open-access journals increased, so-called 'predatory' journals also began to appear
Predatory journals are open-access journals that mimic the work of academic journals and try to tempt researchers to publish their work with false promises of rapid publication of the article, linguistic and scientific editing, and peer review. Most often they try to tempt writers to publish, at a low cost. In practice, these journals are often not backed by a professional body and do not run any screening and quality control procedures at all.
The business model of predatory journals is based on collecting fees from authors without providing them with editorial and peer-review services that is provided by legitimate journals.
The number of predatory journals is estimated at over 8,000 titles and the academic world is making great efforts to combat the phenomenon. These are usually journals whose editors are not known in the field, or they make false use of the information of known editors and indicate incorrect contact information.
These journals are not ranked bibliometrically and the publications appearing in them are characterized by a low academic level. Awareness of the issue is increasing and in recent years a number of measures have emerged that can help identify these journals and prevent publication in them
What is the harm of publishing in predatory journals?
- Articles that are published in Predatory Journals are not considered for academic evaluation
- Waste of research resources: Research will not be considered and cannot be republished in a legitimate journal
- The exposure of the article is compromised
The academic community and researchers should beware of predatory journals: first, do not pay and publish in them, and secondly, do not cite from them
Predatory Journals - How to Identify and Avoid Them?
Here are some steps to verify the credibility of an unfamiliar open access journal:
- Contact details: Many predatory journals do not display their contact information. The addresses they do provide may be fictitious.
Check: Do contact details and addresses appear on the journal's website? Is the address real? Is there a lack of
information regarding treatment fees or misinformation - Editing team: Does the journal reveal the names of the academic editors? Is it known for sure that they are working with the publishers and journals?
These publishers often have fraudulent lists of reviewers or editors, naming scientists who do not serve on their
editorial board. - Lack of information on the manuscript submission policy, its withdrawal if necessary, and digital preservation. Submission of articles is done by e-mail and not in a manuscript management system.
- Evaluation Index: Does the journal present its Impact Factor? Is it really listed in the JCR database responsible for managing this index? The indexing services and quality indices are not recognized and invented. (such as: Index Copernicus, Global Impact Factor, Universal Impact Factor)
- Additional warning signs: spelling mistakes on the journal's website, as well as the journal handling a wide range of
- topics.
- The publisher appeals to the writers more than to the readers and promises a quick publication.
- Sending spam messages inviting article submissions.
- In predatory journals the website design is problematic. Poor quality images, links are inactive. Some journals mimic the design and name of established journals.
- There may be few articles in each issue.
- There is no ISSN or DOI
- If you are considering publishing, please check the information on the journal using the JCR database. The database ranks journals and provides information on their impact factor. Only articles published in journals contained in this database are taken into account for academic evaluation.
- Check if the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journal - DOAJ. The list is continuously updated, and journals identified as predators are removed from it.
- Check if the Journal or publisher who is referring to you is on this list: Beall’s List. (Updated for 2017)
- Check the list published by the Library of Duke University Medical Center in the United States which is designed to help researchers determine whether to publish in a journal or not.
- Additional information research can use:
1. A site that helps researchers identify trusted publishers and journals- Think Check Submit.
2. A free tool that helps researchers evaluate journals and find a journal that fits the topic of publication, speed, and costs of publication- JournalGuide.
3. A tool that ranks journals and helps locate journals at an appropriate level- Journal Quality List.
4. A tool that exposes ethical violations and recommends withdrawal of articles - Retraction Watch .
5. A tool that "grades" the credibility of the journal based on various scores and factors - Journal Evaluation Tool
6. Website of a group of anonymous researchers includes information on how to check the credibility of the details that appear on the publishers' websites and journals
credibility Predatory publishing - Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
- Ask yourself: Do my colleagues and I know this journal? Can the publisher be identified and contacted? Do I identify
the editorial staff and editor of the journal? - if you have any doubts, the information specialist in the library can assist you