Predatory journals – a bad dream turning into a nightmare (BMJ Blog by @jocalynclark)
A blog today in The BMJ provides further commentary on predatory journals. The blog provides a good overview of how to recognise predatory journals, and provides a variety of tips. The key takeaways from the blog are:
- Predatory journals are not cooperative with attempts to “retract”
- It can be hard to distinguish legitimate and non-legitimate journals
- Some journals have developed “acceptable journals lists”
- We should assume that a journal is predatory until evidence is found to the contrary
- Everyone needs to be more accountable
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I am increasingly concerned at the number of authors who are forwarding emails from journals inviting them to submit their “esteemed research” to a special issue, and who think these are genuine journals. Sadly, I am also very skeptical of startup journals that may very well be legitimate, but who show what at best is naivety, and at worst, potential predatory signals on their communication or websites.
It’s a sad state of affairs that these predatory journals/ publishers are stifling genuine new journals in addition to ripping off naive researchers.