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What are Predatory Journals?

Predatory open-access publishing is an exploitative open-access academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without providing the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals (open access or not).

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open_access_publishing, accessed on 08/05/2018)

How do I Identify a Predatory Journal?

The Department of Higher Education and Training  have already compiled a list of Accredited Journals for your convenience:

http://www.library.up.ac.za/journals/journalsaccredited.htm

If a journal does not appear in this list, check the link below on how to identify a predatory journal:

https://thinkchecksubmit.org/

Also consider:

  • Invitation to publish via overly flattering e-mails
  • Deception/hijacking – they use the same title as a well-known existing journal
  • Broad journal title – includes subject fields not normally grouped together
  • Charge exuberant author fees – more than $5,000.
  • High acceptance rate – more than 50%
  • Rapid publication – little or no peer-review
  • Authors are not required to rework material – publish without changes
  • No ISSN or DOI (digital object identifier)
  • Editorial board members
    - no affiliation, experience or contact detail
    - Gmail or yahoo e-mail addresses (not academic)
    - do these people know they are on the Board?
  • Fake websites
    - do not exist
    - poorly maintained
    - spelling mistakes
    - dead links
  • Proof of peer review
  • Indexed by typical databases in the field
  • Journal claims to have an impact factor – but no way of confirming this
  • Trust your professional judgment

            If something feels wrong, it probably is!

Articles

- Combatting predatory academic journals and conferences

A report by the Interacademy partnership (IAP), 2022.

 

The Extent of South African Authored Articles in Predatory Journals

A Research article by Johann Mouton and Astrid Valentine, 2017.


Tips to Avoid Predatory Journals and Conferences

This article is a summary of a full-length guide, complete with a full list of references, by Sarah Eaton, 2018.

Avoiding Predatory Journals and Questionable Conferences

A Resource Guide by Sarah Eaton, 2018.