Predatory publishing

Predatory journals are a fraudulent business model used by certain open access publishers. They claim to publish fully-fledged specialist journals and charge publication and presentation fees.

Contrary to expectations, however, there is neither a quality assurance process nor an editorial process, as is usual with reputable magazines.

Predatory journals therefore do not adhere to academic and ethical standards for the publication of scientific work. This can be recognized by the lack of proper peer review and citation.

Furthermore, the content of predatory journals is often not recorded in the relevant specialist databases and work is therefore not accessible to the scientific community.

In addition to predatory journals, so-called predatory conferences are also becoming increasingly common: Companies organize conferences in which moderators and participants are exploited. These events offer no scientific added value, but serve the organizing companies solely to maximize their profits.

In the following, we would like to give you some guidelines on how to recognize predatory journals and conferences:

Beware of publishers without verifiable contact information and spam-like emails. Another clue can be a short time span from submission to publication, usually within just a few days. Information on author fees and a peer review process is also often missing. You should also be critical if a journal is not known in your specialist group.

Review portals and checklists, such as Think.Check.Submit. can also help to make a conscious decision regarding a particular journal as a publication medium. An index such as Beall's List can be helpful in identifying predatory journals.

The checklist Think.Check.Attend. can be used to obtain an overview of predatory conferences.

Please note, however, that such lists are not exhaustive. 

As a starting point for further research on the topic, you are welcome to refer to this LinkedIn post by our former faculty member Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Hahn.

Always check open access journals and conferences critically using the options listed above before submitting your work.

You should also avoid citing predatory journals and conferences in your work. This will protect you and your work, but will also help to prevent them from spreading.