Warning Signs of Predatory Publishers
Academic authors are preyed on by predatory publishers using deceptive practices, low quality services and dubious business models. Awareness of these red flags is essential for the sake of your research, your name, and your wallet, and to help your book reach valid scholarly readerships.
Deceptive Marketing and Communication Practices
Many predatory publishers are aggressive in their marketing, falsely claiming that they have a good standing in the industry. Unsolicited emails for your amazing credentials or needing to publish something yesterday often signal predatory behavior (Mills & Inouye, 2021; Nicholas et al., 2023). Respectable publishers rarely contact authors out of the blue offering them publication up-front or any other such strongarm tactics. In the category of communication red flags: bad spelling, unprofessional e-mails and obscure service details. Predatory publishers may also assert (without evidence) to be associated with well-known publishers, or have a name that is confusingly similar to that of reputable publishers. Be sure to check out the publisher’s background through external research and reference contacts.
Questionable Editorial and Review Processes
Opaque peer review procedures suggest predatory behaviour (Beall, 2017; Berger & Cirasella, 2015). Publishers that are unable to articulate clearly their review process, the qualifications of their reviewers, or the expertise of their editorial team are seriously suspect with regard to quality and scholarly respectability. Red flags are when review turns around time is extremely fast, acceptance rates are promised, or the revision component of the review is minimal. Actual academic publishing requires those pesky peer review processes, which can take months. Publishers offering to publish your article quickly without sufficient review violate publishing ethics and undermine the integrity of research.
Financial Red Flags and Hidden Costs
Predatory journals generally hide fees until authors commit to publishing in them. Real publishers will disclose their prices, explain what the service is, and specify what is contractually expected from the onset, without taking any money (Gasparyan et al., 2017). Beware publishers who demand upfront payments with no sign of what you’re actually paying for. More telltale signs are, that personal financial information is required, or pushing for an immediate payment or costs above market rates. Reputable publishers provide financing; payment plans and clear financial outcomes that are pragmatic and take into account author budgets and university policies.
Poor Website Quality and Missing Information
Each professional publisher has a well-presented website which provides information on services, editorial boards and publications (Bolshete, 2018; Eve & Priego, 2017). Predatory publishers frequently feature bad commercially designed websites, with no contact information, incomplete web pages (catalogs or articles or both) or filler (Perlin et al., 2018; van Teijlingen & Pradhan, 2017). Red flags are things like no physical addresses, no editorial board listing or no obvious policies. Good publishers make it very clear who is running the publisher, who writes for the publisher and how they operate their business. As always, confirm the accuracy of publisher information when using independent sources and professional directories.
Lack of Industry Standards and Accreditation
Many predatory publishers do not belong to professional publishing organizations or uphold industry best-practices (Beall, 2012; Beall, 2016). Reputable educational publishers tend to be members of a professional association such as the Association of University Presses or adhere to well-defined publishing practices and ethical guidelines. Verify accurate ISBN registration, library cataloging, and database indexing. Predatory publishers may not have these fundamental publishing infrastructure services, on which your discoverability and professional reputation depend. Author quality publishers will be well integrated and maintained as industry correct.
Impact on Academic Reputation
Doing so with predatory publishers can harm your reputation and career. Your colleagues, tenure committee, and promotion panel may challenge your judgment or scholarly standards. The predatory publishing and poor visibility and quality of your work. When it comes to prevention, it involves good publisher research, consulting with colleagues and heeding the professionals. Where doubt exists, consult experienced authors, librarians, or organizations with expertise, to avoid entering into publishing agreements.
Learn more in: Copyright & Licensing
See the Top Self-Publishers for more resources
To explore more, see: Open-Access vs Traditional
References
Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489(7415), 179-179.
Beall, J. (2016). Dangerous predatory publishers threaten medical research. Journal of Korean medical science, 31(10), 1511.
Beall, J. (2017). What I learned from predatory publishers. Biochemia medica, 27(2), 273-278.
Berger, M., & Cirasella, J. (2015). Beyond Beall’s list: Better understanding predatory publishers.
Bolshete, P. (2018). Analysis of thirteen predatory publishers: a trap for eager-to-publish researchers. Current medical research and opinion, 34(1), 157-162.
Eve, M., & Priego, E. (2017). Who is actually harmed by predatory publishers?. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society, 15(2), 755-770.
Gasparyan, A. Y., Nurmashev, B., Udovik, E. E., Koroleva, A. M., & Kitas, G. D. (2017). Predatory publishing is a threat to non-mainstream science. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 32(5), 713-717.
Mills, D., & Inouye, K. (2021). Problematizing ‘predatory publishing’: A systematic review of factors shaping publishing motives, decisions, and experiences. Learned Publishing, 34(2), 89-104.
Nicholas, D., Herman, E., Abrizah, A., Rodríguez-Bravo, B., Boukacem-Zeghmouri, C., Watkinson, A., … & Tenopir, C. (2023). Never mind predatory publishers”¦ what about”˜ grey´ publishers?. Profesional de la información, 32(5).
Perlin, M. S., Imasato, T., & Borenstein, D. (2018). Is predatory publishing a real threat? Evidence from a large database study. Scientometrics, 116(1), 255-273.
van Teijlingen, E., & Pradhan, A. K. (2017). Predatory publishing: a great concern for authors. Medical Science, 5(4), 43.