Is it alright to use predatory journals in a research paper?

It may be tempting for authors to submit to these journals, particularly if they are not aware that it may be a scam, or if they are in a hurry to be published⁴. However, submitting articles to predatory journals may have serious negative consequences such as the ones listed below.

Is it bad to publish in predatory journals?

Predatory publishers use questionable tactics to profit from scholarly research. They exploit faculty and students by soliciting articles (often through spam emails) and usually request payment for publishing in advance. And, of course, the quality of the journals is sub par.

What can you do with predatory journals?

If your paper is published online by a predatory journal, you may write to the office of the predatory journal and ask them to withdraw the paper from their website. Although you are not guaranteed to get a response from a predatory journal, their paper might be taken down from the website.

Do predatory journals have impact factor?

Journal Impact Factor refers to the frequency by which an article in a journal may be cited in a given year. A higher impact factor is an indication that a journal is more influential in its field of study. Predatory journals often publish fake impact factors, or do not list one at all.

Are predatory journals illegal?

Although predatory publishing is exploitative and unethical, if the publisher is engaging in illegal behavior needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis. If and which journal is predatory is sometimes disputable and the best thing you can do is just not engage with a journal if you think it is predatory.

The Problem of Predatory Journals

What is wrong with predatory journals?

Predatory journal: Copy the open access publishing model by levying APCs on authors, but do not deliver high‐quality, peer reviewed articles (and other services) and do not ensure the scientific quality of submitted articles. Therefore, they are fooling the scientific system as well as members of the readership.

Should you cite predatory journals?

They recommend avoiding citations from the predatory journals as by citing articles from these journals; authors share information that may not be credible and validated for use by other researchers and clinicians. Dadkhah et al. labeled papers published in predatory and hijacked journals as questionable [3].

Why should you avoid predatory journals?

“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”

Why do authors publish in predatory journals?

Studies looking at why authors might be tempted to engage with predatory publishers identified several factors that likely influence their decisions. Push factors: pressure to publish to meet institutional expectations or funding requirements. fear of career stagnation or job loss if publishing targets are not met.

Are all MDPI journals predatory?

Predatory-Reports.com

On the 23 Feb 2023 (and updated on 12 Apr 2023), Predatory Reports added all of the journals published by MDPI to their list of predatory journals. At the time of writing (29 Apr 2023), MDPI's portfolio of journals comprises 426 journals.

Does Scopus include predatory journals?

To the best of our knowledge, the resulting database provides the first ever overview of predatory journals in Scopus. In total we found 3 218 predatory journals in Ulrichsweb, of which 281 came from the list of standalone journals and 2 937 from the list of predatory publishers.

Does PubMed include predatory journals?

KEY POINTS. PubMed, MEDLINE and PubMed Central are all funded by the National Library of Medicine but are different databases. PubMed has been reported to include some articles published in predatory journals. MEDLINE and PubMed policies for the selection of journals for database inclusion are slightly different.

How do you know if a journal is predatory?

Is plos predatory?

PLOS One is not considered a predatory journal. It is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS).

Are frontiers predatory?

In 2015, Frontiers Media was classified as a possible predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall, though Beall's list was taken offline two years later in a decision that remains controversial.

Do predatory journals typically have high impact factor ratings?

Unscrupulous publishers are entering the field with the goal of making money off unsuspecting authors. These are called "predatory publishers". These journals generally claim high impact factors or peer review while the reality proves otherwise.

Are all paid journals predatory?

No, there are other types. For example, predatory journals may steal intellectual property through deception, engage in fraudulent or fake peer review, or list respected researchers on its editorial board without their knowledge or consent.

Are articles in predatory journals academic sources?

Predatory journals—also called fraudulent, deceptive, or pseudo-journals—are publications that claim to be legitimate scholarly journals, but misrepresent their publishing practices.

What are the benefits of predatory journals?

The benefit to these journals is, of course, financial. They abuse the Article Processing Charge (APC)-based open access model, publishing high volumes of papers without editorial scrutiny at low costs to authors, providing an easily accessible, venue for publication that guarantees acceptance, to meet the demand.

What is the difference between predatory and legitimate journals?

Predatory journals rely on a business model based on APCs or publication fees, as do many reputable open access journals. However, a serious open access journal will usually charge a fee only once they have decided to accept the article based on the results of the peer review, and not in advance.

Which of the following is a red flag for identifying a predatory journal?

Unclear or deceptive publishing fees and copyright policies. Fake names are listed on the editorial staff. Names of prominent scholars are included as editors without the knowledge or consent of these individuals. Published articles are plagiarized, completely fake, are scientifically unsound, or low quality.

What are the negative effects of predatory journals?

Publishing in a predatory journal may have negative consequences such as the ones below[2,3]. - Raising concerns about the legitimacy of the research. - Damaging the external reputation of the authors. - Receiving an unreasonable bill for publication fees after the acceptance of the manuscript.

What is the best predatory journal?

European Science Review ranks first in the list of predatory journals in which 20% of the predatory research papers were published, followed by European Applied Sciences (5%) and Austrian Journal of Technical and Natural Sciences (4%). ...

Why is MDPI a predatory journal?

Allegation of anomalous citation patterns

The alleged high self-citation rate is not to other articles in the same journal, but rather to other MDPI journals. Oviedo-García argued that this is indicative of predatory journals. MDPI released a response to Oviedo-García's paper on their website eight days later.

Can I use my published paper in my thesis?

Yes. It is understood that portions of the thesis that have been published or accepted for publication will have been through an editorial process. Such editorial changes should be explicitly acknowledged.