Open Access Publishing and Scholarly Communication

What is a Predatory Publisher?  Publishers that exist mostly in the scholarly open-access environment who charge publication fees to authors without the providing editorial/peer-reviewer services that are common in legitimate scholarly journals.

Brief Predatory Behavior Checklist:

• Be wary of email invitations to submit to journals, conference, or become a member of an editorial board.
• Beware of fast acceptance rates and turnaround times
• No peer-review process or a “fake” process done in 24-48 hours
• Fake ISSN number
• Check that the publisher provides full, verifiable contact information (not just a web form)
• Check that the journal’s editorial board lists recognized experts with full affiliations
• Check that the journal prominently displays its policy for author fees or author processing fees (especially in the open-access environment).
• If you're unsure, please contact your librarian.

The problematic journals and publishers listed in Cabells Predatory Reports database have also been integrated with UWSP library resources. The integration of the Cabells data will now highlight if search results for scholarly articles or journals using LibKey services has led you to a suspicious article, journal, or publisher. You will see common signposts warning you about a problematic journal or publisher as identified below. You can log in directly to Cabells Predatory Reports here.

A brief YouTube video about Cabells Predatory Reports and how the data from Cabells integrates with library resources is here.

1.  Using the UWSP Libraries' catalog, if your search using the UWSP Libraries' catalog leads you to a problematic scholarly article, you will see the following signpost about the article's journal.  If you'd like more information about why the journal is problematic, you can also click on hyperlinks in the record to find out more information from the Cabells Predatory Reports listing.

2.  Searching the open web for a journal with the LibKey Nomad extension installed on your browser. If you come across a journal listed in Cabells Predatory Reports during an open web search with LibKey Nomad, a signpost message will display indicating that the website's domain is associated with a problematic journal. Clicking on the signpost will lead you to more information regarding the Cabells Predatory Reports concerns about the journal and publisher. You can find more information on how to install the LibKey Nomad extension on your browser here.

3.  Searching the open web with LibKey Nomad for a journal article.  If you find an article associated with a journal listed in Cabells Predatory Reports, a similar signpost will act as a warning. Clicking on the hyperlinked signpost will lead you to more information from Cabells Predatory Reports. You can find more information on how to install the LibKey Nomad extension on your browser here.

4.  Searching the open web using LibKey.io.  LibKey.io is a shortcut search tool that you can use to search the UWSP Libraries' collection if you have an article's DOI or PubMed ID. Enter whichever of these two alphanumeric strings that you have into LibKey.io search box and it will quickly indicate if the full text article is available in our library resources. If the article is associated with a predatory journal found in Cabell's Predatory Reports, a warning screen will display as shown below.  Start your search at LibKey.io and after entering the DOI or PMID, indicate you are associated with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Libraries when prompted. The warning page will summarize the violations found by Cabells and a hyperlink is offered to learn more directly from Cabells Predatory Reports.

• Beall's List of Predatory Publishers
  • Established a black list of illegitimate publishers/journals
  • Published list through personal blog “Scholarly Open Access,” ceased publication in January 2017 (list still exists in cached websites, but is not maintained)
• DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
  • Community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
• DOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories)

• An authoritative directory of academic open access repositories.

• OASIS (Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook)
  • Resource and support for open-access publishing
• Predatory Journals - The List
  • Updated listing of predatory journals and publishers.  Please note that this site is operated and maintained by an unidentified organization that states it is "made up of volunteer researchers who have been harmed by predatory publishers and want to help researchrers identify trusted journals and publishers for their research."
• SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)
  • An international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
  • COPE provides leadership in thinking on publication ethics, practical resources to educate and support members, and offers a professional voice in current debates.
• Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
  • Represents the interests of Open Access (OA) journal and book publishers globally, across all subjects and disciplines
• World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
• Cabell’s Scholarly Analytics
  • Publishes Journal White List and Black List, available via subscription (the Library does not have a subscription at this time)
• Retraction Watch
  • Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process
• Ulrich’s Periodical Database

Jennifer Huffman (2017) Publisher Package and Open Access Journals: Are Any of Them Predatory?, The Serials Librarian, 73:3-4, 248-268, DOI: 10.1080/0361526X.2017.1389796

Clark, A. M. and Thompson, D. R. (2017), Five (bad) reasons to publish your research in predatory journals. J Adv Nurs, 73: 2499-2501. DOI:10.1111/jan.13090

Nerissa Nelson & Jennifer Huffman (2015) Predatory Journals in Library Databases: How Much Should We Worry?, The Serials Librarian, 69:2, 169-192, DOI: 10.1080/0361526X.2015.1080782