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SciPoll 638: Presence of predatory Journals
How confident are you in your ability to identity a potentially predatory journal?
Results
(317 Answers)
Answer Explanations
- Very Confidentuser-615884The e-mail address, publisher name, the similitude of the journal name with other reputed journals, fake indexes, web page, and writing e-mail style are for me, red flags
- Somewhat Confidentuser-208008They have names that sound similar to real journals, but are based in India, mostly.
- Very Confidentuser-957783I always check if the journal exists and I check the links in the email before clicking. And I actually never click any link.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-645616if the journal is not in the ABS list - at least a 3* rating - I would not want to publish my work.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-239098Greetings of the day text is the first hint.
Turn around time from submission to publishing being 7 days is the next one.
Having 3 or more emails that morning from journals with exactly the same text referring to the same previous article but vastly different journal themes such as cancer, pediatric surgery and asthma when my research field is osteoarthritis. - Very Confidentuser-412773It is easy to spot, when they write "Greetings for the day". The journal has not been listed in WoS, and the English is rather poor.
- Very Confidentuser-104996I can now identify them and ignore them.
- Very Confidentuser-688273They are very clearly predatory and not real.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-45613It is easy to check a journal's credentials.
- Very Confidentuser-477751I know the established journals in my field and keep updated on new relevant journals
- Somewhat Confidentuser-433063Some of them seem real, so I use Research gate to check if other scientists asked about before.
- Very Confidentuser-865400Repeated unsolicited requests from obscure journals
- Very Confidentuser-523578I have published over 150 scientific publications in reputable and prestigious medical journals
- Somewhat Confidentuser-106770-
- Very Confidentuser-275661We all have access to Beall's list and updated versions. Looking at impact factors and quartile placements also works (although many pred journals have deceptively similar names to the big boys) However, if I am unfamiliar with a journal of interest, I work with the university library service
- Very Confidentuser-370736After my experience of 30 years of publishing research, I can easily detect whether journal is predatory or not
- Very Confidentuser-89669The border between predator journal and not is fluent...I even think that MDPI journals are kind of predator journals...although there is a review process; but they are good to write reviews...I guess.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-866827If concerned one can check on internet
- Somewhat Confidentuser-998570Some Journals are the same and often they send emails
- Somewhat Confidentuser-284209About a decade ago we accidentally published in one - since then, we've been better at identifying.
- Very Confidentuser-778496I am certainly aware, having written on the subject (https://doi.org/10.33696/Gynaecology.4.055 )
- Somewhat Confidentuser-44495I tend to know the journals in my discipline which are of high esteem and quality
- Somewhat Confidentuser-475346"Somewhat Confident" is listed twice
- Very Confidentuser-400829I can easily identify predatory journals using various clues such as the sender's email address, the journal's website, and unsolicited invitations. Additionally, my institute's Editorial section provides advice to researchers on the nature of different journals. These predatory journals often ask for money to publish research work.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-284533See above - re writing style, font etc.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-141640As in the previous question, the messages are always very similar. Rarely it does not follow the same structure. When I am in dobt, I often search for the journal reputation on Google.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-445202Tenho dúvidas relacionadas ao lugar comum disfarçado de “open acesa”
- Somewhat Confidentuser-574398Often the journals use an incorrect title for me, are soliciting a paper for an area of science in which I do not practice, or the email solicitation contains incorrect spellings or grammar. These are easy to spot. It becomes a little more difficult if the solicitation uses a journal title that seems like a well-known publication, indicates that it is from my practice field, or appears at first glance to be from a reputable publishing company.
- Very Confidentuser-962329Easy to spot. I get many aporoaches.
- Very Confidentuser-169526It's easy to identify due to the appeal to send any type of manuscript ASAP, and the high article processing charges.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-536513Somewhat Confident is listed twice above. That kind of mistake is a red flag that the message may be predatory.
- Very Confidentuser-358384It is not difficult to check ratings, etc.
- Not very Confidentuser-585934There are journals that give you the impression of being good journals, but if you look closely you'll see that they're predatory journals.
- Very Confidentuser-369733I regularly check with the DHET-approved list of journals to ensure legitimacy. This list helps verify whether a journal is recognized and reputable, reducing the risk of falling prey to predatory publishers.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-287804Generally predatory Journals are easy to recognize by the quality of the English language. In addition they usually cite one of my published Research papers as the reason for using their Journal for an upcoming manuscript; quite often the topic of their Journal does not match the published paper there are citing.
- Very Confidentuser-337025Very Confident
- Very Confidentuser-9480231) By looking up the journal in several trusted databases to see if it's indexed.
2) Searching for the journal title or the publisher in Beall's list of predatory journals and publishers.
3) Using Think, Check, Submit online tool.
4) Visiting the journal's website for any signs of being credible or predatory, such as how organized the website is, the aim/scope of the journal, instructions for authors, indexing/abstracting information, etc. - Very Confidentuser-957269Because of the High Number of e-mails I receive
- Very Confidentuser-828172The email usually lands in the spam file
- Neutraluser-608413Some predatory journals do not apperas as they are, and some serious journals appears a predatory
- Very Confidentuser-109201I prefer Elsevier, Willy, Nature publishing group, science Direct, Springer journals.
Trusted source - Somewhat Confidentuser-548458Journals without IF of unknow Publishers has a tendency of being predatory.
- Very Confidentuser-887623I have received so many of these that I am able to tell very quickly if the journal is predatory
- Somewhat Confidentuser-309520The journals are not the ones that I publish or want to publish my studies.
- Very Confidentuser-764600See above and sometimes i check additional sources including SJR
- Somewhat Confidentuser-339251When I go to a university librarian they can accurately identify these journals but I'm not so experienced or have the time to investigate
- Somewhat Confidentuser-689147When the journal is not well known, with a low or non-existant impact factor, that is clear. In addition, asking to have an article to publish, with no suggestion about peer-review is another clear indicator.
- Very Confidentuser-916060They are easy to spot:
1. No or shoddy peer review
2. Speedy acceptance - usually within two weeks of submission
3. False indexing claims
4. Fake Editorial board.
5. Etc - Very Confidentuser-685143Based on my submitted paper experience, I can easy realize a predatory journal
- Somewhat Confidentuser-566545If it not obvious from the email, there are lists online allowing you to checkm
- Very Confidentuser-497412Rapid turnaround times
No peer review or even editing for language
High publication fees
Indexed in a few places, certainly not PubMed-indexed - Very Confidentuser-921990Some of the solicitations sound plausible and those require a little investigation on the internet where other scientists share their experiences. In addition, Beall's list is still active and am excellent source for identifying predatory publishers and journals.
- Very Confidentuser-244325I think they have made it easy for me by not doing their research very well. If you spell my name wrong, you're just a lazy scammer. However, I worry for younger researchers or those whose first language is not English. Especially since Beall's list is no longer being maintained, its only a matter of time before scammers wise up.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-469309I google them
- Not very Confidentuser-193278Hard to spot them. The other day I was Googling how to spot them from legitimate ones. Could not find any information.
- Neutraluser-616368some times they are very creative, so it may become more difficult to identify
- Neutraluser-801044I am a researcher within diagnostics. And thereby very broad scope. Thus I am not knowledgeable of which journals are best in every relevant field.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-672631I am on the editorial board of numerous journals....
- Very Confidentuser-821404In case of doubt it is possible to consult DOAJ or other databases such as WoS or Scopus
- Very Confidentuser-81297I am able to easy identify predatory journals just by looking at indexing (Scopus, WOS), impact factor, quartiles, fee, and, most important, publication days. Let's avoid journals that published work in a time lower than 21 days, please.
- Very Confidentuser-335059A filter that screens emails only for the phrase "Greetings of the day!" would likely be 80% effective in blocking emails from predatory publishers.
- Very Confidentuser-480186As explained in previous comment.
- Very Confidentuser-77256Just googling the journal can give an idea of its genuineness.
- Very Confidentuser-78773I never send a manuscript to a Journal that I do not previously know.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-573537I have been aware of this practice since years ago.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-987379They usually contain awkward english, contain a mistake or the well known 'greetings of the day'.
- Not very Confidentuser-259085don't know sometimes how to identify.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-46958Se presentan como revistas "serias" y en apariencia lo son. Luego ves unos cobros excesivos por publicar y te ofrecen "descuentos" en algunos casos.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-753537Tricky, also because it is not black or white.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-378118Did no realize until now, there are so many
- Somewhat Confidentuser-864496Typically I judge if a journal is serious and reputable by checking its impact factor from Clarivate. However, IF is not the only and absolute standard, and thus I'm somewhat confident.
- Not very Confidentuser-975922I check the journal presence on Web of Science and my country's Journal repository for Impact Factor
- Very Confidentuser-591358Usual patterns are easy to see; poor spelling, excessive flattery and at times pressure to the point of being rude.
- Somewhat Confidentuser-771635Most of them are really esa to identify
- Very Confidentuser-844522There are several red flags - unsolicited emails, high publication fees and very weak peer review process, leading to 100% rate acceptance.
- Very Confidentuser-284769If a journal starts with the word "International", covers a ridiculously broad field, published along with half-a-million of other similarly sounding journals, lacks proper peer-review and adequate scientific, technical and language editing, and charges ludicrous APC (or any other fees) prior to publication, it's a very good chance that the journal is predatory.
"Unsolicited email invitations" is a fairly stupid indicator, since each and every first email to anybody outside of your current list of addressees is essentially "unsolicited". As EiC of two diamond open access journals (Indago and Israel Journal of Entomology) I do write "unsolicited" invitations if we launch a special issue, for example.