Manuscript Withdrawal

Q: Predatory journal threatens to retract paper in an online mode if I do not pay high withdrawal fee.

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I accidentally submitted my paper to a predatory journal. It is on the Bealls list of predatory publishers, but I was too dumb to take any research on it. They wanted me to sign a copyright declaration and a declaration to accept a high fee in the case of publication or even withdrawal. I did not sign it and asked my paper to be withdrawn. Now, they demand the high withdrawal fee of 500$. I denied and now they threaten to retract the paper publicly so it can't be published elsewhere, if I don´t pay. Is there anything they can do me, if that happens? I denied to pay.

Asked by Geraldine Reichard on 21 Mar, 2024

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We are very saddened to hear that you are facing such a situation.

Dealing with journals that employ predatory practices can be a highly tricky issue. While more details would be needed to provide you better guidance, let’s do a step-wise analysis to understand this case better and consider your options.

First, a retraction is the public removal of a “published” paper from the literature because of serious flaws or fraud. Based on what you’ve mentioned, it does not seem like your paper has even been published yet. So, the threat of retraction may not hold much weight, unless they decide to go ahead and publish your paper first and then retract it.

Second, you have said that you did not sign the copyright transfer form, so technically you still own the rights to your work and the journal cannot legitimately publish your work in the first place. You can mention this to the journal and threaten action against it for copyright infringement if it says it will publish your paper.

Third, even if it does not publish your paper but is refusing to withdraw it until you pay withdrawal fees, you will be unable to submit your manuscript elsewhere. In this case, you may need to seek support. Consult your seniors or mentors. If your institute or funding body has a legal division, you (and your co-authors, if any) may want to seek advice from them and explore the option of threatening the journal with legal consequences for not withdrawing your article.

If you do not have such legal support, consider seeking it elsewhere. Chances are that the journal’s threat is simply a means of extorting money from you and they may not actually have the resources to take or face legal action. If so, they may choose to complete the withdrawal process.

Fourth, the above approach may be long and tedious though. So, if your priority is to have your work submitted to another journal soon without risk, an option is to pay the withdrawal fees, just to free your paper up without hassles first. You can then take legal recourse once the withdrawal is complete (and you have documentation of this process).

Finally, if you’ve not signed the copyright transfer form, the journal hasn’t yet published your paper, and you have documentation of your withdrawal requests and the journal’s threats, you might consider reaching out to a legitimate journal where you want to publish. Perhaps you can send a pre-submission enquiry.

When you communicate with the legitimate journal, be transparent about the full background and history with the first journal and ask if you can submit your manuscript for consideration. If requested, share any documentation that’s available, which can vouch for your honesty and the unfortunate situation you are in. In case your submission is accepted and your paper is eventually published first in this journal, the first journal will not be able to publish your paper even illegitimately.

Predatory publishing is a major threat to research and researchers everywhere. Please use caution and prioritize maintaining your integrity while dealing with this situation. Don’t lose heart even as you handle this crisis. This can help you become more vigilant in the future and perhaps you can educate others about predatory publishing based on your experience. We wish you all the very best with your paper and hope that you’ll let us know how the situation turns out.