{"id":1388,"date":"2016-02-21T15:19:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T15:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/simple-steps-authors-can-follow-to-protect-their-research-from-predatory-publishers\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T06:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T06:32:50","slug":"simple-steps-authors-can-follow-to-protect-their-research-from-predatory-publishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/simple-steps-authors-can-follow-to-protect-their-research-from-predatory-publishers","title":{"rendered":"Simple steps authors can follow to protect their research from predatory publishers"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post was created for the Wolters-Kluwer author newsletter Author Resource Review<\/a> and has been reproduced with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editorial note: Jeffrey Beall no longer maintains a list of potential predatory publishers\/journals, which has been mentioned in this post, anymore.]<\/em><\/p>\n

I often receive e-mails inviting me to submit papers to what seem to be legitimate journals. The journals\u2019 names look familiar, their editorial boards list well-credentialed professionals, and some of these journals even claim to have impact factor rankings. Their invitations are tempting, promising expedient peer review and publication. If I were a new author eager to publish and unfamiliar with standard publishing industry practices, I might respond. And I’d be dismayed to find that, upon submission, a hefty article processing fee would be charged, and my article would receive little or no dissemination. Instead, I’d have become yet another author victimized by predatory publishers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2009, University of Colorado Denver librarian Jeffrey Beall began tracking these publishers. He started Scholarly Open Access (www.scholarlyoa.com<\/a>), where he offers criteria for determining whether a publisher or journal is legitimate or predatory and maintains a list of predatory publishers and journals. Last August, Beall presented his work at the annual meeting of the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE). Inspired, a group of editors formed the INANE Predatory Publishing Practices Collaborative in order to raise awareness in the nursing community. In September, the group published an article on predatory publishing in <\/span>Nurse Author and Editor<\/em>, and encouraged editors to \u201cspread the word\u201d in order to educate readers. (The article is available for free at <\/span>http:\/\/nursingeditors.com\/<\/a><\/span>; registration is required.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Predatory publishers take advantage of the relatively new open access model in publishing. In this model, authors or funding agencies pay the publisher a fee in order to make their article freely available or \u201copen\u201d to all. Open access is a legitimate model; many well-regarded publishers and journals (including the <\/span>American Journal of Nursing<\/em>) now offer open access options to authors. But legitimate publishers do so only after an article has been vetted through standard peer review and acceptance processes. Predatory publishers do token peer review or none at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sole aim of predatory publishers is to profit. Their article processing fees typically aren’t disclosed until after an article has been accepted and the author has signed a copyright agreement granting the publisher all rights. This ensures two results: first, the author’s work is essentially held hostage, published only upon payment of the processing fee (which can be $1,000 or more). Second, because of the sham peer review, once published, the article will lack all scholarly credibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you ensure that you’re not submitting your work to a predatory publisher? The INANE collaborative recommends the following:<\/span><\/p>\n