SJSCIENCE
SJSCIENCE – ISSUE 47, SPRING 2021
Issue No 47
Spring 2021
Note from the editors:
Even before Covid, the scientific world faced another global threat: predatory publishing. So far, all attempts to put it under control had failed: predatory publishing continues to multiply. Actually, it is getting harder to detect and eliminate it.
By definition: “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.”
Predatory publishing is driven only by financial interest. It is dangerous.
Predatory journals will publish anything for the fee. They do not check for the scientific method, for plagiarism, for ethical approval and any other quality control routinely performed by reputable journals.
The price of publishing in predatory journal is not only publication fees. The price could be a damaged reputation of the naïve researcher who published a good paper in a journal that is despised and rejected by the scientific community. Lay people could be confused by the suggestions and harmed if they follow the unproven advices published in predatory journals.
Predatory publishers waste resources because they take millions of dollars in publication fees that are ultimately paid out by NIH and other funders. They penetrated the lists of reputable journals so that we cannot count on the accuracy of those lists anymore.
The distressing number of submissions was discovered by scraping websites of predatory publishers: in 2015, 57% of primary biomedical research papers published in predatory journals were from the developed countries. Surprisingly, researchers from the United States accounted for the second highest submission rate in predatory journals. They included the elite universities like Stanford, Yale, Columbia and Harward.
The problem is huge.
What do we do?
SJSM helps our researchers to identify predatory journals and publish in legitimate ones. We inform students and faculty of the news in the world of predatory publishing.
We help our researchers to identify predatory journals and to publish in legitimate ones. Between 2017 and 2020, more than 80% of papers authored by SJSM researchers were published in reputable journals and that number is steadily getting higher.
For the detailed information and help, contact librarian or Dr Filipovic.
Links:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6515480/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879729617301266
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/academics-raise-concerns-about-predatory-journals-on-pubmed--65856
Researchers at Harvard, Mayo Clinic too publish in predatory journals
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3ky45y/hundreds-of-researchers-from-harvard-yale-and-stanford-were-published-in-fake-academic-journals