Predatory Publishing Is a Threat to Non-Mainstream Science

Area of Science:

• Scholarly communication
• Academic publishing
• Scientific integrity

Background:

• The rise of predatory open access publishers with minimal quality control has created a global publishing crisis.
• Both open access and traditional subscription journals face scrutiny for not adhering to international editorial standards.
• Unethical editing agencies exploit inexperienced authors, particularly in non-mainstream science regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the detrimental impact of wasteful publishing practices on global science.
• To identify the key players and mechanisms contributing to unethical publishing.
• To propose solutions for improving the quality and integrity of academic publishing.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of publishing market trends and publisher practices.
• Examination of journal blacklisting by authorities like Jeffrey Beall.
• Review of international editorial association recommendations and their adherence.

Main Results:

• Start-up open access publishers with commercial interests are a primary source of the publishing crisis.
• Some subscription-based journals also exhibit questionable editorial practices.
• Unethical editing agencies exacerbate problems for authors in less represented scientific communities.

Conclusions:

• Continuous quality monitoring of indexed journals is essential.
• Indexing services like Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science) and Scopus should enhance their criteria.
• Awareness campaigns on ethical writing, transparent editing, and archiving are vital to combat unethical practices.