{"id":6957,"date":"2020-07-07T14:36:10","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T14:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/?p=6957"},"modified":"2020-07-07T14:36:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T14:36:10","slug":"the-challenge-of-defining-predatory-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/2020\/07\/07\/the-challenge-of-defining-predatory-publishing\/","title":{"rendered":"The challenge of defining predatory publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"6962\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/2020\/07\/07\/the-challenge-of-defining-predatory-publishing\/risk-business-team-running-on-tightrope-in-rope-with-floating-predatory-sharks-concept-business-vector-illustration\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?fit=673%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"673,520\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Risk. Business team running on tightrope in rope with floating predatory sharks. Concept business vector illustration.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Risk. Business team running on tightrope in rope with floating predatory sharks. Concept business vector illustration.&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Risk. Business team running on tightrope in rope with floating predatory sharks. Concept business vector illustration.\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Risk. Business team running on tightrope in rope with floating predatory sharks. Concept business vector illustration.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?fit=300%2C232&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?fit=673%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" size-full wp-image-6962 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?resize=673%2C520&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Risk. Business team running on tightrope in rope with floating predatory sharks. Concept business vector illustration.\" width=\"673\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?w=673&amp;ssl=1 673w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?resize=300%2C232&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Predatory journals are widely recognised as a <a href=\"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/2019\/11\/26\/cabells-blacklist-of-predatory-journals-passes-12000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">real and escalating threat<\/a> to the legitimacy of modern scholarly publishing. But what defines predatory publishing? There are many behaviours that indicate that a journal or publishers\u2019 intentions may not be 100% legitimate, which can result in their inclusion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.cabells.com\/about-predatory-journals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cabell\u2019s Blacklist<\/a>, but this judgement involves a degree of subjectivity. The difficulties in defining \u2018predatory publishing\u2019 is the subject of a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/impactofsocialsciences\/2020\/05\/13\/there-is-no-black-and-white-definition-of-predatory-publishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LSE impact blog<\/a> by Kyle Siler.<\/p>\n<p>Siler suggests that to demarcate predatory and non-predatory publishing is complex due to the varying types and degrees of illegitimacy that exist. These may range, for example, from relatively minor violations, such as a poorly maintained webpage, to obviously fraudulent activity, such as fake editorial boards, or an absent <a href=\"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/2020\/04\/23\/peer-review-practices-of-predatory-journals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer review<\/a> process. Siler highlights that journals and publishers may exhibit a combination of violations that vary in severity, which can lead to significant levels of ambiguity in academic publishing; publishers may produce a series of journals of varying quality and legitimacy, and, likewise, individual journals may publish strong articles alongside less legitimate contributions. This can make it difficult to draw the line between legitimate and predatory.<\/p>\n<p>Siler explains that as academic publishing is simultaneously a professional and an economic activity, where business interests supersede a journal\u2019s academic function, the borders of legitimacy can be pushed. This careful balance is evident in controversial \u2018grey\u2019 journals and publishers, some of which have seen <a href=\"https:\/\/danbrockington.com\/2019\/12\/04\/an-open-letter-to-mdpi-publishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">increasing success<\/a> in recent years despite criticism over their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2018\/09\/open-access-editors-resign-after-alleged-pressure-publish-mediocre-papers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">business practices<\/a>. Siler suggests that peer review is key to managing this ambiguity and proposes that the wider application of <a href=\"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/2019\/02\/14\/open-peer-review-pilot-studies-reveal-promising-findings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">open peer review<\/a> in particular is needed to expose poor practices.<\/p>\n<div data-opinionstage-embed-url=\"https:\/\/www.opinionstage.com\/api\/v1\/polls\/2661622\/code.json?width=\" style=\"display: none; visibility: hidden;\"><\/div>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Summary by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspire-scientific.com\/#team_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alice Wareham PhD<\/a>, CMPP\u00a0from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspire-scientific.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aspire Scientific<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n<p>With thanks to our sponsors,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspire-scientific.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aspire Scientific Ltd<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.networkpharma.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NetworkPharma Ltd<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kyle Siler describes the complexities of differentiating predatory and non-predatory publishing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The challenge of defining #PredatoryPublishing #ISMPP #PubPlan #medcomms ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_publicize_connection_overrides":[],"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[108513023,115816,72134889],"tags":[343162543,343162548,343162542],"class_list":["post-6957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal-selection","category-peer-review","category-predatory-journals","tag-blacklist","tag-cabells","tag-predatory-journals","post-has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Predatory-publishing-.jpg?fit=673%2C520&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Yk5l-1Od","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6957"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6964,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957\/revisions\/6964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicationplan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}