Researcher Support

Predatory publishers are for-profit entities that purport to publish high quality academic research, but who do not follow accepted scholarly publishing best practices. Their ultimate goal is to make money, not publish high quality research. Predatory publishers exploit the open access (OA) publishing model to make money from author fees by accepting most or all papers submitted to them. This reflects poorly on the open access model, which should not be conflated with predatory publishers. 

Predatory conferences exploit and profit from researchers eager to present their research at an ‘international’ conference. The conferences tend to be poorly organised and low-quality, with little or no peer review of submitted research. The conference organisers make money in the form of registration fees. Sometimes, the registrants are informed that the conference has been cancelled but the registration fees are not refunded.

Predatory publishers are becoming increasingly difficult to identify. They can have ISSNs, assign DOIs, and have slick, professional-looking websites. Answer these questions when evaluating a publisher or journal:

1. Did you receive an unsolicited email to publish?
2. Is the journal indexed in a well-known database? 
3. Is the journal listed in Scimago? 
4. Are they transparent about any publication fees?
5. Does the journal claim fraudulent metrics?
6. Does the publication demonstrate that it follows quality editorial standards? 
7. Is the peer review process genuine? 
8. Is information about the author’s rights/publication agreements posted? 
9. Does the website contain misleading information? 
10. Does the journal have a published code of conduct? 

-- adapted from ISU Resources on Predatory Journals and Conferences... Beware

In recent years, the number of predatory conferences has begun to outnumber legitimate events. Consider the following checklist of questions before you register for your next conference:

1. Does the program description appear legit?
2. Is the conference planning group affiliated with a legitimate organization or educational entity?
3. Did the invitation include keynote speakers that are known experts?
4. Are invited speakers charged unreasonably high fees?
5. Is the vetting process for presentations and posters described? Is it reasonable?
6. Will conference abstracts or proceedings be published? Are you able to locate abstracts or proceedings from previous years?
7. Are continuing education credits offered? If yes, are they certified by an entity recognized in your field? And, has that entity actually agreed to provide the continuing education credits?
8. Does the target audience seem appropriate for the conference aim and scope?

-- adapted from ISU Resources on Predatory Journals and Conferences... Beware

Vanity publishing, not to be confused with self-publishing, is a term used to describe a range of borderline practices aimed at getting authors to pay to have their existing works published as books at their own expense.

Some vanity publishers target PhD students, offering to print their theses as a book. Often the thesis is reproduced with minimal oversight (e.g. without peer review or proof-reading processes) or simply printed on demand as-is. Because theses are usually available online through an institutional repository, there is seldom any demand. Some vanity publishers have been known to pressure authors into purchasing copies themselves.

Vanity publishing can be distinguished from self-publishing in that copyright is retained by the author in self-publication, but transferred to the publisher in a vanity publishing arrangement. Giving away copyright to your thesis will seriously inhibit your ability to further publish your research.