'Predatory' Publications Put Expertise at Risk

"But what exactly makes a journal low-quality? For one thing, Beall says, low-quality journals abuse the needs of professors to publish. The more a researcher publishes, the more likely he or she will find a job with a college or university. Low-quality journals promise to publish if researchers are willing to pay, Beall says. And that is part of an even bigger problem.

Beall notes the most important part of publishing research is the peer-review process. This is when experts in the same field, often having never met the researcher, examine the research for mistakes. This ensures the research is not only understandable, but also completely real, he says.

But Beall argues low-quality journals are only interested in money from submission fees. To keep researchers submitting papers, these publishers often avoid the peer-review process. Or they choose experts without the necessary knowledge, he says. And they also lie about how many other academics read their journals.

It is not always easy to tell which journals are legitimate -- following accepted rules -- and which are not. So in 2011, Beall began creating an online list of journals and other academic groups he calls predatory. The list was discontinued in early 2017.

He admits his decisions to list a journal are based on his subjective opinion. But Beall says he uses many different ways to rate these journals. Often they offer a quick peer-review process, which he says is impossible.

Another sign is a large number of spelling or grammar mistakes on a journal’s website. This can make it harder for researchers whose first language is not English to identify predatory journals, Beall says."