Predatory Publishing

We expressly warn researchers against predatory, primarily profit-oriented publishing, i.e. publishers, journals, books, conference series and conference proceedings with business models based on APC and BPC that do not employ quality assurance measures in line with good research practice, specifically expert reviews of publications

Characteristics of predatory publishing practices

Other widespread indicators of predatory publishing are the following:

• Little or no cost transparency
• Absence of any review process for quality assurance
• Short processing times and fast publication, contrary to the usual time frames and durations of review processes
• Misleading or incorrect indicators (esp. the journal impact factor)
• Random inclusion of researchers on the editorial board, possibly even without their knowledge
• Aggressive, technically vague direct marketing to researchers
• Imitation of names and/or websites of established journals

Testing procedures and consulting

As an author, there are a number of checks you can carry out to protect yourself from these kinds of publishers:

• Use Think – Check – Submit - https://thinkchecksubmit.org/ - and Think – Check – Attend - https://thinkcheckattend.org/
• Follow the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing - https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing
• Check the OASPA membership criteria - https://oaspa.org/membership/membership-criteria/
• Read the quality requirements of the DOAJ - https://doaj.org/apply/guide/#basic-criteria-for-inclusion
• Use Quality Open Access Market (QOAM) - https://www.qoam.eu
• Check the Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines (TOP) or use the TOP Factor - https://www.cos.io/initiatives/top-guidelines
• Check journal titles, ISSN and URL information