Questionable publishers and journals
When Open Access publishing started to become common, dubious operators saw an opportunity to make money from the publishing of researchers' articles. A number of publishers arose who claimed to offer cheap and fast publishing. These publishers – usually called predatory publishers/journals – are only there to make money on the researchers' need to be published, and give nothing back.
The term predatory publishers was coined by Jeffrey Beall, Librarian at the University of Colorado at Denver. He published a list of unserious publishers and journals online, commonly known as Beall's list. It has now been removed from the web, but others have taken on the task of trying to keep the list alive. However, some have the view that the list was too broad in its assessment.
A collection of links to further valuable resources on this topic can be found further down this page.
Related content
On our web page Publish strategically, we provide suggestions on how to make a simple check if a journal is in fact dubious. LiU Journal Check Up is a service from LiU E-Press for evaluating journals. You are also welcome to contact us. We are happy to come and talk to departments and research groups on these matters.
Page responsible:
Linköping University Library, biblioteket@liu.se