Predatory journals and paper mills

Academic journals and publishers play an important role in the scientific community: They make research accessible and findable while ensuring quality through peer review. However, as academic publishing went from paper to the internet, new publishing models have emerged. In addition to expensive subscriptions, we now have publications that are freely available (Open Access) – usually funded by publishing charges. Meanwhile, the academic community has seen a stronger emphasis on quantitative evaluation of research output.

The "pay to publish" model and the "publish or perish" mindset have given rise to new business models: Predatory journals and paper mills. Whereas predatory journals make money by publishing papers without meaningful peer review or other kinds of quality control, paper mills sell author slots to fraudulent papers that can be published in journals, both legitimate and predatory.

The first part of the session will give a short general introduction to Open Access; after that, we will focus on and give guidance on how you can identify and avoid predatory journals. The last part discusses the topic of paper mills.

Welcome!