E-Publishing

Coffee Lectures Be aware: predatory publishers Dr. Rainer Rees 17 June 2020, Webinar via Zoom Goals: - Awareness - You know criteria for identifying Predatory Publishers and journals

ETH Library 24.06.2020 2 Definition: What are we talking about?

• Definition: “Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.” Grudniewicz, A. (et al.), Nature 576, 210-212 (2019) 10.1038/d41586- 019-03759-y

• Not included − Intent to deceive − Journal quality − Quality of : − no or negligent peer review is often a prominent feature of predatory journals − currently impossible to assess − lack of transparent  legitimate journals  open peer review, open data

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 3 Scale of the problem: Why are we talking about it?

ETH Library 24.06.2020 4 50 Shades of

Grudniewicz, A. (et al.), Nature 576, 210-212 (2019) 10.1038/d41586-019-03759-y Kyle Siler (2020), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/05/13/there-is-no-black-and-white-definition-of-predatory- publishing/ last accessed: 07.06.2020

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 5 Source: https://www.imedpub.com/asian-journal-of-plant-science- research/editors.php last accessed 17.06.2020

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 6 Example: Omics

• Included on two predatory journals lists

• Not indexed on legimitate journals list (Directory of Journals (DOAJ))

• Well know for their «soliciting» mailings

• 1st academic publisher to be sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for deceptive practices  the judgement resulted in a sanction of over US$50 million

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 7 Source: https://www.oncotarget.com/ last accessed: 01.04.2020

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 8 Example: Oncotarget

• Included on predatory journals lists 10’000 7 • Not indexed in DOAJ 9’000 6 8’000 • Many papers by renowned scientists, nobel- 7’000 5

price laureats 6’000 4 5’000 3 • Indexed in: Scopus, PubMed,… #Articles 4’000 3’000 2 • Until 2017: Web of Science then a 2’000 1 controversy started 1’000 0 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Year

https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/19900191708?origin=resultslist

Source: https://retractionwatch.com/2018/01/19/indexing-company-praises-cancer-journal- kicks/ last accessed: 01.04.2020

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 9 Predatory Publishers & Journals: Characteristics

Publication Speed: low high Peer Review Time: high short Mailings: none or few aggressive, soliciting Website: Spelling: correct faulty Impact Metric/Indexing: DOAJ, WoS, Scopus, Index Copernicus PubMed Value, etc. Editorial board members: verified, renowned scientists unverified, unknown Editorial Services: professional none Publishing Practices: high quality deceptive

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 10 Recommendations

• Journal selection:

− Indexing: Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)?

− Membership: OASPA (the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association) or COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics)?

− Journal’s website:

− Does the journal conduct a peer review process?

− Are acknowledged scientists among the authors and editorial board members?

• Peer Review: No  Waste of time

• Reading & Citation: Depends on individual article  Better avoid it

• More tips: htp://thinkchecksubmit.org

Dr. Rainer Rees 02.04.2020 11 Thanks for your attention! Next Coffee Lecture: Creative Commons: How to license your publications and research data for reuse

24 June May 2020, Webinar via Zoom www.library.ethz.ch/coffee-lectures