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 peer review: − 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 Predatory Publishing 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 Open Access 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 Impact Factor 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.