‘Predatory’ open access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics

Abstract

BackgroundA negative consequence of the rapid growth of scholarly open access publishing funded by article processing charges is the emergence of publishers and journals with highly questionable marketing and peer review practices. These so-called predatory publishers are causing unfounded negative publicity for open access publishing in general. Reports about this branch of e-business have so far mainly concentrated on exposing lacking peer review and scandals involving publishers and journals. There is a lack of comprehensive studies about several aspects of this phenomenon, including extent and regional distribution.MethodsAfter an initial scan of all predatory publishers and journals included in the so-called Beall’s list, a sample of 613 journals was constructed using a stratified sampling method from the total of over 11,000 journals identified. Information about the subject field, country of publisher, article processing charge and article volumes published between 2010 and 2014 were manually collected from the journal websites. For a subset of journals, individual articles were sampled in order to study the country affiliation of authors and the publication delays.ResultsOver the studied period, predatory journals have rapidly increased their publication volumes from 53,000 in 2010 to an estimated 420,000 articles in 2014, published by around 8,000 active journals. Early on, publishers with more than 100 journals dominated the market, but since 2012 publishers in the 10–99 journal size category have captured the largest market share. The regional distribution of both the publisher’s country and authorship is highly skewed, in particular Asia and Africa contributed three quarters of authors. Authors paid an average article processing charge of 178 USD per article for articles typically published within 2 to 3 months of submission.ConclusionsDespite a total number of journals and publishing volumes comparable to respectable (indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals) open access journals, the problem of predatory open access seems highly contained to just a few countries, where the academic evaluation practices strongly favor international publication, but without further quality checks.

Problems and challenges of predatory journals

“…The OA model is characterized by the fact that journals make their articles widely available by distributing them in freely available forms online. The period of delay from submission to publication therefore is normally shorter compared to that of traditional journals; this guarantees faster dissemination and broader visibility of scientific work 6. However, in contrast to subscription‐based journals, which levy minor charges upon acceptance of the article, authors who submit their manuscripts to OA journals are required to pay a substantial publication fee, which is known as the article processing charge (APC).…”

“…Secondly, OA journals have significantly lower production costs as the majority of OA journals are online‐only journals. By not providing any hard copies, costs may be minimized substantially through the evasion of printing expense, warehouse storage, distribution and shipping 6. However, they must obtain a specific number of successful submissions per month to cover these running costs.…”

Predatory journals recruit fake editor

“…By 2015, more than half a million papers had been published in predatory journals, and at the end of 2016, the number of predatory journals on Beall's list (about 10,000) approached the number indexed by the DOAJ and JCR 5 . Most are hosted by publishers (including some industry giants).…”

The revised guidelines of the Medical Council of India for academic promotions: Need for a rethink

“…This guideline is probably in response to the proliferation of predatory journals, almost exclusively among e-journals, over the past 5 years. It is worrying that the largest number of authors and publishers seem to be from India [7]. Predatory publishing is perhaps a manifestation of the 'publish or perish' phenomenon with authors willing to pay for a publication [7].…”

“…It is worrying that the largest number of authors and publishers seem to be from India [7]. Predatory publishing is perhaps a manifestation of the 'publish or perish' phenomenon with authors willing to pay for a publication [7]. While the MCI's corrective measure is laudable, the definition of 'e-journals' is variable [8].…”