Predatory journals: defined, at last!

It’s official! After 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds, leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing. Here it goes:

  “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 et al., 2019)

Are you publishing in a “predatory journal”?!

Reference:

Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., … Lalu, M. M. (2019). Predatory journals: No definition, no defence. Nature, 576(7786), 210–212. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03759-y