Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
An institution provides training to early-career researchers on Think.Check.Submit criteria.
- Is an instance
A library curates a list of high-quality regional OA journals to counter exploitative venues.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Conflating all Global-South or APC-charging journals with predatory journals based on geography or business model alone.
- Not an instance
Using a single proprietary blacklist as the sole arbiter of journal legitimacy.
Editorial commentary
Predatory journals exploit the open-access pay-to-publish model and frequently target researchers in the Global South and from less-resourced institutions, who face strong publication pressure but limited access to recognised venues. The 2019 Nature consensus definition (Grudniewicz et al.) identifies four core features: prioritise self-interest at the expense of scholarship; false or misleading information; deviation from best editorial and publication practices; lack of transparency. From a knowledge-equity perspective, predatory journals reproduce and worsen inequalities by extracting fees, polluting the literature, and damaging the credibility of legitimate Global-South publishing. Effective response combines education, indexes (DOAJ Whitelist, COPE membership), institutional guidance and structural reform reducing publish-or-perish pressure.
References
- Grudniewicz A et al. 'Predatory journals: no definition, no defence' Nature 576:210-212, 2019. Think.Check.Submit (thinkchecksubmit.org). COPE guidelines.
Also known as
Predatory publisher · Pseudo-journal
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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