The Perils of Predatory Journals and Conferences

Abstract

Predatory journals and conferences have little or no peer review.Their raison d'être is for making money through the article processing charges and the conference registration fees.Without a critical evaluation, predatory journals publishing flawed results and conclusions would cloud the existing scientific literature.Predatory conferences are the offshoots of predatory publishing.The conferences are not organised by learned societies, but by profit-making event organisers.There is a need for awareness among researchers and clinicians regarding predatory publishing.The scourge of predatory publishing and conferencing should be more often highlighted during scientific meetings and publication courses. How Pervasive Is This Problem?In 2012, Bohannon submitted a fictitious sting paper to selected online journals that were listed in Beall's list and/or the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ).Of the 304 journals, 98 (32.2%) accepted the paper 13 .When analysed based on publishers, 82% of those in Beall's list accepted the seriously flawed article.Alarmingly, 45% of publishers listed in DOAJ also accepted the article.The DOAJ has since implemented more stringent selection criteria after March 2014, and re-evaluated previously listed journals 14,15 .Another sting paper on mitochondria with "Star Wars" monologue as

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