Library Guides
Predatory publishers exhibit unethical practices such as inviting researchers to publish with them but provide minimal or no editing, restricting author's rights, and often charging fees.
COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) promotes integrity in publishing, with discussion, advice and guidelines on topics such as author misconduct (being unaware of articles submitted in their name), misuse of data.
Publications
ThinkCheckSubmit website suggests steps to take and consider before selection of a publication source to verify the credentials of publishers: checking with colleagues, reviewing editorial boards, indexing of journals, fees and peer review practices, ability to contact publishers.
Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker lists suspected hijacked journals. Hijacked journals mimic legitimate journals by adopting their titles, ISSNs, and other metadata without permission from the original journal. Researchers can be duped into publishing in hijacked journals – many of which require fees – by offers of fast publication and indexing in databases such as Scopus.
Conferences
ThinkCheckAttend is an initiative that guides researchers when deciding whether to attend a conference, submit an abstract or present their research. The 3-step approach encourages academics to ‘Think’ about the problem posed by predatory or substandard conferences, ‘Check’ the conference against a set of criteria designed to highlight attributes of good and bad quality conferences, and ‘Attend’ only if the conference adheres to the criteria consistent with a legitimate conference.
