[BOAI] Re: Published today: Beall's List of Predatory Publishers 2013

[Beall, Jeffrey]

David,

Good questions -- please see my responses below.

From: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk [mailto:boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of David Prosser
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 2:58 AM
To: boai-forum at ecs.soton.ac.uk
Subject: [BOAI] Re: Published today: Beall's List of Predatory Publishers 2013

'The entire scholarly publishing system is in danger of eroding due to the increasing influence of predatory publishing.'

How much influence does 'predatory publishing' represent?

I think it represents a significant influence, especially in Asia and Africa. The number of predatory publishers and independent journals is growing daily. Some launch with over one hundred journals at once. The publishers engage in massive spam campaigns to attract editorial board members and manuscript submissions. Many prey on junior researchers and graduate students with personalized messages praising their earlier work and inviting them to submit a new manuscript, without mentioning the author fee.

What percentage of the total number of papers published in OA journals over the past year do the papers published in these journals represent?

I don't think this datum exists anywhere; this is a great research question.

And what would the percentage need to be for us to seriously believe that the entire scholarly publishing system is in danger of eroding?

I believe that percentage has been met; that's why I made the statement. The COPE guidelines stress that publishers, editors, and researchers must "maintain the integrity of the academic record." This standard is not being met among the predatory publishers, who ignore publishing standards and ethics to compete for author fees.

Also, because research is cumulative, we must be concerned when any pseudo-science enters the scholarly communication system. This is happening at an alarming rate. As an example, I am preparing a blog post about an article entitled "New Theories, Models, and Explanations of Science<http://www.journalofsciences-technology.org/archive/2012/nov_vol_1_no_11/39463134652771_abstract.php>"  published in the International Journal of Science and Technology<http://www.journalofsciences-technology.org/?tab=10#TabbedPanels1>.

This cosmology article offers a "theory of everything" in six sentences at the end yet lacks any references. It's complete bunk. Predatory journals are erasing and eroding the boundary between science and non-science.

Jeffrey Beall, MA, MSLS, Associate Professor
Scholarly Initiatives Librarian
Auraria Library
University of Colorado Denver
1100 Lawrence St.
Denver, Colo.  80204 USA
(303) 556-5936
jeffrey.beall at ucdenver.edu

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On 6 Dec 2012, at 17:48, Beall, Jeffrey wrote:


[Please excuse duplicate postings]

Today I am releasing the 2013 versions of my lists of predatory publishers and journals. Please seehttp://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2013/

This year's list of predatory publishers includes over 225 highly-questionable scholarly publishing operations. Last year's list included only 23 publishers, and the 2010 list had about 18.

This year's list of predatory stand-alone journals has 106 titles. (The previous year's list did not include stand-alone titles). I continuously updates these lists on my blog Scholarly Open Access<http://scholarlyoa.com>, http://scholarlyoa.com<http://scholarlyoa.com/>, throughout the year.

The increase in predatory publishers from 18 to 225 in two years demonstrates the increasing scale of the problem. The entire scholarly publishing system is in danger of eroding due to the increasing influence of predatory publishing.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Beall, MA, MSLS, Associate Professor
Scholarly Initiatives Librarian
Auraria Library
University of Colorado Denver
1100 Lawrence St.
Denver, Colo.  80204 USA
(303) 556-5936
jeffrey.beall at ucdenver.edu

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