Possibly Predatory Journals: Be Careful, but Not Too Careful

Greetings again. I hope you’ve had a good month.

Last month, as usual, I received many email messages from possibly predatory journals. Usually such messages ask me to submit papers. Sometimes they ask me to serve on editorial boards or be a peer reviewer.

I receive so many such messages that sometimes I almost automatically delete email from journals unfamiliar to me. Recently, there were two such messages that I’m glad I didn’t delete.

One message asked me to peer review a paper. The paper’s topic seemed suited for me, so I investigated journal. I saw that our university library had this journal—a good sign. Then I viewed the journal’s website. I saw that the journal had a reputable publisher—and that the editor taught in another part of my university! Of course, I peer reviewed the paper.

The other message from an unfamiliar journal asked me to submit a paper for potential use in a special issue. The request was well written, and the writer clearly was familiar with my work. On checking a respected indexing service, I saw that it included this journal. I have now been in touch with the editor, and I plan to submit a paper.

Requests from predatory journals abound, and one must be careful. But one shouldn’t automatically discard requests from unfamiliar journals. Just as in medical diagnosis, both sensitivity and specificity are important. Or to use an English-language expression: Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!  

For some resources that can help in determining whether a journal might be predatory, please see a previous AuthorAID blog post.

Until next month—

Barbara