PREDATORY JOURNALS AND/OR PUBLISHING COMPANIES

For the benefits for everyone on the platform, it is important to avoid predatory publishing companies. They will publish your work unedited. They will make you agree to some terms, and at the end of it all, you will not benefit anything. I am a victim of this. I cannot wait till the agreement I enterd into with one Scholars' Press in Germany ends. They published my work unedited; only what I did, they did not contribute anything to make the work better. The only thing they did was to publish. Therefore, publish ONLY with credible publishers! 

Hi Akintola,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I think this is a good illustration of the problem - most people would expect some contribution or added value from the publishers (beyond creating a PDF and posting it online) in exchange for paying a fee and agreeing to their terms and conditions. For many people, 'predatory' publishing is a matter of 'false advertising'.

Do you have any tips on how other researchers can make sure they choose credible publishers?

Best wishes, Andy

Hi Andy,

The best way to avoid predatory (journals and/or) publishers is to avoid sending your work to any publisher that you got through unsuscribed email. It is only rewarding if you search for publishing outlets for your work. Refferal also helps; your friends and colleagues can help you find credible outlets. However, this does not mean that you will not check for 'red flags' in whichever publishing outlets suggested to you. I think this will help.

That's actually very good general advice Akintola!

Many thanks for your input

Andy