What is the problem with predatory publishers?

What is the problem with predatory publishers?

Hi, this is Claire Sewell from the Office of Scholarly Communication in Cambridge and I’m going to talk about the problem of predatory publishers. These are publishers which take advantage of a lack of knowledge about how Open Access works in order to dupe researchers into publishing with them. They do this by charging a fee to make work available but without providing the services this would normally cover like copyediting and peer review. This results in substandard work being published as legitimate research.

These publishers often solicit content directly from researchers which can be very flattering. Authors should always check potential publishers carefully to ensure that they provide the services they claim to and offer high quality research. Problems to watch out for include overly flattering emails offering to publish, peer review times which seem too good to be true and a poor quality website. If in doubt, researchers should use a website like Think. Check. Submit to help them assess the title.

To find out more, go to internationalbunch.com/resources