Masaryk University has released a document aimed at alerting authors to the issue of “predatory journals”. The document was published in reaction to the spread of this phenomenon that puts the system of scholarly publishing at risk.
A “predatory” publisher or journal offers authors the certainty of having a scholarly paper published in exchange for a fee. All too often, there is no real review process and the paper is published regardless of its quality.
“Masaryk University is strongly against using the predatory publishing system to improve one’s publication performance and artificially increase the impact of one’s own scholarly publications in any way,” says Petr Dvořák, vice-rector for research, about the situation.
The guidelines are aimed primarily at new authors, as it can sometimes be difficult for them to tell a predatory publisher or journal from a genuine one. Typical signs include suspiciously attractive email offers, lofty-sounding – or overly general – journal titles, vague descriptions of the journal’s review process, or overly quick and simple publication of submissions.
“We recommend that our authors carefully consider, check, and, if necessary, revise their publication strategy and terminate cooperation with any potentially predatory publishers and journals,” adds Dvořák.