1. Predatory Publications
بلاوکەری ڕاوچی
الناشر الصیاد
Saleem Saaed Qader MBChB, MD, MSc, MPH, PhD, SBGS Consultant General Surgeon, Lecturer
General Director, Medical Research Centre, Hawler Medical University
Department of Surgery, Rizgary Teaching Hospital
Department of Surgery, Medical College, Hawler Medical University
TMC
Oct 2014

2. In nature one species of animal feeds on another, which in turn feeds on other things
The first species is called the predator and the second is called the prey
The predator can destroy all the prey
What actually happens in nature is that a cycle develops where at some time the prey may be abundant and the predators fewness
Sharks appear to be a major threat to fish
ڕاوچی و نێچیر

3. Publication Why do we publish? Visibility and Communication Tradition?
Religious
Disciplinary requirements?
Critical dialogues?
University requirements?
Love of writing?

4. Factors to be considered for publication:
Impact factors
International reach
Indexed? Where?
Openly accessible?
Readership numbers
Subject appropriateness

5. Types of publishing
Range of publishing options: Conference proceedings Media articles Book reviews Journal articles Book chapters Books Reports Policy papers ... etc
Sole authored and co-authored

6. What matters in the university today?
Securing employment:
Teaching and research the norm for academics
Institutional reputation ... Nationally/Internationally
Personal reputation ... Nationally/Internationally
Funding ??? (not in our system)
Ranking of journals/assessments of research
Collaboration

7. Distribution Models for Published Research
1. Subscription (business) model (traditional)
Free to authors, but journals are only available through a subscription (personal or library)
Can be print, online, or both )now mostly online)
Online journals are now licensed instead of sold
Libraries often license many journals at once as part of a package from the publisher, called “Big Deals”
Some subscriptions can be very expensive

8. 2. Open access models (New)
Gratis (Free to Read)
Libre (Free to Build upon)
A. Gold (author-pays model)
Author charged upon acceptance of a manuscript
The fee is called the “article processing charge” or APC
Advantage: free distribution of research
Disadvantage: Authors must pay, and predatory publishers poisoning the model
B. Green (Self-archiving model)
C. Platinum (No author fees, the costs are covered by the benevolence of others, e.g. through volunteer work, donations, subsidies, grants, etc.)

9. Open access models
Free to read, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, download, copy and print articles and other material
Easy to discover/harvest by both humans & computers
Content automatically harvested by aggregators
Data and narrative integrated to the widest extent possible
Community peer-review and rapid publication
Easy and efficient communication with authors and reviewers

10. Proxy indicators (Open Access)
Quality and Transparency of the editorial process
The journal must have an editor/editorial board
All editorial members must be easily identified
Specification of the review process
Editorial review, Peer review, Blind peer review,
Double blind peer review
Statements about aims & scope clearly visible
Instructions to authors shall be available and easily located
Screening for plagiarism?
Time from submission to publication
Transparency

11. More ...
Openness
CC (Creative Commons copyright) licenses– if Yes, which?
Reader rights
Reuse rights
Copyrights
Author posting rights
NO Mask
A pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law

12. Comparisons between print publishing and open access (electronic publishing
Traditional venue
Normally attached to University presses or commercial publishers (profit motive)
Wide range of options and qualities
Some require payment
Time frame from submission to publication can be long
Depending on journal, authors may only have one or two opportunities to check or amend their articles before publication
Growing phenomenon
Running, lower costs
Two types:
1. traditional journals moving to digital repositories, retaining look and feel of print
2. electronic journals born digital, some experimenting with format and mode of peer review
Attached to University presses or commercial publishers, (not always)
Time frame in theory quicker
Authors may have more opportunities for amendments, both before publication and after

13. How an electronic journal works
Software controls process
Authors submit on line
Peer review process tracked
Editing and galleying process tracked
Authors/editors/reviewers can check progress
Communication is standardised

14. Some basic editorial tips for meeting journal requirements
Select the right journal
Read the journal and get a sense of its contents
If new to publishing sound out the main editor
Follow the journal guidelines for authors!
Understand referencing systems
Proof and spell check
Don’t rush to publish
Seek advice from people in your field

15. Founded 2003 at Lund University with 300 journals
Initially funded by minor project grants from SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and Open Society Institute
Additional grants from: SPARC Europe, INASP and OpenAccess.se
Membership/Sponsor funding model introduced 2006
Constant growth during the years
End of 2012: journals

16.
Founded by
Caroline Sutton,
Alma Swan &
Lars Bjørnshauge

17. Predatory Journals BEWARE!!!
Associate Professor Jeffrey Beall, Uni Colorado: Schlarly Open Access website:
Angelika H. Hofmann
Jeffrey Beall

18. Predatory Publishers – scholarlyoa.com

19. Predatory publishers Use deceptive practices to publish articles
Make money, solicit papers via spam, not reputable
Publish everything; no peer-review, charge you to publish
Don’t do it! (It won’t count)
Consult your faculty advisor before publishing
Operating in someone’s apt, use gmail accounts, no authentication of people’s credentials, put professors on editorial boards without permission, claim false impact factors
Beall’s list - -

20. Problems outlined among the predatory journals
Articles published without complete author approval
Articles published before payment terms were either understood or completed
Articles published with payment terms incomplete but then negotiated, forcing authors into an uncomfortable position
An editorial process that created more problems than it solved, with errors introduced during proof-reading
Papers published without peer-review

21. Tactics of predatory publishers
Notifying authors about article fees after the article is accepted or published
Aggressively campaigning for academics to submit articles or serve on editorial boards
Listing academics as members of the editorial board without their permission
Not allowing academics to resign from an editorial board
Appointing fake board members
Mimicking the name/ style of a reputable journal publisher
Publish plagiarized articles or chapters

22. Predatory publishers
Exploit the gold open-access model
Have a conflict of interest
Use deceit to increase their business
Author-centric rather than reader centric
Not transparent in their operations
Do not follow scholarly publishing standards

23. How Predatory Publishers Operate
Spam
Launch with many journals at once
Use journals titles very close to existing titles
Their journals have broad scopes
Hide or misrepresent their true locations
Poor or no peer review
Don’t check for plagiarism
Some also offer predatory conferences

24. Why Predatory Publishers are a Problem
They claim to be prestigious publishers when they are not
They claim their journals have impact factors when they do not
They publish junk science
They don’t use digital preservation services (backups)
The gold open-access model doesn’t work well in arts and humanities
They may increase the amount of research misconduct

25. List of questionable publishers

26. Important sites (to make yourself visible):
ORCID: distinguishes you from every other researcher
Researcher ID

27. In order to publish your article:
JANE: Journal, Author, Name estimator

28. It is your decision!!!

29. ZOR SUPAS
THANKS