Authors publishing repeatedly in predatory journals: An analysis of Scopus articles

Abstract

Scholars engage with so-called predatory or questionable journals for many different reasons. Among the contributing factors are monetary payoffs and the possibility of fast track faculty positions or promotion. It has been claimed that fast tracking promotion by using predatory publication outlets is an increasing problem. This study analyses the authors publishing in predatory journals with a focus on authors repeatedly publishing in predatory journals. In this study, a set of so-called predatory journals indexed in Scopus was used. The data included 243,396 authorships of articles and reviews published from 2004 to 2021 by 169,742 unique authors.This study finds that 55% of the authors publish in one of these journals only once, 34.5% publish 2-5 times in these journals, 6.3% publish in them 6-10 times, and 4.2% publish more than 10 times. Furthermore, this study finds that the mean and median number of articles and reviews is correlated with the number of articles and reviews in predatory journals. Finally, authors publishing in predatory journals do not confine themselves to these journals and also publish in validated journals as well.

Open publishing of public health research in Africa: an exploratory investigation of the barriers and solutions

“…This study, however reported about 37% of the respondents considering traditional publishing to be less likely to be predatory (Table 5). Charging authors without providing a service in return is the predatory journals business model, 18 and there is potential for education about identifying predatory publishing more effectively.…”

Research grants, research collaboration, and publication in predatory journals: Evidence from publications by Indonesian social scientists

“…Beall's list also contains potentially predatory publishers. While the list may have its shortcomings and debate is ongoing concerning its use, many studies have used it to define and classify predatory journals (see, for instance, Bagues et al, 2019; Frandsen, 2022; Marina & Sterligov, 2021; Macháček & Srholec, 2022; McCutcheon et al, 2016).…”

Early career researchers and predatory journals during the Covid-19 pandemic. An international analysis

“…Newcomers to academe from the Global South may have been in the eye of the predatory storm, but the socio-economic and geographical dispersion of the problem turned out to be much wider, extending to academics from high-and upper-middle-income countries (IAP, 2022;Elliott et al, 2022;Moher et al, 2017; Segado-Boj; Martín-Quevedo; Prieto Gutiérrez, 2022), as well as to the senior and experienced among them (Alecci, 2018;Elliott et al, 2022). Indeed, researchers from Italy (Bagues; Sylos-Labini; Zinovyeva, 2017), Belgium (Eykens et al, 2019) and Denmark (Shaghaei et al, 2018) were found to have published in questionable journals, as did senior academics (Alrawadieh, 2018;Eykens et al, 2019;Frandsen, 2022;Perlin;Imasato;Borenstein, 2018;Pyne, 2017;Shaghaei et al, 2018;Wallace;Perri, 2018). Perhaps most tellingly, over 5000 researchers from German universities, institutes and federal agencies, inclusive of prominent professors, even a Nobel laureate, have also been found to have published articles in predatory journals with no peer review processes (NDR, 2018;Offord, 2018).…”