Do not feed the predators

Abstract

This study investigates the prevalence and characteristics of papers published in popular predatory journals by South African academics in economic and management sciences. Our aim is to raise awareness and to deepen understanding of the predatory publishing phenomenon. We collected 728 recent (2013 to mid-2016) articles with South African authors in five popular in the field journals classified as ‘potential, possible, or probable predatory’ according to Beall’s list. Our data shows that publishing in these predatory journals is widespread across authors and universities. However, the data also shows that most of the authors only published once in these journals, suggesting that they perhaps mistakenly perceived the journals as being legitimate research outlets. We found evidence of low-quality publishing by the journals in our data, consistent with deficient peer review and copy editing processes. Thus, low-quality publishing was evident from spelling and grammar mistakes in the titles of articles, publishing the same paper twice in the same journal, so-called ‘salami slicing’, and the publishing of an article already published in another journal.

A Bibliometric Review of Global Research on Corporate Governance and Board Attributes

“…Interestingly, in 2017 Scopus stopped coverage of the two journals Corporate Ownership and Control (#2) and Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition (#7), belonging to the publishing house Virtus Inter Press in Ukraine. According to De Jager, de Kock, & van der Spuy [49], Virtus Inter Press has been flagged as a potential predatory or low-quality publisher by Beall's list and the Journal Quality List of the Australian Business Deans Council. Our data reveal an interesting pattern whereby these two journals published a relatively high number of articles, but with the lowest citation count per document (CPD) among the top 20 journals (i.e., average CPD = 1.5).…”

Open access and its potential impact on public health – A South African perspective

“…According to a previous study, South African academics published 728 articles in only five predatory journals over the three and a half years covered by the study (De Jager et al, 2017). This may have been due to local researchers collectively legitimizing these predatory journals.…”

Corporate Governance and Risk Management: A Bibliometric Mapping for Future Research Agenda

“…Now, for the scholars working in the CGRM area, it would be interesting to note that the most active journal in terms of volume analysis, that is, Corporate Ownership and Control (#1) and Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets and Institutions (#17) published by the publishing house Virtus Interpress of Ukraine has been discontinued from the Scopus list since 2017. Furthermore, the Journal Quality list of Australasian Business Dean Council and Beall’s list have flagged Corporate Ownership and Control as a predatory or low-quality journal (ACPD: 2.1) (De Jager et al, 2017). Thus, despite the highest number of publications, the journal has not been able to make any significant impact in terms of its contribution towards the academic literature.…”