Predatory Journals and Publishers

Predatory journals are fake academic publishers that exploit the open-access model by charging authors publication fees without providing peer review, editorial oversight, or quality control. Coined by librarian Jeffrey Beall in 2010, the term describes publishers that prioritize profit over scientific integrity, accepting nearly all submissions (regardless of quality), using deceptive marketing (claiming high impact factors, faking indexing, using names similar to established journals), and often hosting work that would not survive peer review. Publishing in predatory journals damages an author's credibility and wastes research dissemination efforts.