Fraudulent Publication Infrastructures („Predatory Journals“)

Publishing in open access is often not free of charge. Publishers sometimes charge very high Article Processing Charges (APCs). Research funders and universities (including Bielefeld University with its Publication Fund) support authors by covering these fees. There is a lot of money involved worldwide, so it can be lucrative to offer dubious publication services without adhering to standards of good scientific practice or using recognised quality assurance methods. Such „predatory publishers“ initially harm the authors themselves, but ultimately also the scientific community.

Dubious journals or dubious offers are not always easy to recognise; there is also a grey area of professionally appearing publication venues that is difficult to assess. A whole range of criteria must always be taken into account for an evaluation. We recommend using the „Think - Check - Submit“ criteria list to help you make an assessment before submitting an article.

Alternatively, you can also contact us. We will be happy to advise you on the following aspects:

• Is a journal listed in relevant databases? For open access journals, for example, this is the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
• What is the layout of the publisher's or journal's website? Are the publisher and fees clearly stated?
• What content has been published so far?
• What is the layout of calls for papers for conferences and academic journals?