List of predatory journals and publishers

Abstract

The predatory publications are a big challenge, especially in developing countries including Nepal. Predatory publishing not only harms or degrades academic reputations but also wastes time, money, resources, and efforts (Shrestha et al., 2020). Predatory publications pose a danger that could undermine the quality, integrity, and reliability of published scientific research works. Predatory publications also harm the reputation of the universities and research organizations which are connected with these publications. Universities and research organizations should educate researchers, especially juniors, about the existence of predatory journals, the dangers they pose, and ways to avoid them (Shrestha, 2020). The problem of potential open access predatory or fake publications is an important issue that must be actively discussed at national, regional and world level within academic communities (Shrestha et al., 2018b). Predatory publications must be avoided or excluded while evaluating CV or biodata of researchers for job promotion and releasing the research grants. The authors should be careful about predatory or fake journals/publishers for communicating their scientific works (Shrestha et al., 2018a). The researchers should be aware of the quality of journals while publishing their research results (Shrestha et al., 2020). There is an international initiative called “Think. Check. Submit.” (http://thinkchecksubmit.org) that helps the researchers to identify trusted journals for publication. It contains a simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher. Authors should look at the journal website some of the articles published in the journals to assess their quality; this quick review may be all that is needed to identify predatory journals (Forero et al., 2018).The below list of predatory journals and publishers is copied from https://predatoryjournals.com/ (Anonymous, 2020a) and https://beallslist.net/ (Anonymous, 2020b). The purpose of this article is to create awareness about the predatory publications.