Predatory Publishing, Open Access, and the Costs to Academia

PSC 492 Cover_Poster

Predatory Publishing, Open Access, and the Costs to Academia

Timothy S. Rich, Western Kentucky University

Predatory publishing options masquerading as reputable peer-review outlets have proliferated as publishing demands increase. This article cautions against the broader consequences of predatory publishing and suggests means to control their influence. Scholars have pointed out the subpar standards of predatory publishers by submitting computer-generated papers with humorous pseudonyms for the authors. While such journals prey on the ignorance of naïve scholars, other problems are often overlooked. First, unscrupulous scholars can use these outlets to quickly pad their CV. Second, predatory journals create confusion within disciplines. Finally, these journals risk damaging the integrity of academia, precisely at a time when social-science funding increasingly is in jeopardy. Rather than conflate open-access journals with predatory publishing, this article suggests ways to identify predatory options and increase the visibility of reputable open-access outlets.

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PS: Political Science & Politics / Volume 49 / Issue 02 / April 2016, pp 265-267 / Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016