Quality Control

For publishing your research results, you have a multitude of publication possibilities. If you decide to publish your results in a scientific journal or a publishing house, a scientific quality control and appropriate supervision for the publication process is important. In the following, we give you some information on what to pay attention to during this process.

Predatory Publishers / Predatory Journals

With the Open Access movement, new Open Access publishers and journals have emerged that enable free access to scientific publications. Unfortunately, among them are also so-called predatory publishers and predatory journals, whose business practices are more than questionable. They often draw attention to themselves through aggressive marketing.

They offer little to no editorial and publishing services in exchange for the publication fees (APCs, Article Processing Charges) that authors have to pay, These fees are incurred directly upon submission, unlike with reputable Open Access journals. A very short review period can be an indication of unscrupulous practices.

"Predatory Publishers" take advantage of the publication pressure that researchers face and pretend to adhere to good scientific practices, yet quality assurance mechanisms such as peer review are often inadequate. Moreover, it may be the case that disreputable journals feign legitimacy and scientific impact by using fabricated indicators and making false claims regarding indexing in databases. Additionally, "Predatory Journals" often resemble the appearance of well-known journals. In some instances, renowned researchers are listed as editors without their knowledge. In connection with artificial intelligence, there are currently cases where content is AI-generated and subsequently attributed to prominent researchers. Publishing in a "Predatory Journal" harms the reputation of the researcher, even if the publication is of high scientific quality.

You can use the following criteria to assess the seriousness of a magazine or publisher:

The initiative Think. Check. Submit. has compiled a list of criteria that can be used as a guide when selecting a journal.
The FAQ-section of the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft zum Thema “predatory” publishing” on predatory publishing provide an overview of the phenomenon of predatory publishing, its scale and the media debate surrounding it.
The handout from the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics also goes into detail about the various practices of dubious publishers.
The Retraction Watch Blog offers articles and a database of retracted publications.

Reputable Open-Access-Journals

http://doaj.org/

The publisher is a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OSAPA): http://oaspa.org/

The publisher is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): http://publicationethics.org/

http://www.stm-assoc.org/The publisher is a member of the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM): www.stm-assoc.org

International Standard Serial Number International Center?

Does the publisher provide information on the cost for different services and when such are invoiced?

Fake Acceptance Letters

There are an increasing number of cases of researchers receiving emails from fake email addresses that resemble those of a reputable journal, confirming the acceptance of a submitted or peer-reviewed article and requesting payment of the publication fee. The fraudsters use publicly accessible publication lists of researchers in which works that have not yet been published are listed. This means that the senders know the specific publisher or journal.

Therefore, when receiving e-mails requesting payment, pay close attention to the spelling of the publisher or journal as well as the sender's address and domain.

Paper Mills

So-called “paper mills”, organizations that create and sell fake scientific papers, go even one step further.

In contrast to “predatory publishers”, “paper mills” offer fake scientific articles and manipulate or falsify the data on which the article is supposedly based. There are different “business models” for this. The sale of research articles as a “full service” involves the paper mill “writing” the article, submitting it and communicating with the journal on behalf of the researchers. In addition, the sale of author positions after a successful review stage as well as the sale of citations are common practice. The aim is to increase the output of researchers or to increase the impact. The journals to which “paper mills” submit articles are not necessarily to be described as “predatory”.

Further Questions?

If you are in search of an apt publisher for your research results, are in doubt if a journal is reputable or have any further questions concerning open-access publishing, we would be glad to help you. Please, arrange an appointment with us.

Phone: 0951 / 863-1568

E-Mail: publizieren.ub(at)uni-bamberg.de

You can also book an appointment via Book-a-librarian/a>.