Junk science for sale Sham journals proliferating online

摘要

A new danger threatens the integrity of scholarly publishing:predatory journals. Internet-only, “open-access”publishing is a valid way for researchers to reach the publicwithout a paywall separating them. But, of thousandsof open-access scientific journals today, as many as twenty-five percent are believed to be fake, existing only tomake money by charging authors high processing fees.In sham journals, peer review is cursory or absent: asmany as eighty to ninety percent of submitted manuscriptsare accepted, many within days, without any editorialcomment. Predatory journalism can be remarkablygood at mimicking reputable publishers. Sham journalsuse names and logos that closely resemble those of legitimatejournals, intentionally confusing site visitors.Untrustworthy publications have not received the widespread,damning publicity they deserve. If junk science isnot confronted and eliminated, it will continue to tarnishand undermine ethical, open-access scholarly publishing.