Predatory publishing has become an issue as more journal have become open access. An open access journal may charge the author a fee for publishing an article. Some people have taken advantage of this model for their own personal gain.
For an open access publisher, the more articles that are published the more money that can be made. The less money spent on editorial services the higher the profits.
A "predatory" publisher:
(1) may charge a high fee relative to other open access journals.
(2) may issue communications that are poorly prepared or that look unprofessional
(3) may have discrepancies (located in a developing country but the journal's title suggests an origin from a developed country)
(4) may invite a professional to become associated with the journal then refuse to delist the person on request
(5) may perform very few services related to peer review or editing
(6) may give very few details about the company (location, ownership, etc)
(7) may have few of the trappings of legitimate publishers (use free email addresses for all communications, other)
(8) reports bogus impact numbers
(9) disappears, shuts down or cannot be found
Factors that allow predatory journals to thrive:
(1) The need for academics to publish or perish.
(2) Junior faculty who are unfamiliar with the publishing process.
(3) The ability for the publisher to change quickly if found out.
An article published in a prediatory journal may be based on poor research and analysis. Relying on the reported evidence can lead to error. A nonacademic person may assume that an article is true since it is a journal article.
