Definition: 'Health research information' here refers primarily (but not exclusively) to peer-reviewed research papers, as typically published in journals.
Our focus for 2024: Predatory Journals
Funding opportunity: We invite expressions of interest to (co)sponsor this project. Total budget £5k. Please contact Neil Pakenham-Walsh neil@hifa.org
‘Predatory publishers or journals are those which charge authors a fee for publication with no intention of providing the expected services – such as editorial or peer review – in return. Charging a fee is a legitimate business model, but the publisher should be providing a good publishing service in return.’
Think.Check.Submit
Predatory journals have serious negative impacts on individuals and society. These include:
1. Predatory journals lack rigorous peer review and editorial standards. What they publish is therefore unreliable and pollutes the global corpus of scientific knowledge. Content of articles in such journals may be inaccurate, misleading or fabricated.
2. The substandard content of predatory journals may influence health-related decision making by health professionals, policymakers and the general public, leading to increased risk of harm to individual and population health.
3. Publication in a predatory journal can lead to financial hardship, loss of reputation, and career difficulties for individual researchers and research teams.
4. Publication in a predatory journal constitutes a waste of the considerable funding and expertise that is invested in research.
5. Publication in a predatory journal diverts valuable resources away from reputable publishers and legitimate research processes.
6. Predatory journals undermine public trust in scientific research and academic journals.
7. Predatory journals disproportionately affect researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
Initiatives such as
Think.Check.Submit aim to address the problem of predatory journals through researcher awareness. In 2022 a BMGF-funded study led by the InterAcademy Partnership published a major report Combatting predatory academic journals and conferences, which 'sought to improve the understanding of predatory journals and conferences, their prevalence and impact, the drivers fuelling them, and effective ways to combat them'. The report concluded:
1. Current definitions of so-called predatory academic journals and conferences are inadequate
2. Awareness and understanding of predatory practices and behaviours are generally poor
3. Predatory actors and outlets are becoming more sophisticated, making it increasingly difficult for scholars to differentiate bad journals and conferences from good ones
4. Predatory journals and conferences are on the rise and risk undermining public trust in research and research integrity, and creating significant wastage of research resources.
5. Predatory journals and conferences risk becoming engrained in research culture.
6. The monetisation and commercialisation of academic research output help drive predatory practices and behaviours.
7. Contemporary research evaluation systems are a major driver of predatory practices.
8. Predatory practices exploit weaknesses in the peer-review system...
The study made 50 specific recommendations directed to researchers (5), academic institutions (9), multilateral organisations (2), academies (11), research funders (8), publishers (6), and libraries (9).
Despite the above, there are now more than 15,000 predatory journals and the problem continues to get worse, month by month.
A limitation of the BMGF-funded study (above) is that it relied on a static online survey and a handful of groups of 3-7 people. It failed to include dynamic, inclusive multi-stakeholder interaction. HIFA is uniquely placed to fill this gap.
Meanwhile, there is a clear need for organised solidarity among medical publishers to stand against predatory journals.
The Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Editors (APAME) has approached HIFA to facilitate in-depth discussion on the HIFA forums as a basis for the Sydney Declaration on Predatory Journals to be launched at the upcoming APAME Conference in Sydney, Australia, August 2024. HIFA has previously collaborated similarly with APAME to inform the
Manila Declaration (2015).
