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The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology
Accepted Manuscript The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology Andrea Manca, Gianluca Martinez, Lucia Cugusi, Daniele Dragone, Zeevi dvir, Franca Deriu PII: DOI: Reference:
S0306-4522(17)30263-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.014 NSC 17722
To appear in:
Neuroscience
Received Date: Revised Date: Accepted Date:
9 February 2017 11 April 2017 12 April 2017
Please cite this article as: A. Manca, G. Martinez, L. Cugusi, D. Dragone, Z. dvir, F. Deriu, The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology, Neuroscience (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience. 2017.04.014
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Title page The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology Andrea MANCA1, Gianluca MARTINEZ1, Lucia CUGUSI2, Daniele DRAGONE1, Zeevi Dvir3 and Franca DERIU1* 1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, 07100, Italy 2 Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, 09100, Italy 3 Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 52100, Israel
Running title: Predatory publishing in neuroscience and neurology
Corresponding author: * Franca Deriu, MD, PhD Department of Biomedical Sciences University of Sassari Viale San Pietro 43/b 07100 - Sassari, Italy Phone: +39 079228294 Fax: +39 079228156 Email: [email protected]
1
Abstract Predatory open access is a controversial publishing business model that exploits the open-access system by charging publication fees in the absence of transparent editorial services. The credibility of academic publishing is now seriously threatened by predatory journals, whose articles are accorded real citations and thus contaminate the genuine scientific records of legitimate journals. This is of particular concern for public health since clinical practice relies on the findings generated by scholarly articles. Aim of this study was to compile a list of predatory journals targeting the neurosciences and neurology disciplines and to analyze the magnitude and geographical distribution of the phenomenon in these fields. Eighty-eight predatory journals operate in neurosciences and 104 in neurology, for a total of 2,404 and 3,134 articles issued, respectively. Publication fees range 521637 USD, much less than those charged by genuine open-access journals. The country of origin of 26.0-37.0% of the publishers was impossible to determine due to poor websites or provision of vague or non-credible locations. Of the rest 35.3%-42.0% reported their headquarters in the USA, 19.0-39.2% in India, 3.0-9.8% in other countries. Although calling themselves “open-access”, none of the journals retrieved was listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. However, 11.4-20.2% of them were found to be indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central, which raises concerns on the criteria for inclusion of journals and publishers imposed by these popular databases. Scholars in the neurosciences are advised to use all the available tools to recognize predatory practices and avoid the downsides of predatory journals.
Keywords: Scientific publishing; Open Access; Predatory journals; Ethics in publication
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Introduction Researchers and academics in any scientific discipline are under great pressure to publish. Unfortunately, the number of those tempted by the opportunity to publish quickly for fast-tracking their academic careers is on the rise [Moher and Srivastava, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016]. Solicitations in the Open Access (OA) era may come as electronic invitations for prompt submissions of manuscripts, which is the marketing strategy of the predatory journals. These publish largely pseudo-scientific articles that betray the genuine OA model by commonly disregarding rigorous peer-review process, transparent editorial procedures and charging fees for papers 'accepted' for publication [Beall, 2012; Bohannon, 2013]. Predatory journals introduce themselves as OA venues but do not appear in the Directory of OA Journals (DOAJ), which is an online catalog that lists and provides access to OA, peer-reviewed journals of established quality [https://doaj.org]. A serious concern associated with the predatory phenomenon is that they are accorded real citations, despite the abovementioned drawbacks and generally poor quality of articles, thus contaminating the scientific records [Beall, 2013]. Currently, nearly none of the reputable journals have tools for detecting when fake research has been cited in submissions. The number of predatory publishers is on the rise: from 18 in 2011 to 693 in 2015 to over 1,100 in late 2016, with some of them operating only a few journals whilst others display large fleets (Shen and Björk, 2015; Manca et al., 2017). Several countermeasures have been proposed to slow down this phenomenon including the employment of journal-management services to identify and share information on fraudulent publishers, their removal from the scientific records, maintaining a list of predators and employing a set of criteria for their identification [Beall, 2012]. Beall’s list, which is a report of potential, possible or probable predatory OA publishers is currently considered a useful tool against the ambiguous editorial practices of predatory publishers and is employed in several published reports [Moher and Srivastava, 2015; Shen and Björk, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016; Manca et al., 2017]. Despite being criticized for its strict criteria, which may prevent a distinction between novice journals and real predators [Butler, 2013], this list is considered comprehensive, detailed and regularly updated [Moher and Srivastava, 2015]. Due to the concerns that the uncontrolled growth in the number of counterfeit journals raises, particularly for the biomedical research where most of predatory journals are active [Moher and Srivastava, 2015], assessing the size of the phenomenon in different scientific disciplines may help prevent further spread within the respective scholarly communities. To date no investigation has been conducted to study this topic with respect to the fields of neurosciences and neurology. Therefore, this study attempts to define a list of predatory journals 3
targeting such disciplines and to analyze the geographical distribution and magnitude of the phenomenon.
Experimental procedures For the present investigation we employed the same methodology of recently published reports that investigated the predatory phenomenon across the major scientific disciplines (Shen and Björk, 2015) and, more specifically, in the rehabilitation field (Manca et al., 2017). Accordingly, Beall’s list of predatory publishers was consulted (October 5, 2016) and each listed item was accessed. Journals were retained if the title included terms pertinent to the fields of neurosciences (Nerve; Nervous system; Neuron; Neurosciences; Cognitive Neuroscience; Neuroanatomy; Neurobiology; Neurochemistry; Neuroendocrinology; Neuropathology; Neuropharmacology; Neurophysiology) and neurology (Neurology, Neuropathology; Neurological disorder/disease). The two disciplines were analyzed separately. Each journal website was checked to obtain information about the publisher’s country of origin; the amount of the requested article processing charges (APCs) and how they are specified in the authors’ guidelines; the total number of articles published by the journal from the first issue to October 31st 2016. Two of the authors (AM and GM) independently counted the articles for each journal. In case of disagreement, a comparison between different views was performed to reach consensus and, if necessary, a third author (LC) contributed to the final decision. The amount of the journals’ APCs is presented in US Dollars (USD) and the prices given in currencies other than the USD were converted according to the exchange rate on Currency Converter [Currency Converter: http//www.currencyconverterrate.com]. The publishers’ country of origin was verified by checking the addresses reported in the websites using Google Maps and 3D Street View, in line with a previously employed methodology [Shen and Björk, 2015; Manca et al., 2017]. In case of unverifiable addresses or non-credible locations, the country of origin was classified as “impossible to determine”. Data collected were exported into the statistical software and descriptive analyses were performed separately for the two search strategies.
Results Predatory journals in neurosciences Among the 1,113 suspected publishers presented in Beall’s list, 88 predatory journals were identified as active in the field of neurosciences. The journals’ names and their respective 4
publishers are detailed in Table 1. None of the included titles was listed in the DOAJ, however, 10 (11.4%) were indexed in the PubMed database (Table 1, Items 3, 8, 20, 49, 50, 55, 57, 59, 68, 75). The geographical distribution of the publishers proved challenging to establish, due to poor websites, provision of unclear and vague addresses or non-credible locations. Curiously, one publisher reported its business as being administered from an address that coincided with that of the Italian Consulate in Boston, Massachusetts. The latter, enquired, categorically denied any company or commercial activity operating within their buildings. Likewise, the country of origin of 37 publishers (42%) was classified as “impossible to determine”. Of the rest 20 (39.2%) were based in India, 18 in USA (35.3%), 5 in the United Kingdom (9.8%), 5 in Africa (9.8%) and 3 in the United Arab Emirates (5.9%). The average APCs charged to authors was 521 USD (median 305; range 150 - 2,019). Approximately 70% of the journals displayed the required fee in their websites. Forty journals out of 88 (45.4%) did not contain any article or displayed an “early release” banner. Between 2012 and 2016 the total number of articles cumulatively published by the 88 predatory journals retrieved was 2,404. On average, each journal published 50 articles (median: 16; 95%; CI: 27.2 - 73) over this 4-year period.
Predatory journals in neurology One-hundred and four predatory journals were affiliated to neurology (Table 2). Only one of the included items was among the genuine OA journals listed in the DOAJ (Table 2, item 48). Twentyone
journals
(20.2%)
were
indexed
in
the
PubMed
database
(Table
2,
items
2,4,19,29,37,40,41,43,48,49,51,53,56,58,62,69,75,79,92,96,104). Sixty-two out of 104 (59.6%) detailed APCs which were, on average, 637 USD (median: 523; range: 100 – 1,949). Sixty-six journals (63.5%) displayed articles in their websites, whilst approximately 20 showed an “early release” message. Each of the journals with articles published, on average, 46 items (median: 18; 95% CI: 27.2 - 73), with a total count of 3,134. On publisher’s country of origin, 42% of the journals had their head office located in the USA, 19% in India, 3% in China, 3% in Africa, 7% other countries (UK, Canada, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates). The origin of 26% of the journals was classified as “impossible to determine”.
Discussion The findings of the present investigation outline the occurrence of the predatory publishing phenomenon in the fields of neurosciences and neurology. A relatively high number of journals 5
operate in the two disciplines (88 and 104, respectively), considering that the SCImago Journal & Country Rank portal [http://www.scimagojr.com] lists approximately 100 reputable journals in neurosciences and 73 in neurology, and no predatory journals among them. These figures are in line with previous statements depicting biomedical research as a particularly appealing field to predatory publishers (Moher and Srivastava, 2015). The APCs in neurosciences and neurology ranged 521 - 637 USD, confirming the notion that APCs of predatory journals are lower than those generally charged by genuine OA periodicals operating in medicine and health and indexed in the DOAJ (~1,000 USD, Solomon and Björk, 2012) and far lower than those required by non-OA journals that allow authors to make their article freely available (on average, 3,000 USD). Possibly the strategy of predatory publishers is to keep APCs just below the bar set by genuine OA journals in the same field, to attract customers. As a result, many scholars who are not aware of the difference between the two categories may be enticed to publish using the cheaper venue offered by predatory journals. Since 2014 the DOAJ has adopted stricter criteria for inclusion so that publishers and journals have to meet a minimum standard of quality to be listed in the directory, which now aspires to become the largest ‘whitelist’ of acceptable OA journals (Van Noorden, 2014). Put in this perspective, the new DOAJ, despite having been previously criticized for its apparently inadequate quality-control checks in the first decade of its activity, may finally serve as a helpful tool for researchers who want to explore the legitimacy of a publication. The 2,404 articles published in the field of neurosciences between 2012 and 2016 constitute 1.4% of the 170,204 published over the same period by the journals indexed in the Elsevier’s Scopus database (employing an [All Fields] search strategy). Equally, the 3,134 'neurological' articles are 1% of the 314,283 items retrieved in Scopus. Running the same search strategies in the PubMed database resulted in slightly larger figures (neurosciences: 2%; neurology: 2.8%). Thus, the magnitude of the predatory phenomenon in these sub-disciplines is slightly larger than that estimated by the DOAJ (around 1%) but far lower than the 5-10% Beall’s estimate (Butler, 2013). The size of predatory publishing in these fields may be even smaller as the median number of articles published per journal was less than 20. Besides, a substantial part of them had empty repositories (i.e., displaying a “coming soon” banner). This was particularly true for the field of neurosciences, where only 54.6% of the journals actually contained articles. Although the number of articles published is apparently unimportant and not particularly alarming, to establish how many times non-peer-reviewed low-quality papers are cited in genuine, peer-reviewed journals is of great importance since bogus research, once cited, can easily corrupt the scientific records [Beall, 2013]. As no tools are yet available to detect when counterfeit research has been cited in submissions, 6
prevention is crucial to take on the problem (Manca et al., 2016). In this perspective, scholars should be made more aware of the threat of predatory publishing (Vinny et al., 2016) and of the names of questionable journals operating in their specific research domain. As an example, we recently compiled a list of suspected predatory journals operating in rehabilitation research and advised those concerned against relying on the findings reported in these journals (Manca et al., 2017). Firm action is also needed from the established scholar databases as they must track and ban journals and publishers that employ sham or non-transparent peer review policies (Beall, 2016). Despite this important recommendation, in the present investigation we found that 11.4% of predatory journals in neuroscience and 20.2% of predatory journals in neurology are indexed in PubMed and displayed with all the other records in the “Search results”. This finding concurs with the situation in rehabilitation research (Manca et al., 2017) and suggests that predatory journals exploit the popularity of PubMed to achieve exposure alongside the opportunity to be viewed, accessed and eventually cited. Noteworthy, predatory journals are retrievable in the catalog of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), are labeled by a unique NLM identification number and referenced as “Not currently indexed for MEDLINE. Only citations for author manuscripts are included”. According to Beall (2016), extremely popular and highly-accessed databases such as PubMed and PubMed Central should raise the bar for acceptance and follow the examples of Scopus, MEDLINE and DOAJ catalogues, which impose stricter criteria for including journals and publishers. Indeed, none of the 192 questionable journals here identified was indexed in Scopus and MEDLINE, and only one was listed in the DOAJ catalog. Several considerations can help scholars avoid the downsides of predatory journals and secure a safer home for their manuscripts. Before submitting a paper to an OA journal authors are encouraged to: 1) check whether the journal is listed in major citation databases, such as the Elsevier’s Scopus index, and also in whitelists of OA journals, such as the new DOAJ; 2) crosscheck the DOAJ’s and Beall’s lists; verify the legitimacy of the publisher and the standing of the journal’s editor-in-chief (Stone and Rossiter, 2015); 3) inspect the contact information provided by the publisher, including the headquarters’ address (Butler, 2013); 4) critically evaluate the broadness of the journal’s scope (Beall, 2013) and the quality of some of the journal’s published articles (Butler, 2013); 5) pay attention to the journal’s name as it may look suspiciously similar to legitimate journals (Stone and Rossiter, 2015). As an example, Neuroscience Research Letters unambiguously recalls the Elsevier’s Neuroscience Letters; 6) review the journal’s APCs policy carefully to avoid unpleasant surprises. 7
Moreover, authors wanting to publish as quickly as possible may consider to use appropriate free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. These preprint servers are common in mathematics and physics disciplines, and are becoming more popular in biomedical sciences. For instance, one of these is bioRxiv (http://biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv), which is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. By posting preprints on bioRxiv, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals. Preprint servers may contribute to supplant predatory journals in the near future. As a final consideration, we would like to address two 'interest groups' that are at the center of the phenomenon. One comprises young scholars, invariably inexperienced, who may fall prey to predatory journals due to mere lack of knowledge about the problem. The other is made up of those who, in spite of being informed, decide to opt for the predatory journals upon either having been rejected by properly listed journals or when under pressing time constraints. A two-pronged policy may therefore be adopted by the responsible bodies in academia and research/clinical institutions: 1) for the former group it should be the responsibility of the mentors to inform the novices, both formally and informally, about the predatory journals threat and provide specific guidance on publishing ethics, in general, and on manuscript submission specifically 2) for the latter, a sanction in the form of ignoring publications in predatory journals coupled with a serious question mark on the one's scientific integrity and solidity of research should furnish a sufficiently strong deterrent against the use of predatory journals, particularly when candidates’ eligibility for appointment or promotion is considered. Needless to add, we strongly believe that the predatory phenomenon runs contrary to the best interests of the scientific community and should therefore disappear in much the same way as it made its way into the realm of scientific publication.
Study limitations The findings of this study were obtained from publishers’ and journals’ websites that were frequently found dysfunctional or not accessible, which may have affected the accuracy of the data collected. Moreover, in line with other previously published reports we employed the Beall’s list of questionable publishers as the foundation for our assessment. The list has also been criticized for being under the responsibility of a single person and possibly too strict with naïve publishers lacking experience in the editorial business, particularly those from developing countries. The list has been thoroughly and regularly updated until 15 January 2017 when its content was removed
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(http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/mystery-controversial-list-predatory-publishersdisappears). Another limitation may reside in having manually counted the articles and inspected the addresses of the publishers’ headquarters by Google Maps. Although these basic approaches may be not devoid of errors, they have already been employed in other studies (Shen and Björk, 2015; Ezinwa Nwagwu and Ojemeni, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016; Manca et al., 2017) and in the present investigation were conducted independently and double-checked by at least two of the authors.
Conclusions This study provides independent information on the magnitude, publication costs and country of origin of the predatory open-access publishing in neurosciences and neurology as well as a list of predatory journals active in these fields. The findings of the present investigation outline that a worrying number of questionable journals operate in the two disciplines. Eighty-eight predatory journals, with 2,404 articles issued, compete against 100 reputable journals in neurosciences. In neurology, the 104 predatory journals retrieved, with 3,134 articles published, outnumber the 73 legitimate journals active in this field. A core set of methodological steps along with some principles of general policy are provided to help scholars identify predatory practices when considering to submit to open-access journals.
Funding acknowledgements This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing Interests The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Author Contributions Study conception and design: AM, FD and LC; Acquisition of data: AM, GM and LC; Analysis and interpretation of data: AM, GM, FD, DD; Drafting of manuscript: AM, FD, ZD; Critical revision: AM, FD, LC, DD, ZD
Abbreviations OA
Open Access 9
DOAJ
Directory of Open Access Journals
APCs
Article processing charges
USD
United States dollars
NLM
National Library of Medicine
10
References Beall J (2013) Medical publishing triage - chronicling predatory open access publishers. Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2:47-49. Beall J (2016) Predatory journals: Ban predators from the scientific record. Nature 534:326. Beall J (2012) Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature 489:179. bioRxiv http://biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv (accessed on Apr 11, 2017) Bohannon J (2013) Who's afraid of peer review? Science 342:60-65. Butler D (2013) Investigating journals: The dark side of publishing. Nature 28:433-435. Currency Converter http://www.currencyconverterrate.com (accessed on Oct 12, 2016) DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals https://doaj.org (accessed on Oct 12, 2016) Ezinwa Nwagwu W, Ojemeni O (2015) Penetration of nigerian predatory biomedical open access journals 2007-2012: A bibliometric study. Learn Publ 28:23-34. Maddy AJ, Tosti A (2016) Predatory Journals in Dermatology. Br J Dermatol [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1111/bjd.15072. Manca A, Cugusi L, Dragone D, Deriu F (2016) Predatory journals: Prevention better than cure? J Neurol Sci 370:161. Manca A, Martinez G, Cugusi L, Dragone D, Mercuro G, Deriu F (2017) Predatory Open Access in Rehabilitation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2017.01.002. Moher D, Srivastava A (2015) You are invited to submit…. BMC Med 13:180. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0423-3. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/mystery-controversial-list-predatory-publishersdisappears Science AAAS, 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science (accessed on Apr 11, 2017) SCImago Journal & Country Rank http://www.scimagojr.com/ (accessed on Dec 31, 2016)
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Shen C, Björk BC (2015) 'Predatory' Open Access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Med 13:230. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0469-2. Solomon DJ, Björk BC (2012) A study of open access journals using article processing charges. J Am Soc Inf Sci Tec 63:1485–1495. Stone TE, Rossiter RC (2015) Predatory publishing: Take care that you are not caught in the open access net. Nurs Health Sci 17:277-279. Van Noorden R (2014) Open access website gets tough. Nature 512:17. Vinny PW, Vishnu VY, Lal V (2016) Trends in scientific publishing: Dark clouds loom large. J Neurol Sci 363:119-120.
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Table 1 – List of suspected journals operating in the field of neurosciences Journal 1.
Publisher
2.
Academic Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal Advances in Psychology and Neuroscience
Science Publishing Group
3.
American Journal of Neuroscience
Science Publications
4. 5.
Ivy Union Publishing Science Publishing Group
6.
American Journal of Neuroscience Research American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience American Open Neurobiology Journal
7.
American Open Neurology Journal
Research and Knowledge Publication
8.
Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology
9.
ARC Journal of Neuroscience
10. Archive of Neuroscience
Vernon Innovative Publishers Academicians’ Research Center (ARC) (ARC Journals) Kowsar Publishing
11. Asian American Neurobiology Research Journal
Asian and American Research Publishing Group
Academic Knowledge and Research Publishing
Research and Knowledge Publication
12. Asian American Neuroscience Research Journal
Asian and American Research Publishing Group
13. Asian Journal of Mental Health Research
Standard Global Journals
14. Austin Neurology & Neurosciences
Austin Publishing Group
15. Basic and clinical neuroscience
Lexis Publisher
16. British Open Journal of Advanced Neuroscience
British Open Research Publications
17. British Open Journal of Neuroscience 18. Canadian Open Behavioral Health and Neuroscience Journal 19. Canadian Open Neuroscience Journal
British Open Research Publications
20. Current Neurobiology
OMICS International
21. Current Research in Neuroscience
Academic Journals, Inc.
22. Current Research in Neuroscience
Science Alert
23. Current Updates in Neurology and Neuroscience 24. Didactic Journal Of Neuroscience And Behavioral Health (DJNBH) 25. eko journal of health behaviours and neuroscience 26. Eurasian Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal 27. Eurasian Neuroscience Research Journal
OPR Science
28. European Advances Journal of Neuroscience
Canadian Research Publication Canadian Research Publication
Didactic Journals Eko Journal Eurasian Research Publishing Eurasian Research Publishing Center of Advanced Scientific Research and Publications
29. European Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Journal 30. European Open Neuroscience Journal
European Union Research Publishing
31. Indian Journal of Neurosciences
Innovative Publication
32. Indian Journal of Neurosciences
Integrated Science Publications
33. Insight Neuroscience
Insight Knowledge
European Union Research Publishing
13
34. International Journal of Behavioral Health and Neuroscience Research 35. International Journal of Neural Science and Brain Research 36. International Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience 37. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health 38. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science 39. International Journal of Neuroscience and Surgery 40. International Journal of Neuroscience Research
Academic and Scientific Publishing Science Fair Open Library Journal Network International Scholars Journals Horizon Research Publishing Thomson & Ryberg Publications Academic and Scientific Publishing
41. International Journal of Neuroscience Research
eScience Publisher
42. Jacobs Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
Jacobs Publishers
43. Journal of Advanced Neuroscience Research
Cosmos Scholars Publishing House
44. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science
Lawarence Press
45. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science
Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP
46. Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology 47. Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neuroscience 48. Journal of Neurology and Neurobiology
OMICS International
49. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub)
50. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience 51. Journal of Neurophysiology and Neurological Disorders 52. Journal of Neuroscience
OMICS International
OMICS International
53. Journal of Neuroscience & Clinical Research
Scitechz
United Scientific Group SciForschen SEE Sci Forschen
JScholar Journals
54. Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health
Academic Journals
55. Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering
American Scientific Publishers
56. Journal of Neuroscience and Neuropsychology
ScholArena
57. Journal of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation
ScienceScript
58. Journal of Pediatric Neurological Disorders
OMICS International
59. Journal of Systems and Integrative Neuroscience
Open Access Text
60. Journal of Translational Neurosciences
Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub)
61. Journal of Translational Neurosciences
OMICS International
62. Literati Neuroscience
Literati Scientific and Publishers
63. Madridge Journal of Neuroscience
Madridge Publishers
64. neuro open journal
Openventio Publishers
65. Neurology and Neuroscience
iMed.pub
66. Neuromedicine
Isaac Scientific Publishing
67. Neuro-Ophthalmology & Visual Neuroscience
Science and Education
68. Neuroscience and Medicine
Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP)
69. Neuroscience Discovery
Herbert Open Access Journals
70. Neuroscience Research Letters 71. North American Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal 72. North American Open Neuroscience Research Journal 73. OA Neurosciences
BioInfo Publications North American Research Publishing North American Research Publishing OA Publishing London
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74. OBM Neurobiology
Open BioMedical Publishing Corporation (OBM)
75. Open Journal of Neuroscience
Ross Science Publishers
76. Research & Reviews: Neuroscience
OMICS International
77. Research & Reviews: Neuroscience 78. Research and Reviews: A Journal of Neuroscience 79. Research in Neuroscience 80. Research Open Journal of Behavioral Health and Neuroscience 81. Research Open Journal of Neuroscience
Research & Reviews (International Journals) Integrated Science Publications Scientific & Academic Publishing Science and Technology Publishing Science and Technology Publishing
82. SciFed Journal of Neuroscience
Scientific Federation
83. SciTz Neurology and Neurosciences 84. Swift Journal Of Neuroscience And Behavioral Health (SJNBH) 85. The Scientific Pages of Translational Neuroscience 86. Universal Open Neuroscience Journal 87. US Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Journal 88. US Open Neuroscience Journal
Scitechz Swift Journals The Scientific Pages Adyan Academic Press American Research Publications American Research Publications
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Table 2 – List of suspected journals operating in the field of neurology Journal 1. Advances in Neurology Research 2. Aging and neurodegeneration 3. American Journal of Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery 4. American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease 5. American Open Neurology Journal 6. Annals of Neurodegenerative Disorders 7. Archives of Neurology and Neurosurgery (ANN) 8. Asian American Neurology Research Journal 9. Austin Journal of Clinical Neurology 10. Austin Journal of Neurological Disorders & Epilepsy 11. Austin Neurology 12. Austin Neurology & Neurosciences 13. BAOJ Neurology 14. Basic and clinical neuroscience 15. British Open Journal of Neurology 16. Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience 17. Current opinions in neurological science 18. Current Updates in Neurology and Neuroscience 19. EC Neurology 20. Enliven: Neurology and Neurotechnology 21. Global Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery 22. Global Scientific Research Journal of Neurology 23. HSOA Journal of Spine, Neurology & Neurophysiology 24. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neurology 25. International Journal of Neuro & Psychological Disorders 26. International Journal of Neurological Disorders & Interventions 27. International Journal of Neurological Nursing 28. International Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience 29. International Journal of Neurology and Brain Disorders 30. International Journal of Neurology and
Publisher Wudpecker Research Journals Research Publisher Public Science Framework e-Century Publishing Corporation
Research and Knowledge Publication JSciMed Central Hendun Research Access Asian and American Research Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group
Austin Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group Bio Accent Lexis Publisher British Open Research Publications Sci Forschen Scientia Ricerca OPR Science E-Cronicon Enliven Archive Global Science Research Journals Global Scientific Research Journals Herald Scholarly Open Access Sci Forschen McMed International Graphy Publications Journals Pub Journal Network Ommega Publishers ClinMed International Library 16
31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.
46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.
60. 61.
62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.
Neurotherapy International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry International Journal of Neuropathology International Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal Jacobs Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal Of Clinical Neurology, Neurosurgery And Spine Journal of Neurological Disorders Journal of Neurological Disorders & Stroke Journal of Neurology & Neuromedicine Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology Journal of Neurology & Stroke Journal of Neurology & Translational Neuroscience journal of neurology and epidemiology Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neural Science Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neurobiology Journal of Neurology and Neuroinformatics Journal of Neurology and Neurological Disorders Journal of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Research Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery Journal of Neurology and Psychology Journal of Neurology and Therapeutics Journal of Neurology Research Journal of Neurology, Neurological Science and Disorders Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Spine Journal of Neurophysiology and Neurological Disorders Journal of Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders Journal of Pediatric Neurological Disorders Journal of Pediatric Neurology and Medicine JSM Pediatric Neurology Mathews Journal of Neurology
ACT Publishing Medical science ACT Publishing Trans Stellar (Transstellar)
Columbia International Publishing Hans Publishers, Inc. ScienceDomain International Jacobs Publishers Scientific Literature OMICS International JSciMed Central SciAccess OMICS International MedCrave JSciMed Central
Savvy Science Gavin Publishers United Scientific Group SciForschen SEE Sci Forschen Ology Science Annex Publishers Allied Academies Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub) OMICS International Elyns Publishing Group Avens Publishing Group NobleResearch Elmer Press Peertechz Trans Stellar (Transstellar) Remedy Publications JScholar Journals Heighten Science Publications OMICS International OMICS International JSciMed Central Mathews Open Access Journals 17
68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80.
81.
Nerve Neuro open journal Neurological Cases Neurological Disorders & Epilepsy Journal Neurological Disorders and Stroke Therapy Neurological Disorders and Therapeutics (NDT) Neurological Research And Therapy Neurological Research and Therapy Neurology Neurology & Neurotherapy Open Access Journal Neurology and Neurobiology Neurology and Neuroscience Neurology, Brain and Psychiatry: Open Access OBM Neurobiology
82. Open Access Journal of Neurology 83. Open access Journal of Neurology & Neurosurgery 84. Photon Journal of Neurology 85. Research in Neurology: An International Journal 86. SciTz Neurology and Neurosciences 87. SM Journal of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 88. SM Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience 89. SOJ Neurology 90. SRL Neurological Disorders 91. SRL Neurology & Neurosurgery 92. The Internet Journal of Neurology 93. The Scientific Pages of Brain Disorders 94. The Scientific Pages of Neurodegenerative Disorders 95. The Scientific Pages of Pediatric Neurology 96. Therapeutic Targets for Neurological Diseases 97. Universal Open Neural Plasticity Journal 98. Universal Open Neurodegenerative Diseases Journal 99. Universal Open Neurological Medicine Journal 100. Universal Open Neurological Medicine Journal 101. Universal Open Neurology Journal 102. World Academic Journal of Neurology and Stroke Research 103. World Academic Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Mental Health 104. World Journal of Neurology
Discovery Publication Openventio Publishsers Research Publisher Scientific Literature Scientific Open Access Journals (SOAJ) Open Access Text Open Access Pub Aperito Online Publishing Serials Publications Pvt Ltd Medwin Publishers Sci Forschen iMed.pub Cresco Online Publishing
Open BioMedical Publishing Corporation (OBM) International Science and Medical Journals (isaMed) Juniper Publishers
Photon Foundation IBIMA Publishing Scitechz SM Group (SM Online Publishers) SM Group (SM Online Publishers) Symbiosis SciRes Literature SciRes Literature Internet Scientific Publications The Scientific Pages The Scientific Pages The Scientific Pages Smart Science & Technology Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press
Adyan Academic Press World Academic Research Journals World Academic Research Journals
Baishideng Publishing Group
18
•
Predatory open-access threatens the credibility of genuine open-access publishing, particularly in biomedical research.
•
Predatory journals retrieved in neuroscience and neurology are not listed in the DOAJ, Scopus and MEDLINE.
•
11% and 20% of predatory journals retrieved in neuroscience and neurology, respectively, are indexed in PubMed.
•
Predatory journals outnumber legitimate journals in neurology (108 versus 73).
•
Methodological steps are provided to help scholars identify predatory practices when submitting to open-access journals.
19
S0306-4522(17)30263-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.014 NSC 17722
To appear in:
Neuroscience
Received Date: Revised Date: Accepted Date:
9 February 2017 11 April 2017 12 April 2017
Please cite this article as: A. Manca, G. Martinez, L. Cugusi, D. Dragone, Z. dvir, F. Deriu, The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology, Neuroscience (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience. 2017.04.014
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Title page The surge of predatory open-access in neurosciences and neurology Andrea MANCA1, Gianluca MARTINEZ1, Lucia CUGUSI2, Daniele DRAGONE1, Zeevi Dvir3 and Franca DERIU1* 1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, 07100, Italy 2 Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, 09100, Italy 3 Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 52100, Israel
Running title: Predatory publishing in neuroscience and neurology
Corresponding author: * Franca Deriu, MD, PhD Department of Biomedical Sciences University of Sassari Viale San Pietro 43/b 07100 - Sassari, Italy Phone: +39 079228294 Fax: +39 079228156 Email: [email protected]
1
Abstract Predatory open access is a controversial publishing business model that exploits the open-access system by charging publication fees in the absence of transparent editorial services. The credibility of academic publishing is now seriously threatened by predatory journals, whose articles are accorded real citations and thus contaminate the genuine scientific records of legitimate journals. This is of particular concern for public health since clinical practice relies on the findings generated by scholarly articles. Aim of this study was to compile a list of predatory journals targeting the neurosciences and neurology disciplines and to analyze the magnitude and geographical distribution of the phenomenon in these fields. Eighty-eight predatory journals operate in neurosciences and 104 in neurology, for a total of 2,404 and 3,134 articles issued, respectively. Publication fees range 521637 USD, much less than those charged by genuine open-access journals. The country of origin of 26.0-37.0% of the publishers was impossible to determine due to poor websites or provision of vague or non-credible locations. Of the rest 35.3%-42.0% reported their headquarters in the USA, 19.0-39.2% in India, 3.0-9.8% in other countries. Although calling themselves “open-access”, none of the journals retrieved was listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. However, 11.4-20.2% of them were found to be indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central, which raises concerns on the criteria for inclusion of journals and publishers imposed by these popular databases. Scholars in the neurosciences are advised to use all the available tools to recognize predatory practices and avoid the downsides of predatory journals.
Keywords: Scientific publishing; Open Access; Predatory journals; Ethics in publication
2
Introduction Researchers and academics in any scientific discipline are under great pressure to publish. Unfortunately, the number of those tempted by the opportunity to publish quickly for fast-tracking their academic careers is on the rise [Moher and Srivastava, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016]. Solicitations in the Open Access (OA) era may come as electronic invitations for prompt submissions of manuscripts, which is the marketing strategy of the predatory journals. These publish largely pseudo-scientific articles that betray the genuine OA model by commonly disregarding rigorous peer-review process, transparent editorial procedures and charging fees for papers 'accepted' for publication [Beall, 2012; Bohannon, 2013]. Predatory journals introduce themselves as OA venues but do not appear in the Directory of OA Journals (DOAJ), which is an online catalog that lists and provides access to OA, peer-reviewed journals of established quality [https://doaj.org]. A serious concern associated with the predatory phenomenon is that they are accorded real citations, despite the abovementioned drawbacks and generally poor quality of articles, thus contaminating the scientific records [Beall, 2013]. Currently, nearly none of the reputable journals have tools for detecting when fake research has been cited in submissions. The number of predatory publishers is on the rise: from 18 in 2011 to 693 in 2015 to over 1,100 in late 2016, with some of them operating only a few journals whilst others display large fleets (Shen and Björk, 2015; Manca et al., 2017). Several countermeasures have been proposed to slow down this phenomenon including the employment of journal-management services to identify and share information on fraudulent publishers, their removal from the scientific records, maintaining a list of predators and employing a set of criteria for their identification [Beall, 2012]. Beall’s list, which is a report of potential, possible or probable predatory OA publishers is currently considered a useful tool against the ambiguous editorial practices of predatory publishers and is employed in several published reports [Moher and Srivastava, 2015; Shen and Björk, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016; Manca et al., 2017]. Despite being criticized for its strict criteria, which may prevent a distinction between novice journals and real predators [Butler, 2013], this list is considered comprehensive, detailed and regularly updated [Moher and Srivastava, 2015]. Due to the concerns that the uncontrolled growth in the number of counterfeit journals raises, particularly for the biomedical research where most of predatory journals are active [Moher and Srivastava, 2015], assessing the size of the phenomenon in different scientific disciplines may help prevent further spread within the respective scholarly communities. To date no investigation has been conducted to study this topic with respect to the fields of neurosciences and neurology. Therefore, this study attempts to define a list of predatory journals 3
targeting such disciplines and to analyze the geographical distribution and magnitude of the phenomenon.
Experimental procedures For the present investigation we employed the same methodology of recently published reports that investigated the predatory phenomenon across the major scientific disciplines (Shen and Björk, 2015) and, more specifically, in the rehabilitation field (Manca et al., 2017). Accordingly, Beall’s list of predatory publishers was consulted (October 5, 2016) and each listed item was accessed. Journals were retained if the title included terms pertinent to the fields of neurosciences (Nerve; Nervous system; Neuron; Neurosciences; Cognitive Neuroscience; Neuroanatomy; Neurobiology; Neurochemistry; Neuroendocrinology; Neuropathology; Neuropharmacology; Neurophysiology) and neurology (Neurology, Neuropathology; Neurological disorder/disease). The two disciplines were analyzed separately. Each journal website was checked to obtain information about the publisher’s country of origin; the amount of the requested article processing charges (APCs) and how they are specified in the authors’ guidelines; the total number of articles published by the journal from the first issue to October 31st 2016. Two of the authors (AM and GM) independently counted the articles for each journal. In case of disagreement, a comparison between different views was performed to reach consensus and, if necessary, a third author (LC) contributed to the final decision. The amount of the journals’ APCs is presented in US Dollars (USD) and the prices given in currencies other than the USD were converted according to the exchange rate on Currency Converter [Currency Converter: http//www.currencyconverterrate.com]. The publishers’ country of origin was verified by checking the addresses reported in the websites using Google Maps and 3D Street View, in line with a previously employed methodology [Shen and Björk, 2015; Manca et al., 2017]. In case of unverifiable addresses or non-credible locations, the country of origin was classified as “impossible to determine”. Data collected were exported into the statistical software and descriptive analyses were performed separately for the two search strategies.
Results Predatory journals in neurosciences Among the 1,113 suspected publishers presented in Beall’s list, 88 predatory journals were identified as active in the field of neurosciences. The journals’ names and their respective 4
publishers are detailed in Table 1. None of the included titles was listed in the DOAJ, however, 10 (11.4%) were indexed in the PubMed database (Table 1, Items 3, 8, 20, 49, 50, 55, 57, 59, 68, 75). The geographical distribution of the publishers proved challenging to establish, due to poor websites, provision of unclear and vague addresses or non-credible locations. Curiously, one publisher reported its business as being administered from an address that coincided with that of the Italian Consulate in Boston, Massachusetts. The latter, enquired, categorically denied any company or commercial activity operating within their buildings. Likewise, the country of origin of 37 publishers (42%) was classified as “impossible to determine”. Of the rest 20 (39.2%) were based in India, 18 in USA (35.3%), 5 in the United Kingdom (9.8%), 5 in Africa (9.8%) and 3 in the United Arab Emirates (5.9%). The average APCs charged to authors was 521 USD (median 305; range 150 - 2,019). Approximately 70% of the journals displayed the required fee in their websites. Forty journals out of 88 (45.4%) did not contain any article or displayed an “early release” banner. Between 2012 and 2016 the total number of articles cumulatively published by the 88 predatory journals retrieved was 2,404. On average, each journal published 50 articles (median: 16; 95%; CI: 27.2 - 73) over this 4-year period.
Predatory journals in neurology One-hundred and four predatory journals were affiliated to neurology (Table 2). Only one of the included items was among the genuine OA journals listed in the DOAJ (Table 2, item 48). Twentyone
journals
(20.2%)
were
indexed
in
the
PubMed
database
(Table
2,
items
2,4,19,29,37,40,41,43,48,49,51,53,56,58,62,69,75,79,92,96,104). Sixty-two out of 104 (59.6%) detailed APCs which were, on average, 637 USD (median: 523; range: 100 – 1,949). Sixty-six journals (63.5%) displayed articles in their websites, whilst approximately 20 showed an “early release” message. Each of the journals with articles published, on average, 46 items (median: 18; 95% CI: 27.2 - 73), with a total count of 3,134. On publisher’s country of origin, 42% of the journals had their head office located in the USA, 19% in India, 3% in China, 3% in Africa, 7% other countries (UK, Canada, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates). The origin of 26% of the journals was classified as “impossible to determine”.
Discussion The findings of the present investigation outline the occurrence of the predatory publishing phenomenon in the fields of neurosciences and neurology. A relatively high number of journals 5
operate in the two disciplines (88 and 104, respectively), considering that the SCImago Journal & Country Rank portal [http://www.scimagojr.com] lists approximately 100 reputable journals in neurosciences and 73 in neurology, and no predatory journals among them. These figures are in line with previous statements depicting biomedical research as a particularly appealing field to predatory publishers (Moher and Srivastava, 2015). The APCs in neurosciences and neurology ranged 521 - 637 USD, confirming the notion that APCs of predatory journals are lower than those generally charged by genuine OA periodicals operating in medicine and health and indexed in the DOAJ (~1,000 USD, Solomon and Björk, 2012) and far lower than those required by non-OA journals that allow authors to make their article freely available (on average, 3,000 USD). Possibly the strategy of predatory publishers is to keep APCs just below the bar set by genuine OA journals in the same field, to attract customers. As a result, many scholars who are not aware of the difference between the two categories may be enticed to publish using the cheaper venue offered by predatory journals. Since 2014 the DOAJ has adopted stricter criteria for inclusion so that publishers and journals have to meet a minimum standard of quality to be listed in the directory, which now aspires to become the largest ‘whitelist’ of acceptable OA journals (Van Noorden, 2014). Put in this perspective, the new DOAJ, despite having been previously criticized for its apparently inadequate quality-control checks in the first decade of its activity, may finally serve as a helpful tool for researchers who want to explore the legitimacy of a publication. The 2,404 articles published in the field of neurosciences between 2012 and 2016 constitute 1.4% of the 170,204 published over the same period by the journals indexed in the Elsevier’s Scopus database (employing an [All Fields] search strategy). Equally, the 3,134 'neurological' articles are 1% of the 314,283 items retrieved in Scopus. Running the same search strategies in the PubMed database resulted in slightly larger figures (neurosciences: 2%; neurology: 2.8%). Thus, the magnitude of the predatory phenomenon in these sub-disciplines is slightly larger than that estimated by the DOAJ (around 1%) but far lower than the 5-10% Beall’s estimate (Butler, 2013). The size of predatory publishing in these fields may be even smaller as the median number of articles published per journal was less than 20. Besides, a substantial part of them had empty repositories (i.e., displaying a “coming soon” banner). This was particularly true for the field of neurosciences, where only 54.6% of the journals actually contained articles. Although the number of articles published is apparently unimportant and not particularly alarming, to establish how many times non-peer-reviewed low-quality papers are cited in genuine, peer-reviewed journals is of great importance since bogus research, once cited, can easily corrupt the scientific records [Beall, 2013]. As no tools are yet available to detect when counterfeit research has been cited in submissions, 6
prevention is crucial to take on the problem (Manca et al., 2016). In this perspective, scholars should be made more aware of the threat of predatory publishing (Vinny et al., 2016) and of the names of questionable journals operating in their specific research domain. As an example, we recently compiled a list of suspected predatory journals operating in rehabilitation research and advised those concerned against relying on the findings reported in these journals (Manca et al., 2017). Firm action is also needed from the established scholar databases as they must track and ban journals and publishers that employ sham or non-transparent peer review policies (Beall, 2016). Despite this important recommendation, in the present investigation we found that 11.4% of predatory journals in neuroscience and 20.2% of predatory journals in neurology are indexed in PubMed and displayed with all the other records in the “Search results”. This finding concurs with the situation in rehabilitation research (Manca et al., 2017) and suggests that predatory journals exploit the popularity of PubMed to achieve exposure alongside the opportunity to be viewed, accessed and eventually cited. Noteworthy, predatory journals are retrievable in the catalog of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), are labeled by a unique NLM identification number and referenced as “Not currently indexed for MEDLINE. Only citations for author manuscripts are included”. According to Beall (2016), extremely popular and highly-accessed databases such as PubMed and PubMed Central should raise the bar for acceptance and follow the examples of Scopus, MEDLINE and DOAJ catalogues, which impose stricter criteria for including journals and publishers. Indeed, none of the 192 questionable journals here identified was indexed in Scopus and MEDLINE, and only one was listed in the DOAJ catalog. Several considerations can help scholars avoid the downsides of predatory journals and secure a safer home for their manuscripts. Before submitting a paper to an OA journal authors are encouraged to: 1) check whether the journal is listed in major citation databases, such as the Elsevier’s Scopus index, and also in whitelists of OA journals, such as the new DOAJ; 2) crosscheck the DOAJ’s and Beall’s lists; verify the legitimacy of the publisher and the standing of the journal’s editor-in-chief (Stone and Rossiter, 2015); 3) inspect the contact information provided by the publisher, including the headquarters’ address (Butler, 2013); 4) critically evaluate the broadness of the journal’s scope (Beall, 2013) and the quality of some of the journal’s published articles (Butler, 2013); 5) pay attention to the journal’s name as it may look suspiciously similar to legitimate journals (Stone and Rossiter, 2015). As an example, Neuroscience Research Letters unambiguously recalls the Elsevier’s Neuroscience Letters; 6) review the journal’s APCs policy carefully to avoid unpleasant surprises. 7
Moreover, authors wanting to publish as quickly as possible may consider to use appropriate free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. These preprint servers are common in mathematics and physics disciplines, and are becoming more popular in biomedical sciences. For instance, one of these is bioRxiv (http://biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv), which is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. By posting preprints on bioRxiv, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals. Preprint servers may contribute to supplant predatory journals in the near future. As a final consideration, we would like to address two 'interest groups' that are at the center of the phenomenon. One comprises young scholars, invariably inexperienced, who may fall prey to predatory journals due to mere lack of knowledge about the problem. The other is made up of those who, in spite of being informed, decide to opt for the predatory journals upon either having been rejected by properly listed journals or when under pressing time constraints. A two-pronged policy may therefore be adopted by the responsible bodies in academia and research/clinical institutions: 1) for the former group it should be the responsibility of the mentors to inform the novices, both formally and informally, about the predatory journals threat and provide specific guidance on publishing ethics, in general, and on manuscript submission specifically 2) for the latter, a sanction in the form of ignoring publications in predatory journals coupled with a serious question mark on the one's scientific integrity and solidity of research should furnish a sufficiently strong deterrent against the use of predatory journals, particularly when candidates’ eligibility for appointment or promotion is considered. Needless to add, we strongly believe that the predatory phenomenon runs contrary to the best interests of the scientific community and should therefore disappear in much the same way as it made its way into the realm of scientific publication.
Study limitations The findings of this study were obtained from publishers’ and journals’ websites that were frequently found dysfunctional or not accessible, which may have affected the accuracy of the data collected. Moreover, in line with other previously published reports we employed the Beall’s list of questionable publishers as the foundation for our assessment. The list has also been criticized for being under the responsibility of a single person and possibly too strict with naïve publishers lacking experience in the editorial business, particularly those from developing countries. The list has been thoroughly and regularly updated until 15 January 2017 when its content was removed
8
(http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/mystery-controversial-list-predatory-publishersdisappears). Another limitation may reside in having manually counted the articles and inspected the addresses of the publishers’ headquarters by Google Maps. Although these basic approaches may be not devoid of errors, they have already been employed in other studies (Shen and Björk, 2015; Ezinwa Nwagwu and Ojemeni, 2015; Maddy and Tosti, 2016; Manca et al., 2017) and in the present investigation were conducted independently and double-checked by at least two of the authors.
Conclusions This study provides independent information on the magnitude, publication costs and country of origin of the predatory open-access publishing in neurosciences and neurology as well as a list of predatory journals active in these fields. The findings of the present investigation outline that a worrying number of questionable journals operate in the two disciplines. Eighty-eight predatory journals, with 2,404 articles issued, compete against 100 reputable journals in neurosciences. In neurology, the 104 predatory journals retrieved, with 3,134 articles published, outnumber the 73 legitimate journals active in this field. A core set of methodological steps along with some principles of general policy are provided to help scholars identify predatory practices when considering to submit to open-access journals.
Funding acknowledgements This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing Interests The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Author Contributions Study conception and design: AM, FD and LC; Acquisition of data: AM, GM and LC; Analysis and interpretation of data: AM, GM, FD, DD; Drafting of manuscript: AM, FD, ZD; Critical revision: AM, FD, LC, DD, ZD
Abbreviations OA
Open Access 9
DOAJ
Directory of Open Access Journals
APCs
Article processing charges
USD
United States dollars
NLM
National Library of Medicine
10
References Beall J (2013) Medical publishing triage - chronicling predatory open access publishers. Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2:47-49. Beall J (2016) Predatory journals: Ban predators from the scientific record. Nature 534:326. Beall J (2012) Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature 489:179. bioRxiv http://biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv (accessed on Apr 11, 2017) Bohannon J (2013) Who's afraid of peer review? Science 342:60-65. Butler D (2013) Investigating journals: The dark side of publishing. Nature 28:433-435. Currency Converter http://www.currencyconverterrate.com (accessed on Oct 12, 2016) DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals https://doaj.org (accessed on Oct 12, 2016) Ezinwa Nwagwu W, Ojemeni O (2015) Penetration of nigerian predatory biomedical open access journals 2007-2012: A bibliometric study. Learn Publ 28:23-34. Maddy AJ, Tosti A (2016) Predatory Journals in Dermatology. Br J Dermatol [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1111/bjd.15072. Manca A, Cugusi L, Dragone D, Deriu F (2016) Predatory journals: Prevention better than cure? J Neurol Sci 370:161. Manca A, Martinez G, Cugusi L, Dragone D, Mercuro G, Deriu F (2017) Predatory Open Access in Rehabilitation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2017.01.002. Moher D, Srivastava A (2015) You are invited to submit…. BMC Med 13:180. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0423-3. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/mystery-controversial-list-predatory-publishersdisappears Science AAAS, 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science (accessed on Apr 11, 2017) SCImago Journal & Country Rank http://www.scimagojr.com/ (accessed on Dec 31, 2016)
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Shen C, Björk BC (2015) 'Predatory' Open Access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Med 13:230. doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0469-2. Solomon DJ, Björk BC (2012) A study of open access journals using article processing charges. J Am Soc Inf Sci Tec 63:1485–1495. Stone TE, Rossiter RC (2015) Predatory publishing: Take care that you are not caught in the open access net. Nurs Health Sci 17:277-279. Van Noorden R (2014) Open access website gets tough. Nature 512:17. Vinny PW, Vishnu VY, Lal V (2016) Trends in scientific publishing: Dark clouds loom large. J Neurol Sci 363:119-120.
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Table 1 – List of suspected journals operating in the field of neurosciences Journal 1.
Publisher
2.
Academic Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal Advances in Psychology and Neuroscience
Science Publishing Group
3.
American Journal of Neuroscience
Science Publications
4. 5.
Ivy Union Publishing Science Publishing Group
6.
American Journal of Neuroscience Research American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience American Open Neurobiology Journal
7.
American Open Neurology Journal
Research and Knowledge Publication
8.
Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology
9.
ARC Journal of Neuroscience
10. Archive of Neuroscience
Vernon Innovative Publishers Academicians’ Research Center (ARC) (ARC Journals) Kowsar Publishing
11. Asian American Neurobiology Research Journal
Asian and American Research Publishing Group
Academic Knowledge and Research Publishing
Research and Knowledge Publication
12. Asian American Neuroscience Research Journal
Asian and American Research Publishing Group
13. Asian Journal of Mental Health Research
Standard Global Journals
14. Austin Neurology & Neurosciences
Austin Publishing Group
15. Basic and clinical neuroscience
Lexis Publisher
16. British Open Journal of Advanced Neuroscience
British Open Research Publications
17. British Open Journal of Neuroscience 18. Canadian Open Behavioral Health and Neuroscience Journal 19. Canadian Open Neuroscience Journal
British Open Research Publications
20. Current Neurobiology
OMICS International
21. Current Research in Neuroscience
Academic Journals, Inc.
22. Current Research in Neuroscience
Science Alert
23. Current Updates in Neurology and Neuroscience 24. Didactic Journal Of Neuroscience And Behavioral Health (DJNBH) 25. eko journal of health behaviours and neuroscience 26. Eurasian Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal 27. Eurasian Neuroscience Research Journal
OPR Science
28. European Advances Journal of Neuroscience
Canadian Research Publication Canadian Research Publication
Didactic Journals Eko Journal Eurasian Research Publishing Eurasian Research Publishing Center of Advanced Scientific Research and Publications
29. European Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Journal 30. European Open Neuroscience Journal
European Union Research Publishing
31. Indian Journal of Neurosciences
Innovative Publication
32. Indian Journal of Neurosciences
Integrated Science Publications
33. Insight Neuroscience
Insight Knowledge
European Union Research Publishing
13
34. International Journal of Behavioral Health and Neuroscience Research 35. International Journal of Neural Science and Brain Research 36. International Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience 37. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health 38. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science 39. International Journal of Neuroscience and Surgery 40. International Journal of Neuroscience Research
Academic and Scientific Publishing Science Fair Open Library Journal Network International Scholars Journals Horizon Research Publishing Thomson & Ryberg Publications Academic and Scientific Publishing
41. International Journal of Neuroscience Research
eScience Publisher
42. Jacobs Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
Jacobs Publishers
43. Journal of Advanced Neuroscience Research
Cosmos Scholars Publishing House
44. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science
Lawarence Press
45. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science
Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP
46. Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology 47. Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neuroscience 48. Journal of Neurology and Neurobiology
OMICS International
49. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub)
50. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience 51. Journal of Neurophysiology and Neurological Disorders 52. Journal of Neuroscience
OMICS International
OMICS International
53. Journal of Neuroscience & Clinical Research
Scitechz
United Scientific Group SciForschen SEE Sci Forschen
JScholar Journals
54. Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health
Academic Journals
55. Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering
American Scientific Publishers
56. Journal of Neuroscience and Neuropsychology
ScholArena
57. Journal of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation
ScienceScript
58. Journal of Pediatric Neurological Disorders
OMICS International
59. Journal of Systems and Integrative Neuroscience
Open Access Text
60. Journal of Translational Neurosciences
Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub)
61. Journal of Translational Neurosciences
OMICS International
62. Literati Neuroscience
Literati Scientific and Publishers
63. Madridge Journal of Neuroscience
Madridge Publishers
64. neuro open journal
Openventio Publishers
65. Neurology and Neuroscience
iMed.pub
66. Neuromedicine
Isaac Scientific Publishing
67. Neuro-Ophthalmology & Visual Neuroscience
Science and Education
68. Neuroscience and Medicine
Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP)
69. Neuroscience Discovery
Herbert Open Access Journals
70. Neuroscience Research Letters 71. North American Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Research Journal 72. North American Open Neuroscience Research Journal 73. OA Neurosciences
BioInfo Publications North American Research Publishing North American Research Publishing OA Publishing London
14
74. OBM Neurobiology
Open BioMedical Publishing Corporation (OBM)
75. Open Journal of Neuroscience
Ross Science Publishers
76. Research & Reviews: Neuroscience
OMICS International
77. Research & Reviews: Neuroscience 78. Research and Reviews: A Journal of Neuroscience 79. Research in Neuroscience 80. Research Open Journal of Behavioral Health and Neuroscience 81. Research Open Journal of Neuroscience
Research & Reviews (International Journals) Integrated Science Publications Scientific & Academic Publishing Science and Technology Publishing Science and Technology Publishing
82. SciFed Journal of Neuroscience
Scientific Federation
83. SciTz Neurology and Neurosciences 84. Swift Journal Of Neuroscience And Behavioral Health (SJNBH) 85. The Scientific Pages of Translational Neuroscience 86. Universal Open Neuroscience Journal 87. US Open Behavioral Health & Neuroscience Journal 88. US Open Neuroscience Journal
Scitechz Swift Journals The Scientific Pages Adyan Academic Press American Research Publications American Research Publications
15
Table 2 – List of suspected journals operating in the field of neurology Journal 1. Advances in Neurology Research 2. Aging and neurodegeneration 3. American Journal of Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery 4. American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease 5. American Open Neurology Journal 6. Annals of Neurodegenerative Disorders 7. Archives of Neurology and Neurosurgery (ANN) 8. Asian American Neurology Research Journal 9. Austin Journal of Clinical Neurology 10. Austin Journal of Neurological Disorders & Epilepsy 11. Austin Neurology 12. Austin Neurology & Neurosciences 13. BAOJ Neurology 14. Basic and clinical neuroscience 15. British Open Journal of Neurology 16. Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience 17. Current opinions in neurological science 18. Current Updates in Neurology and Neuroscience 19. EC Neurology 20. Enliven: Neurology and Neurotechnology 21. Global Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery 22. Global Scientific Research Journal of Neurology 23. HSOA Journal of Spine, Neurology & Neurophysiology 24. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neurology 25. International Journal of Neuro & Psychological Disorders 26. International Journal of Neurological Disorders & Interventions 27. International Journal of Neurological Nursing 28. International Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience 29. International Journal of Neurology and Brain Disorders 30. International Journal of Neurology and
Publisher Wudpecker Research Journals Research Publisher Public Science Framework e-Century Publishing Corporation
Research and Knowledge Publication JSciMed Central Hendun Research Access Asian and American Research Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group
Austin Publishing Group Austin Publishing Group Bio Accent Lexis Publisher British Open Research Publications Sci Forschen Scientia Ricerca OPR Science E-Cronicon Enliven Archive Global Science Research Journals Global Scientific Research Journals Herald Scholarly Open Access Sci Forschen McMed International Graphy Publications Journals Pub Journal Network Ommega Publishers ClinMed International Library 16
31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.
46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.
60. 61.
62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.
Neurotherapy International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology Research International Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry International Journal of Neuropathology International Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal Jacobs Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal Of Clinical Neurology, Neurosurgery And Spine Journal of Neurological Disorders Journal of Neurological Disorders & Stroke Journal of Neurology & Neuromedicine Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology Journal of Neurology & Stroke Journal of Neurology & Translational Neuroscience journal of neurology and epidemiology Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neural Science Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neurobiology Journal of Neurology and Neuroinformatics Journal of Neurology and Neurological Disorders Journal of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Research Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery Journal of Neurology and Psychology Journal of Neurology and Therapeutics Journal of Neurology Research Journal of Neurology, Neurological Science and Disorders Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Spine Journal of Neurophysiology and Neurological Disorders Journal of Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders Journal of Pediatric Neurological Disorders Journal of Pediatric Neurology and Medicine JSM Pediatric Neurology Mathews Journal of Neurology
ACT Publishing Medical science ACT Publishing Trans Stellar (Transstellar)
Columbia International Publishing Hans Publishers, Inc. ScienceDomain International Jacobs Publishers Scientific Literature OMICS International JSciMed Central SciAccess OMICS International MedCrave JSciMed Central
Savvy Science Gavin Publishers United Scientific Group SciForschen SEE Sci Forschen Ology Science Annex Publishers Allied Academies Insight Medical Publishing (IMedPub) OMICS International Elyns Publishing Group Avens Publishing Group NobleResearch Elmer Press Peertechz Trans Stellar (Transstellar) Remedy Publications JScholar Journals Heighten Science Publications OMICS International OMICS International JSciMed Central Mathews Open Access Journals 17
68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80.
81.
Nerve Neuro open journal Neurological Cases Neurological Disorders & Epilepsy Journal Neurological Disorders and Stroke Therapy Neurological Disorders and Therapeutics (NDT) Neurological Research And Therapy Neurological Research and Therapy Neurology Neurology & Neurotherapy Open Access Journal Neurology and Neurobiology Neurology and Neuroscience Neurology, Brain and Psychiatry: Open Access OBM Neurobiology
82. Open Access Journal of Neurology 83. Open access Journal of Neurology & Neurosurgery 84. Photon Journal of Neurology 85. Research in Neurology: An International Journal 86. SciTz Neurology and Neurosciences 87. SM Journal of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 88. SM Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience 89. SOJ Neurology 90. SRL Neurological Disorders 91. SRL Neurology & Neurosurgery 92. The Internet Journal of Neurology 93. The Scientific Pages of Brain Disorders 94. The Scientific Pages of Neurodegenerative Disorders 95. The Scientific Pages of Pediatric Neurology 96. Therapeutic Targets for Neurological Diseases 97. Universal Open Neural Plasticity Journal 98. Universal Open Neurodegenerative Diseases Journal 99. Universal Open Neurological Medicine Journal 100. Universal Open Neurological Medicine Journal 101. Universal Open Neurology Journal 102. World Academic Journal of Neurology and Stroke Research 103. World Academic Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Mental Health 104. World Journal of Neurology
Discovery Publication Openventio Publishsers Research Publisher Scientific Literature Scientific Open Access Journals (SOAJ) Open Access Text Open Access Pub Aperito Online Publishing Serials Publications Pvt Ltd Medwin Publishers Sci Forschen iMed.pub Cresco Online Publishing
Open BioMedical Publishing Corporation (OBM) International Science and Medical Journals (isaMed) Juniper Publishers
Photon Foundation IBIMA Publishing Scitechz SM Group (SM Online Publishers) SM Group (SM Online Publishers) Symbiosis SciRes Literature SciRes Literature Internet Scientific Publications The Scientific Pages The Scientific Pages The Scientific Pages Smart Science & Technology Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press Adyan Academic Press
Adyan Academic Press World Academic Research Journals World Academic Research Journals
Baishideng Publishing Group
18
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Predatory open-access threatens the credibility of genuine open-access publishing, particularly in biomedical research.
•
Predatory journals retrieved in neuroscience and neurology are not listed in the DOAJ, Scopus and MEDLINE.
•
11% and 20% of predatory journals retrieved in neuroscience and neurology, respectively, are indexed in PubMed.
•
Predatory journals outnumber legitimate journals in neurology (108 versus 73).
•
Methodological steps are provided to help scholars identify predatory practices when submitting to open-access journals.
19