For some time now, Cabells has been aware of an organization, with no affiliation to Cabells whatsoever, operating under the name Predatory Reports and using the website domain “predatoryreports.org” – a clear infringement and brazen attempt to capitalize on our reputation and long-standing commitment to the research community. Despite the unethical and injurious hijacking of … Continue reading Unmasking a Predator: predatoryreports.org
Mountain to climb
As the return to university beckons for many of us, we are unfortunately reminded that many of the challenges facing scholarly communications persist. Simon Linacre assesses wider issues impacting on publication ethics as Cabells’ Predatory Reports database hits the 15,000 journal mark.
Beware the known unknowns
Following a recent study showing an alarming lack of knowledge and understanding of predatory journals in China, Simon Linacre looks at the potential impact of the world’s biggest producer of research succumbing to the threat of deceptive publications.
The price of predatory publishing
What is the black market in predatory publishing worth each year? No satisfactory estimate has yet been produced, so Simon Linacre has decided to grab the back of an envelope and an old biro to try to make an educated guess. Firstly, all of us at Cabells would like to wish everyone well during this … Continue reading The price of predatory publishing
The Journal Blacklist surpasses the 12,000 journals listed mark
Just how big a problem is predatory publishing? Simon Linacre reflects on the news this week that Cabells announced it has reached 12,000 journals on its Journal Blacklist and shares some insights into publishing’s dark side. Predatory publishing has seen a great deal of coverage in 2019, with a variety of sting operations, opinion pieces … Continue reading The Journal Blacklist surpasses the 12,000 journals listed mark
FTC v. OMICS: a landmark predatory publishing case
In March of 2019, upon review of numerous allegations of predatory practices against the publisher OMICS International, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada ordered OMICS to pay $50.1 million in damages. The case marks one of the first judgments against a publisher accused of predatory practices and could be a signal of … Continue reading FTC v. OMICS: a landmark predatory publishing case
If at first you don’t succeed…
Last year, we were approached by the editors of Social Sciences, published by Science Publishing Group (Science PG), regarding an article we published in Learned Publishing, the journal of the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers. The article, “Cabells’ Journal Whitelist and Blacklist: Intelligent data for informed journal evaluations” presented readers with an overview … Continue reading If at first you don’t succeed…
Publish and be damned
The online world is awash with trolling, gaslighting and hate speech, and the academic portion is sadly not immune, despite its background in evidence, logical argument and rigorous analysis. For the avoidance of doubt, Simon Linacre establishes fact from fiction for Cabells in terms of Open Access, predatory publishing and product names. When I went … Continue reading Publish and be damned
Faking the truth
Predatory publishing can cause harm in all sorts of ways, but so can fighting it with the wrong ammunition. In this blog post, Simon Linacre looks at examples of how organizations have gone the wrong way about doing the right thing. One of the perks – and also the pains – of working in marketing … Continue reading Faking the truth
Feedback loop
Last week the Scholarly Kitchen blog reviewed the Cabells Blacklist for its readers and inspired the second highest number of comments for any post so far in 2019. As a follow-up, Simon Linacre answers some of the questions the post and comments have raised while providing an update on the product itself. The publication … Continue reading Feedback loop