GRASP

Predatory publishers - what every HDR student should know

October 29th, 2025, by Kitty Delaney Tag(s): Publishing

Have you ever received an email from a publisher inviting you to publish your research? Most of us have — and some are easy to spot as scams, thanks to excessive flattery, spelling mistakes, or offers to publish in journals outside your discipline with suspiciously fast turnaround times.

But predatory publishers are getting harder to identify. Their websites may look convincing, and their tactics are becoming more sophisticated. Some even hijack or clone legitimate journals, copying titles, ISSNs, or creating URLs similar to reputable journals.

The rise of Open Access publishing has normalised paying Article Processing Charges (APCs) to make research freely available, and predatory publishers exploit this model.

Is the problem serious?

  • Absolutely. Predatory publishers prey on scholars under pressure to publish, especially early career researchers and academics in low- and middle-income countries who may lack support or awareness of the practice.

  • A 2022 study by The InterAcademy Partnership (with 1800+ international scholars) found that over 80% consider predatory journals a serious problem. There are now an estimated 15,500+ predatory journals.

  • Publishing in a predatory journal can damage your credibility and reputation—even if you were unaware that it was a predatory publisher. You may lose copyright to your work and be unable to publish it elsewhere.

How to spot a predatory publisher

Watch out for these red flags:

  • Editorial boards listing academics who don’t know their names are being used. Photographs of editorial board members often look as if they have been cut and pasted from somewhere else.

  • Wide range of topics from a relatively unknown publisher. Legitimate journals are usually focused on a limited topic range, unless they’re large, well-known publishers such as Wiley, Elsevier, or Taylor & Francis.

  • Fake metrics like COSMOS Impact Factor, Global Impact Factor, or CiteFactor.

  • Claims of being indexed in suspicious databases that include Index Copernicus, Eurasian Scientific Journal Index, Asian Science Citation Index, and Scope Database.

  • Contact emails from Gmail or Yahoo instead of institutional or corporate addresses.

How to avoid being scammed

Use these tools and practices to check a journal’s credibility and always use more than one source:

  • Scimago: Is the journal listed in this portal? Scimago uses data from Scopus and is publicly available.

  • Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker: See if the journal is on their list of hijacked journals.

  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): If a journal claims to be listed in the directory, verify it on the DOAJ website. DOAJ has strict criteria for inclusion.

  • The DOAJ also maintains a list of journals and publishers that falsely claim they are indexed in the DOAJ.

  • Beall’s List: Check for Hijacked Journals and Predatory Publishers and Journals. Although based on the original list compiled by Jeffrey Beall, this list is updated on an irregular basis.

  • Ask your library for help evaluating journals you’re unsure about. They have dealt with many of these requests and have experience in identifying predatory publishers.

Remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash