Articles of potential scientific value could be lost because they are published in these journals.

Predatory publishing has become increasingly ubiquitous across the sciences and beyond. Importantly, Dr Nicola Alberto Valente, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, compiled and studied the barrage of invitations he received over the course of an academic year. He then attempted to quantitatively assess the impact these invitations had on him and his work. Research Outreach spoke to Dr Valente about his findings, and about the impact of these publishers more generally.

Many researchers may now feel the influx of suspicious journal ‘invitations’ via email have become a kind of background noise, to be filed away in ‘spam’ without a second thought. Yet these invitations can be far graver than mere inconveniences. Young researchers, or those who are flattered by the promises made by the predatory journal, may succumb to the temptation of publication – only to find the promises were unfounded, and the costs attached were not remunerated. In other circumstances, it may be difficult to confidently separate the genuine from the predatory, which seriously affects a researcher’s willingness to proceed with publication. This context only breeds distrust and anxiety.

Dr Valente is in a great position to shed light on the troubling allure of these publishers, and to impart some much-needed advice on how to make informed and confident decisions about journals.