ASIS&T Approves Statement on Predatory Publishing
The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) recognizes the critical importance of conducting ethical research and publishing practices to safeguard honesty, trust, integrity, and transparency in scholarly communications. Predatory journals and publishing organizations pose a serious threat to researchers publishing their work, research integrity, and publishing ethics in all fields of study and particularly in information science. This statement reflects scholarly publishing industry standards and is intended to support ASIS&T members and authors in identifying and avoiding predatory publications.
Predatory journals (also referred to as fraudulent, deceptive, or “pseudo” journals) are “publications that claim to be legitimate scholarly journals but misrepresent their publishing practice” (Elmore & Weston, 2020, p. 607) in order to generate revenue. The criteria for determining if a publication is engaged in predatory practices are rooted in the principles developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.
In order to identify and avoid predatory publishers, ASIS&T recommends that researchers in our field adopt the following practices when considering article submission or participation in peer review:
- Consider the standing of the journal and the publisher in your scientific community. Are known researchers in your area publishing their work with this journal and publisher? Is this journal cited in the literature? Do you recognize the names of researchers on the editorial board?
- Be alert when receiving unsolicited or aggressive emails recruiting your contributions (often at a fee with unrealistically fast publication timelines that bypasses traditional peer review).
- Confirm a target journal or publisher is not included in Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers.
- Beware of publications with article process charges (APCs) that do not include transparent terms and conditions or are expected upon submission rather than at manuscript acceptance.
- Avoid publications with submission systems that are overly simplistic; that have unclear copyright terms, licensing agreements, peer-review processes, or do not request a conflict-of-interest statement; and/or lack an archiving plan for the journal.
- Scrutinize journal names that sound familiar but are actually illegitimate derivations as well as unprofessional websites, emails, or other communications that lack street addresses or phone numbers.
- Confirm a journal or publisher is included in authoritative databases such as LISA, LISTA, PubMed, Scopus, or the Directory of Open Access Journals; lack of indexing is a tell-tale sign that a publication is potentially fraudulent.
We encourage all authors to practice due diligence when submitting articles to potential publishers to protect the integrity of the research process, the scientific literature, the field of information science, and one’s own reputation. Authors can consult with their departments and/or libraries, and freely available resources such as Think. Check. Submit. for further guidance to support researchers in navigating potentially fraudulent publishing practices.
References
Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers: https://beallslist.net/ (accessed February 11, 2025).
Code of Conduct for Journal Publisher (COPE): https://publication-ethics.org/resources/cope-core-practices/ (accessed February 11, 2025).
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/guidance/guideline/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing (accessed February 11, 2025).
Elmore, S.A. and Weston, E.H. (2020). “Predatory journals: What they are and how to avoid them.” Toxic Pathology, 48(4).
Think. Check. Submit. https://thinkchecksubmit.org/ (accessed February 18, 2025).
Approved by the ASIS&T Board March 14, 2025.