Predatory Publishing: Know the Difference Between a Financial Scheme and Scholarly Dissemination

She suggests authors interested in publishing through a reputable online open-access site explore Wiley Open Access journals. These fully open-access journals are supported by internationally known editorial board members and are published in collaboration with authoritative journals and societies.

For those interested in submitting to an ACR publication, Dr. Singer advises authors to contact the ACR’s journals (A&R and AC&R). If a submission website or an email that appears to be from the College doesn’t look right, “Reach out to make sure you are submitting to the right place,” she recommends. Doing so can prevent a miscommunication to a sound-alike journal website. All ACR publications are published through John Wiley & Sons Inc.; therefore, all journal submissions go through Wiley’s Manuscript Central website for submission.

‘Our focus should be on the content & the body of the work, & our measure of publishing success should be the advancement of scientific discourse that serves our patients & advances our field of study.’ —Dr. Bucala

Know the Difference

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More universities are taking time to raise awareness about what is reputable and what is a scam when it comes to seeking a source for publishing research. In Dr. Hannan’s department at Harvard, new faculty are trained twice per year to be aware of the dangers of predatory publishers and to learn best approaches for a strategic approach to publish research in a reputable source. “This training includes an established approach between junior and senior authors to collaborate on choosing two journals to submit to so there is a back-up plan if the first journal rejects the article,” Dr. Hannan shares. She says this input from senior authors can provide constructive experience and understanding on the publishing process.

Similar discussions on strategic approaches to getting published and avoiding predatory publishers are happening at other academic institutions and this is valuable, according to Richard Bucala, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, pathology, and epidemiology at Yale University and editor in chief of A&R.

“Online publishing offers many advantages in terms of speed, cost and reaching people, but I think we have to be careful because the process of peer review and careful editing to refine a research paper are all key steps in validating published research and building the strong reputation of a publication,” Dr. Bucala says. “None of that really occurs in predatory journals.”

Dr. Bucala