The Impact of Predatory Publishing in Academic Research: A General Review [El impacto de las publicaciones depredadoras en la investigación académica: Una revisión general]

Abstract

Scientists and researchers from universities have become the target of predatory journals over the last few years. These false journals use deceptive practices to victimize researchers by promising them a guaranteed acceptance of their research and ensuring both online and print publications. There is a persistent culture in the academic environment of “publish or perish” to climb the ladder in academic careers. Because of that, these predatory journals take advantage of the pressure’s academics have to publish to deceive and exploit them intentionally for their profit. Those journals are insatiably motivated by money. They market their services by sending emails to academicians, encouraging them to submit their research papers through them. However, submissions are not free; they charge the authors for services they do not provide, such as peer-review, proofreading, and quality assurance. The purpose of this narrative is to create awareness about predatory journals and increase the knowledge of who they are to prevent scholars’ scientific articles get lost in the limbo forever. Furthermore, academics should avoid the negative consequences of publishing their research in these so-called predatory journals when they are encouraged through emails to send their publications. Those publishers not only can take the scientist’s or universities’ money but also the researcher’s reputation.