Predatory journals and paper mills jeopardise knowledge management

Abstract

With the advent of the author-pays business model replacing subscription, mercantile publishers have created journals. They respond to the dissatisfaction of naive researchers faced with the difficulties of publishing quickly and widely. These publishers favour commercial interests over knowledge and do not respect good publication practices. The network of science academies and UNESCO distinguish three groups of publishers: fraudulent (predatory journals), of poor quality (journals of complacency that are not to be recommended) and of good quality (legitimate journals). Good and bad articles can be found in all journals. Quality journals have created special issues with rapid reviews to remain competitive. The proliferation of these journals is a source of misinformation. Paper mills are commercial scientific writing and communication companies that sell articles to researchers in order to put their name among the authors. There are social networks accounts to promote these articles and sell the authors’ positions. Review and citation mills are also scams. Five factors have influenced these abuses: the monetisation of research results; the value of publishing a lot; the shortcomings of peer review; the lack of international certification of scientific journals; and artificial intelligence with its best and worst. The system can continue as long as there are satisfied researchers and institutional leaders do nothing. Fortunately, awareness is growing, but we are all waiting for our neighbours to change their practices.