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Who publishes in “predatory” journals?
Author(s) -
Xia Jingfeng,
Harmon Jennifer L.,
Connolly Kevin G.,
Donnelly Ryan M.,
Anderson Mary R.,
Howard Heather A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23265
Subject(s) - reputation , publishing , citation , publication , sociocultural evolution , population , library science , geography , social science , political science , computer science , advertising , sociology , business , demography , law
Many open access journals have a reputation for being of low quality and being dishonest with regard to peer review and publishing costs. Such journals are labeled “predatory” journals. This study examines author profiles for some of these “predatory” journals as well as for groups of more well‐recognized open access journals. We collect and analyze the publication record, citation count, and geographic location of authors from the various groups of journals. Statistical analyses verify that each group of journals has a distinct author population. Those who publish in “predatory” journals are, for the most part, young and inexperienced researchers from developing countries. We believe that economic and sociocultural conditions in these developing countries have contributed to the differences found in authorship between “predatory” and “nonpredatory” journals.