Predatory journals entrap unsuspecting scientists. Here’s how universities can support researchers
Summary of an interesting survey about why research publish in predatory journals
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Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone can help me. I am unable to tell whether this email from a journal is predatory or not: Subject: [Water] Paper Invitation for Special Issue “Water Governance: Current Status and Future Trends”
Excerpt from email: Dear Dr. Shah,
Hope you are doing well.
The open access journal Water (ISSN 2073-4441, IF 3.4) is launching a new Special Issue “Water Governance: Current Status and Future Trends”. We would like to invite you to publish a paper in this issue. Either a long review or research paper is encouraged.
Then they share links for further reading, submission deadline, further details on the submission process, etc. The email address is: Keely Zhangkeely.zhang@mdpi.com Cc:water@mdpi.com
Interesting question @safieh.shah! Water is published by MDPI, and @rebecca and I were recently discussing if they are a predatory publisher. Unfortunately, there is not a definitive answer about this, but this post provides an informative discussion:
The conclusion of that post is:
an analysis of MDPI has been published, which does conclude that it exhibits predatory behavior. If you are considering submitting to an MDPI journal, due diligence should be carried out (which should be done for any journals you are considering submitting to) and should include reading this paper, which is the best resource we have at the present time.
Personally, I would judge each MDPI journal on a case by case basis. If you regularly read articles published in Water and can see that good researchers from your field are publishing their work there than you could consider submitting an article. However, MPDI journals are known for charging high APCs and you can probably find another suitable OA journal (look on doaj.org) where you can publish your work more affordably.
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Thank you so much for sharing this journal article, it is very fascinating to see the grey area grow as something natural during phases of big systemic changes. I appreciate your support in helping me demystify this.
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Hi there,
Would anyone know if this invite below is from a predatory group conference or not?
Thank you in advance 
Hi Safieh,
It’s a bit hard to be sure here because vivid global summits seems to be a new organization that hasn’t actually hosted any conferences yet. All the conferences on their website are scheduled for next year, and there aren’t any public comments about them yet. But if you look at their website, it makes it seem like they have already hosted a lot of conferences, which is a bit suspicious. Personally, I wouldn’t register to attend their conferences.
Thank you for your help and support, Gavin. Also, I appreciate that you shared your insights with me as well. I will definitely keep that in mind and be cautious about such things.
As always, thank you for your invaluable contribution.
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