From: Checklists to detect potential predatory biomedical journals: a systematic review
Study | Checklist name | Number of items | Items weighted Y/N | Time to complete min | Methods used to develop checklist (NR = Not reported) | Qualitative guidance Y/N | Quantitative guidance Y/N |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Checklists from electronic journal databases n = 53 | |||||||
[REFERENCE CHECKLIST] Shamseer, 2017 [13] | Salient characteristics of potential predatory journals | 13 | N | 0–5 | Cross-sectional analysis 93 predatory journals, 99 OA, 100 subscription based journals assessed | No | No |
Beall, 2012 [10] | Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers | 5 | No | 10+ min | Criteria based on AOSPAa Code of Conduct, two COPEb publications | No | No |
Beall, 2013 [15] | Some warning signs of questionable publishers | 7 | No | 0–5 min | Observational research on own emails received | No | No |
Crawford, 2014 [82] | No title | 11 | No | 6–10 min | Assessed all criteria in Beall’s criteria | Yes | No |
Knoll, 2014 [83] | Avoiding Predatory OA Journals | 17 | No | 0–5 min | Works cited | No | No |
Lukic, 2014 [84] | No title | 13 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple references | No | No |
Beall, 2015 [85] | Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers | 5 | No | 10+ min | Criteria based on COPE documents: Code of Conduct and Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publication | No | No |
Bhad, 2015 [86] | How should one suspect a journal could be a predatory journal? | 9 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Bradley-Springer, 2015 [87] | No title | 6 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple references | No | No |
Hemmat Esfe, 2015 [88] | Features of the Fake Journals | 9 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
INANE Predatory Publishing Practices Collaborative, 2015 [89] | Guidelines for evaluating the integrity of a journal / Red flags | 7 | No | 0–5 min | Limited literature review | No | No |
Pamukcu Gunaydin, 2015 [90] | No title | 10 | No | 0–5 min | Authors’ top 10 based on other references | No | No |
Proehl, 2015 [91] | Guidelines for evaluating the integrity of a journal - Red flags | 7 | No | 0–5 min | References to other checklists: COPE etc. | No | No |
Stone, 2015 [92] | Guidelines for evaluating the integrity of a journal | 6 | No | 0–5 min | Other credible resources: COPE, INANEc, other | No | No |
Yucha, 2015 [93] | Guidelines for Evaluating the Integrity of a Journal - Red flags | 10 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple references to other checklists | No | No |
Cariappa, 2016 [94] | Telltale signs - Something is wrong! | 7 | No | 0–5 | Some literature cited | No | No |
Carroll, 2016 [95] | Common Practices of Predatory Open Access Publications | 4 | No | 0–5 min | Limited literature review | No | No |
Dadkhah, 2016 [96] | Criteria to rank predatory journals | 14 | Yes | 10+ min | Observational study of 150 journals 80 predatory, 70 non | Yes | Yes |
Fraser, 2016 [97] | Red Flags for Recognizing Predatory Journals | 6 | No | 0–5 min | Two citations | No | No |
Glick, 2016 [98] | What you can expect from a predatory publisher | 7 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple citations | No | No |
Glick, 2016a [99] | Clues suggesting a “predatory” journal | 11 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple references | No | No |
Hansoti, 2016 [100] | Overall Approach to Choosing the Journal | 11 | No | 0–5 min | Extensive literature review | Yes | No |
Morley, 2016 [101] | 10 steps to spot a predatory publisher | 10 | No | 0–5 min | A few citations | Yes | No |
Nolan, 2016 [102] | None section title exists but not title | 5 | No | 0–5 min | None noted | No | No |
Ward, 2016 [103] | No title | 8 | No | 6–10 min | None listed | No | No |
Abadi, 2017 [16] | No title | 26 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
Balehegn, 2017 [30] | No title | 5 | No | 0–5 min | References | No | No |
Berger, 2017 [17] | Detailed Characteristics of Predatory Journals | 15 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
Das, 2017 [18] | How to identify predators? | 15 | No | 0–5 min | Two citations | No | No |
Erfanmanesh 2017 [19] | No title | 18 | No | 6–10 min | Multiple references | No | No |
Eriksson, 2017 [20] | Characteristics of a predatory journal | 25 | No | 10+ | Limited literature review | No | No |
Janodia, 2017 [21] | No title | 9 | No | 6–10 min | NR | Yes | No |
Khan, 2017 [22] | Attributes, characteristics and practices of potential predatory journals | 9 | No | 0–5 min | Citations | No | No |
Klyce, 2017 [23] | Common characteristics of predatory journals | 13 | No | 0–5 min | Limited literature review | No | No |
Manca, 2017 [24] | No title | 6 | No | 0–5 min | Limited literature review | No | No |
Miller, 2017 [25] | Signs of a Predatory Publisher | 8 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Misra, 2017 [26] | Red flags based on which one may suspect the legitimacy of a journal | 17 | No | 0–5 min | Literature review and authors’ experiences | No | No |
Mouton, 2017 [27] | Comparing the characteristics of good practice in scholarly publishing with those of predatory publishing | 7 | No | 0–5 min | In-depth assessment of journals identified by Beall’s list where South African authors published | No | No |
Oren, 2017 [28] | Obvious signs of predatory journals | 7 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Shamseer, 2017 [13] | Salient characteristics of potential predatory journals | 13 | No | 0–5 min | Observational study 93 predatory journals, 99 OAd, 100 subscription-based journals assessed | No | No |
Stratton, 2017 [29] | Characteristics of Health and Medical Journal Publishing Formats - Open Access Predatory | 4 | No | 0–5 min | Cited references | No | No |
Ajuwon, 2018 [33] | Characteristics of Predatory Publishers and Journals | 12 | No | 0–5 min | Citations from other sources | No | No |
Bowman, 2018 [34] | Identifying Predatory Journals and Publishers | 29 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
Gerberi, 2018 [35] | Quick List of Predatory Publisher Warning Signs | 7 | No | 0–5 min | Limited literature review | No | No |
Kokol, 2018 [37] | No title | 4 | No | 0–5 | Analysis of papers 2013–2017 predatory Beall’s vs non | No | No |
Lewinski, 2018 [38] | Eight tips to identify a predatory journal or publisher | 8 | No | 0–5 | NR | Yes | No |
McCann, 2018 [31] | Guidelines for authors to avoid predatory publishers | 25 | No | 0–5 min | Brief literature review | Yes | No |
Memon, 2018 [39] | No title | 14 | No | 6–10 min | Collecting emails and web pages of each journal /publisher. Used Beall’s list, PubMed, DOAJe, Thomson and Reuters now Clarivate Analytics | No | No |
Nnaji, 2018 [40] | No title | 11 | No | 6–10 min | Two references | No | No |
O’Donnell, 2018 [32] | Identifying a predator | 17 | No | 6–10 min | Other evidence-based checklist | No | No |
Pamukcu Gunaydin, 2018 [36] | How to avoid sending your work to a predatory journal | 5 | No | 0–5 | Limited literature review | No | No |
Power, 2018 [41] | No title | 11 | No | 6–10 min | References COPE, INANE | No | No |
Richtig, 2018 [42] | Criteria identified or suggested in the literature that can potentially be used to identify predatory journals | 13 | No | 6–10 | Literature review | No | No |
Wikipedia, 2019 [104] | No title | 10 | No | 0–5 min | Multiple citations | No | No |
Checklists from university library websites n = 30 | |||||||
[REFERENCE CHECKLIST] Shamseer, 2017 [13] | Salient characteristics of potential predatory journals | 13 | N | 0–5 | Cross sectional analysis 93 predatory journals, 99 OA, 100 subscription-based journals assessed | No | No |
Carlson, 2014 [43] | None | 11 | No | 0–5 min | Based on personal experiences looking into questionable OA journals | No | No |
Clark, 2015 [1] | None | 5 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
University of Edinburgh, 2015 [44] | Some warning signs to look out for | 4 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Africa Check, 2017 [45] | None | 7 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Cabell’s – Clarivate, 2017 [46] | None | 64 | No | 10+ min | Analysis by specialists see: https://www2.cabells.com/about-blacklist | No | No |
Duke University Medical Center, 2017 [47] | Be iNFORMEd Checklist | 6 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
University of Calgary, 2017 [48] | No title | 6 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Coopérer en information scientifique et technique, 2018 [49] | No title | 35 | No | 10+ min | NR | No | No |
Eaton, University of Calgary 2018 [50] | No title | 12 | No | 0–5 min | Other sources cited | Yes | No |
Lapinksi, Harvard, 2018 [51] | No title | 3 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
Sorbonne Université, 2018 [52] | Comment repérer un éditeur prédateur | 12 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
University of Alberta, 2018 [54] | No title | 19 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
University of British Columbia, 2018 [53] | No title | 16 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
University of Toronto Libraries, 2018 [55] | Identifying Deceptive Publishers: A Checklist | 22 | Yes | 6–10 min | NR | Yes | Yes |
Dalhousie University, 2019 [56] | How to recognize predatory journals | 6 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
McGill University, 2019 [57] | No title | 4 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
McMaster University, 2019 [58] | No title | 6 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Prater, American Journal Experts, 2019 [59] | No title | 8 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
Ryerson University Library, 2019 [60] | No title | 5 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Université Laval, 2019 [61] | No title | 8 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
University of Cambridge, 2019 [62] | No title | 9 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
University of Pretoria, 2019 [63] | No title | 19 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
University of Queensland Library, 2019 [65] | No title | 6 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
University of Queensland Library, 2019a [64] | Red Flags for Open Access Journals | 9 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
University of Witwatersrand, 2019 [66] | Predatory Publisher Checklist | 26 | No | 10+ min | NR | No | No |
Canadian Association of Research Libraries, ND [67] | How to assess a journal A.K.A. How not to publish in an undesirable journal | 12 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
Columbia University Libraries, ND [68] | No title | 5 | No | 0–5 min | NR | Yes | No |
Technion Library, ND [69] | No title | 10 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
UC Berkley, ND [70] | No title | 3 | No | 0–5 min | Cited 1 paper | No | No |
University of Ottawa Scholarly Communication, ND [71] | No title | 12 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Checklists from YouTube n = 10 | |||||||
[REFERENCE CHECKLIST] Shamseer, 2017 [13] | Salient characteristics of potential predatory journals | 13 | N | 0–5 | Cross sectional analysis 93 predatory journals, 99 OA, 100 subscription-based journals assessed | No | No |
Robbins, Western Sydney University, 2015 [72] | Red Flags | 9 | No | 6–10 min | NR | No | No |
Attia, 2017 [73] | Spot Predatory Publishers | 4 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Kysh, USC Keck School of Medicine, 2017 [74] | Characteristics of Predatory Publishers | 9 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
McKenna, Rhodes University, 2017 [75] | Predatory Publications: Shark Spotting | 7 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Nicholson, University of Witwatersrand, 2017 [76] | Cautionary Checklist | 36 | No | 10+ min | NR | No | No |
Raszewski, 2017 [77] | What to watch out for | 4 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Seal-Roberts, Springer Healthcare, 2017 [78] | So how do we recognize a predatory publisher? | 10 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Menon, SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, India and Berryman, Cabell’s, 2018 [79] | Characteristics of Predatory Journals | 7 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Office of Scholarly Communication, Cambridge University, 2018 [80] | None | 12 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |
Weigand, UNC Libraries, 2018 [81] | No title | 5 | No | 0–5 min | NR | No | No |