Predatory Publishing Practices: Paper Tigers or Actual Threats from Evaluation Systems?
Leading Researcher: Rita Faria
CIJ/FDUP is a partner in the project "Predatory Publishing Practices: Paper Tigers or Actual Threats from Evaluation Systems?", a pioneering study on predatory practices in the field of scientific publishing.
This study aims to empirically elucidate how scientific communities engage with or stigmatize scientific publishing in so-called predatory journals. Through an interdisciplinary approach with a strong criminological focus, the research seeks to understand the dynamics behind scientists choosing to publish in these journals, which demand large payments and lack peer review. The study will examine how these practices impact the quality of publications and the evaluation systems in science. Data will be collected from six countries: Germany, Poland, Portugal, Nigeria, India, and Brazil.
The project is funded with approximately 1.6 million euros by the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany's largest private organization for the promotion and support of academic research. It is headed by the Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung (Germany), in collaboration with the Robert K. Merton Centre at Humboldt University (Germany), Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland), and CIJ/FDUP.
The CIJ team will be led by Professor Rita Faria and the study will run for four years from 2 September 2024. The FDUP team also includes research fellow Luísa Barcelos (a junior researcher at CIJ) and post-doctoral researcher Marilena Drymioti. Local researchers in Brazil are Carolina Monteiro de Castro Nascimento and Guilherme Godoy.
This study aims to empirically elucidate how scientific communities engage with or stigmatize scientific publishing in so-called predatory journals. Through an interdisciplinary approach with a strong criminological focus, the research seeks to understand the dynamics behind scientists choosing to publish in these journals, which demand large payments and lack peer review. The study will examine how these practices impact the quality of publications and the evaluation systems in science. Data will be collected from six countries: Germany, Poland, Portugal, Nigeria, India, and Brazil.
The project is funded with approximately 1.6 million euros by the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany's largest private organization for the promotion and support of academic research. It is headed by the Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung (Germany), in collaboration with the Robert K. Merton Centre at Humboldt University (Germany), Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland), and CIJ/FDUP.
The CIJ team will be led by Professor Rita Faria and the study will run for four years from 2 September 2024. The FDUP team also includes research fellow Luísa Barcelos (a junior researcher at CIJ) and post-doctoral researcher Marilena Drymioti. Local researchers in Brazil are Carolina Monteiro de Castro Nascimento and Guilherme Godoy.
