Revistas depredadoras y secuestradas en cirugía. Qué se debe saber sobre ellas y cómo evitarlas

Las revistas depredadoras (RD), constituyen una gran amenaza para la publicación contemporánea, ya que ofrecen una publicación rápida de acceso abierto a cambio de tarifas sin procedimientos de revisión por pares para científicos jóvenes o inexpertos. Son compañías que priorizan el interés propio a expensas de la academia, caracterizándose por entregar información falsa o engañosa, distorsión de las mejores prácticas editoriales y de publicación, falta de transparencia y uso de tácticas de solicitud de manuscritos indiscriminadas y agresivas. El objetivo de este manuscrito fue generar un documento de estudio sobre las RD y secuestradas; así como de las conferencias depredadoras en cirugía.

Predatory journals (PD) are a major threat to contemporary publishing, as they offer rapid open access publication for fees without peer review procedures for young or inexperienced scientists. Are companies that prioritize self-interest at the expense of academia, characterized by providing false or misleading information, misrepresentation of publishing and editorial best practices, lack of transparency, and use of indiscriminate and aggressive manuscript solicitation tactics. The aim of this manuscript was to generate a study document regarding the PD, hijacked journals and predatory conferences in surgery.

Revisión de pares, preprints y revistas depredadoras. Ética editorial versus publicidad aplicada a la ciencia médica / Peer review, preprints and predatory journals. Publication ethics versus publicity applied to medical science

Abstract The publication of medical articles has become increasingly complex, linked to multiple factors. It poses difficult problems for both authors and journals themselves. This Editorial addresses current and controversial issues: peer review, preprints as a new way of disseminating knowledge, the growing number of publications without peer review and its variants, and the risks of predatory publications. The article proposes future guidelines as an editorial policy of MEDICINA. The controversy continues, and surely the passage of time will place our proposal in a changing scientific world like knowledge itself.

Un caso de publicación en revista médica pirata / A case of publication in a predatory medical journal

Las revistas piratas o depredadoras (predatory journals en inglés) son cada vez más frecuentes y sorprenden en su buena fe a investigadores/as que buscan publicar sus manuscritos. Este artículo presenta un caso de descubrimiento y demostración de publicación en una revista pirata y un conjunto de sugerencias para evitar este error, como un aporte a profesionales de ciencias de la salud que realizan actividades de investigación. El resultado de las investigaciones mostró que la revista European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology(EJGO) es una revista pirata: fundada en 1980, solo desde 2020 posee International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) digital: sus primeras editoras, hasta 2020, no trabajaban en el área disciplinar de la revista ni pudieron ser rastreadas en ORCID; su actual editor no responde correos; la dirección postal de la editorial es la misma de una empresa canadiense importadora de juguetes. Hasta 2021 no poseía una plataforma web para el envío del manuscrito sino se enviaba el trabajo a un correo electrónico genérico. A raíz de nuestras denuncias fue suspendida de Scopus (Scimago) y Clarivate (Web of Science). Cuando Clarivate forzó a EJGO a avisar a sus lectores que estaba suspendida, inmediatamente cambió su página web y la empresa editora. En síntesis, se muestra un caso real de publicación en una revista pirata, la detección y comprobación de que dicha revista efectivamente cae en esta categoría y el aporte de conceptos y definiciones para tener en cuenta a fin de evitar caer en este error. (AU)

Predatory journals are becoming more frequent every day and surprise researchers who seek to publish their manuscripts. This article presents a case of discovery and demonstration of publication in a predatory journal and a set of suggestions to avoid this error, in a contribution to the education of health science professionals. The result of the research showed that the European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is a pirate journal: founded in 1980, it obtainthe digital International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) in 2020; its former editors, until 2020, do not work in the disciplinary area of the journal and could not be tracked in ORCID, the new editor did not respond any mail; the postal address of the publisher is the same as that of a Canadian toy import company. Until 2021, it did not have a web platform for sending the manuscript, but rather the work was sent to a generic email. As a result of our complaints, it was suspended from Scopus (Scimago) and Clarivate (Web of Science).When Clarivate forced EJGO to notify its readers that it was suspended, it immediately changed its website and publisher. In brief, a real case of publication in a predatory journal is shown, the detection and verification that this journal actually falls into this category and contribution of concepts and definitions to avoid falling into this error. (AU)

An analysis of invitations for article submission received via emails

Predatory journals charge publication fees from authors and publish without an adequate peer review, and often do not provide editorial and/or publishing services. Our objective was to evaluate e-mail solicitations received by authors in a defined time period to identify attributes of these solicitations as a metric to identify legitimacy of the journal. All e-mails seeking article submission received between January 1 and September 30, 2019, were evaluated. Each e-mail along with its respective webpage was evaluated for the journal’s and publisher’s names, mention of peer review, any assurance of publication, a mention of article processing charges (APC), composite invites [in the e-mail] and mention of peer review, the presence and functionality of archives, presence of manuscript management tab, mention of APC [on the webpage]. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. Of the 135 e-mails screened, 100 were finally included in the analysis. We found that 72% of the journals and/ or publishers were included in Beall’s list. According to our criteria, a total of 85% of the solicitations were from journals that we identified as “presumed predatory”. Our study has identified assurance of publication, rapid turnaround time, ambiguous information in the email and webpage, false claims of indexing as some descriptors which may help young authors and researchers assess a journal’s legitimacy.

La tentación de las revistas depredadoras / The temptation of predatory journals

RESUMEN Probablemente, varios de los lectores de este artículo en determinado momento han recibido correos electrónicos "seductores", en los cuales, de forma encomiástica, cordial y sospechosamente entusiasta, quizás haciendo referencia a investigaciones anteriores del destinatario, el editor ejecutivo de una revista foránea les invita a contribuir con algún informe científico en la confección de un número cuya publicación es inminente. Este tipo de invitación puede resultar un molesto incidente para múltiples profesionales o tal vez, una oferta tentadora para otros, pues la perciben como una oportunidad rápida y facilista para optimizar su gestión curricular. Tales mensajes constituyen una intrusión en la privacidad de los usuarios, consecuencias de políticas de difusión fraudolentas, agresivas e indiscriminadas, carentes de transparencia, promotoras del plagio y transgresoras de la ética científica, practicadas por pseudorevistas conocidas con el término despectivo de "revistas depredadoras". Estas revistas constituyen una amenaza a la ética de las publicaciones científicas, pues tienen como objetivo obtener reconocimiento y beneficios económicos, a expensas de prácticas deshonestas, que fomentan el plagio y ocasionan perjuicios sobre los autores, pacientes e instituciones académicas. El presente artículo de opinión tuvo como objetivo describir las características de las revistas depredadoras y la pseudopublicación científica en general(AU)

ABSTRACT Probably, several of the readers of this article at a certain time have received "seductive" emails, in which, in a commendable, cordial and suspiciously enthusiastic way, perhaps referring to previous research of the recipient, the executive editor of a foreign journal invites them to contribute with some scientific report in the preparation of an issue whose publication is imminent. This type of invitation can be an annoying incident for multiple professionals or perhaps, a tempting offer for others, as they perceive it as a quick and easy opportunity to optimize their curricular management. Such messages constitute an intrusion into the privacy of users, the result of fraudulent, aggressive and indiscriminate dissemination policies, lacking transparency, promoters of plagiarism and transgressors of scientific ethics, practiced by pseudo-journals known with the derogatory term of "predatory journals". These journals constitute a threat to the ethics of scientific publications, since they aim to obtain recognition and economic benefits, at the expense of dishonest practices, which encourage plagiarism and cause harm to authors, patients and academic institutions. This opinion piece aimed to describe the characteristics of predatory journals and scientific pseudo-publishing in general(AU)

Principales características de las revistas depredadoras / Predatory journals' main characteristics

El desarrollo tecnológico y modernización de las plataformas de socialización de la ciencia han provocado, a la par de una mayor difusión de resultados y su consiguiente contribución a su desarrollo, una serie de prácticas negativas que aprovechan modelos de acceso abierto para obtener ganancias. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo identificar los principales rasgos de las revistas depredadoras. Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en Google Scholar, Dialnet, SciELO y PubMed, a partir de la cual fueron seleccionados 43 artículos para su análisis. Se aplicó como criterio de inclusión que los estudios incorporaran conclusiones sobre las principales características y formas de identificación de las revistas depredadoras; el principal criterio de exclusión fue que los artículos no pudieran ser descargados íntegramente. Revista depredadora es aquella que, aprovechándose del modelo de acceso abierto o de modelos híbridos, cobran a sus autores por la liberación de sus artículos sin que medie revisión alguna, aun cuando lo prometen en sus procesos editoriales. Persiguen principalmente la ganancia de dinero fácil y rápido, no la difusión del conocimiento ni la contribución a la ciencia. Las revistas depredadoras se caracterizan por no proporcionar datos sobre sus editores, se dan a conocer mediante correos spam con lenguaje persuasivo que alimenta la idea de legitimidad y promete la amplia indexación del texto. Dan la impresión de tener sede en países desarrollados, y usualmente presentan ISSN falsos o inexistentes(AU)

The technological development and the modernization of science socialization's platforms have provoked, along with a greater results' dissemination and the consequent contribution to the science's evolution, a series of negative practices that take advantage of Open Access models for profit. The aim of this study was to identify the main features of predatory journals. A bibliographic review was made, among Google Scholar, Dialnet, SciELO y PubMed and 43 articles were selected to be analyzed. It was applied as an inclusion criterion that the studies carried out included conclusions on the main characteristics and forms of identification of predatory journals, and the main exclusion criterion was that the articles could not be downloaded. A predatory journal is one that takes advantage of the open access model, or using hybrid models, charges authors for the release of their articles, without any review process, even when they promise it in their editorial processes. Their main objective is the earning of quick and easy money, and not the dissemination of scientific knowledge, nor contribution to science. Predatory journals are characterized by not providing data on their publishers. They make themselves known through spam mail, promising wide indexing of the text, and using a persuasive language that feeds the idea of legitimacy throughout the process. These publications give the impression of being physically located in developed countries, and usually present false or non-existent ISSN(AU)

An insight into predatory journals

The impact of scholarly journals has increased with invent of Internet due to improved access, faster dissemination, and ease of searching a variety of publications. With the increasing trend of research, open access (OA) publishing has increased intensely over the last few years. The core intent of OA is faster dissemination of research by making it available to readers free of cost. However, some publishers exploited this novel idea for their own benefit. Beall termed them as predatory publishers/journals. In this article, authors have made efforts to understand the predatory publishers/journal, reasons behind their upsurge, their modus operandi, their common targets, and the points which will help readers to identify them. The aim of this article is to expose facts behind the predatory journal and to create awareness among not only budding researchers but also faculty members, authors, and editors about the threat predatory journals carry toward scientific world and to their own curricula.

Open Access Publishing in India: Coverage, Relevance, and Future Perspectives

Open access (OA) publishing is a recent phenomenon in scientific publishing, enabling free access to knowledge worldwide. In the Indian context, OA to science has been facilitated by government-funded repositories of student and doctoral theses, and many Indian society journals are published with platinum OA. The proportion of OA publications from India is significant in a global context, and Indian journals are increasingly available on OA repositories such as Pubmed Central, and Directory of Open Access Journals. However, OA in India faces numerous challenges, including low-quality or predatory OA journals, and the paucity of funds to afford gold OA publication charges. There is a need to increase awareness amongst Indian academics regarding publication practices, including OA, and its potential benefits, and utilize this modality of publication whenever feasible, as in publicly-funded research, or when platinum OA is available, while avoiding falling prey to poor quality OA journals.

Selection of good medical journals for publication -an innovative approach

The Medical Council of India came out with the criteria of research publications for the promotions for the first time in 2009. Though this was done with the intention of promoting and encouraging research among faculties of Medical Colleges, this has given rise to the genesis as well as mushrooming of predatory journals. Hence MCI has been making attempts to refine the criteria of publications and make the criteria more stringent. The last such attempt was in its PG committee meeting in January 2018 where it decided to constitute a committee of experts in each subject to draw a list of standard journals in their respective subjects so that publications only in these journals would be considered for future promotions. In this context, this article makes an attempt to assist researchers and regulatory bodies in assessing the quality of journals by means of a score-sheet.

Manuscript Submission Invitations from ‘Predatory Journals’: What Should Authors Do?

Press freedom and worldwide internet access have opened ample opportunity for a staggering number of poor open access journals and junk publishers to emerge. Dubious publishers are abusing and camouflaging the golden open access model. In 2012, Jeffery Beall shed light on the predatory journals (as he preferred to call them) and the threat to open access scientific publication. Publishing in predatory journals is continuing to be a major threat for the development of science in developing countries. The authors of this article proposed solutions and outline a fresh perspective to help authors avoid publishing in predatory journals.