Predators in scholarly communication are commercial entities posing as service providers to the scientific community. However, their sole purpose is to generate profit through the collection of publication / conference fees, without adhering to established standards of scientific communication and publishing ethics.

Most often we meet the so-called predatory journals and publishers, who misuse the model of paid open access journals and collect publication fees (APC), although there is no quality control of articles before publishing (peer review), and predatory conferences, which do not provide services common to legitimate scientific conferences (selection of lecturers and review procedures).

The common signs of predators in science is the presentation of false information about their services, indexation in important databases and indexes, unclear payment terms and an aggressive way of addressing scientists through unsolicited e-mails. 

Other forms of predatory practice

In scientific communication, in addition to predatory journals/publishers and conferences, we encounter other fraudulent subjects that often target young and inexperienced scientists and offer a range of paid services of dubious quality. 

These include e.g.  academic author mill,  hijacked journals, and  suspicious (fake) scientomeric indicators. 

Warning about predatory journal European Chronicle

We would like to draw the attention of employees, researchers and students of Charles University to the practices of European Chronicle journal, which has been identified as a predatory journal.

The journal lists significant researchers as members of its editorial board without their knowledge or consent. The journal has not responded to repeated calls to remove the names of these researchers from the list of members of the editorial board. The only contact information provided by the journal is a non-personalised e-mail address. It can also be assumed that the address of its headquarters as listed on its website is not where the journal is actually based. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to identify who is responsible for the journal, and therefore the options for recourse in the event of publication by the predatory journal are very limited, and, unfortunately, are often not even effectively enforceable.