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Cited by 99Academic Publishing and Open AccessPublishing and Scholarly Communicationscientometrics and bibliometrics research

The Surge of Predatory Open-Access in Neurosciences and Neurology

Manca, Andrea, Martinez, Gianluca, Cugusi, Lucia, Dragone, Daniele, Dvir, Zeevi, Deriu, Franca·2017·Neuroscience
DOI 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.014
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Abstract

Predatory open access is a controversial publishing business model that exploits the open-access system by charging publication fees in the absence of transparent editorial services. The credibility of academic publishing is now seriously threatened by predatory journals, whose articles are accorded real citations and thus contaminate the genuine scientific records of legitimate journals. This is of particular concern for public health since clinical practice relies on the findings generated by scholarly articles. Aim of this study was to compile a list of predatory journals targeting the neurosciences and neurology disciplines and to analyze the magnitude and geographical distribution of the phenomenon in these fields. Eighty-seven predatory journals operate in neurosciences and 101 in neurology, for a total of 2404 and 3134 articles issued, respectively. Publication fees range 521-637 USD, much less than those charged by genuine open-access journals. The country of origin of 26.0-37.0% of the publishers was impossible to determine due to poor websites or provision of vague or non-credible locations. Of the rest 35.3-42.0% reported their headquarters in the USA, 19.0-39.2% in India, 3.0-9.8% in other countries. Although calling themselves "open-access", none of the journals retrieved was listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. However, 14.9-24.7% of them were found to be indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central, which raises concerns on the criteria for inclusion of journals and publishers imposed by these popular databases. Scholars in the neurosciences are advised to use all the available tools to recognize predatory practices and avoid the downsides of predatory journals.

Integrity signals

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.014

Cites

15 of 15 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Authors
Manca, A., Martinez, G., Cugusi, L., Dragone, D., Dvir, Z., & Deriu, F.
Affiliations
  • University of Sassari (IT)
  • University of Cagliari (IT)
  • Tel Aviv University (IL)
Corresponding author
Deriu, Franca
ORCID
Venue
Neuroscience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-06
Volume
353
Pages
166-173
ISSN
0306-4522 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.014
OpenAlex
W2606972134
Cited by
99
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 4
FWCI
20.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UNICA IRIS Institutional Research Information System (University of Cagliari) (submittedVersion)
  • UnissResearch (Università degli Studi di Sassari) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Academic Publishing and Open Access
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Publishing and Scholarly Communication
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
Keywords
predatory journals, neuroscience, neurology, article processing charges, journal indexing, DOAJ, PubMed, PubMed Central
MeSH terms
Humans, Neurology, Neurosciences, Periodicals as Topic, Publishing, Bibliometrics, Peer Review, Research

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