已成立的合法期刊通常不會通過電子郵件邀稿，並且根據我們最近的發現，這些期刊幾乎從不承諾快速發表。困境在於是否以及如何回應這類電子郵件邀請。在“不發表就死亡”文化盛行的學術界，與生物醫學出版領域較低甚至極低發表接受率的激烈競爭相比，這種邀請似乎是一項不那麼艱鉅的任務，且具有更高的發表可能性。
儘管通常情況下驅動因素是得到發表而豐富個人簡歷，但底線應該是，令研究得以發表，使得包括患者在內的其他人能夠閱讀從而做出明智決定。如果感興趣，潛在作者可以訪問“學術開放獲取”網站，查看關注期刊是否名列在內。儘管該站點不再運行，但可以通過網絡檔案館—網頁時光機，查看其緩存內容。
其他倡導也已出現，包括“思考、檢查、提交”活動，其中包含一系列考慮因素，供潛在作者在選擇要提交的期刊時進行考量和篩查。該活動得到了各大生物醫藥出版商的廣泛支持，並鼓勵作者檢查期刊是否加入行業公認倡導，包括開放獲取期刊是否通過開放獲取期刊目錄（Directory of Open Access Journals），“白名單”，的審查。
我們時常考慮黑名單、白名單上的期刊，以及它們如何相互並與傳統訂閱期刊進行比較（傳統訂閱期刊中許多現在已具有開放獲取選項）。我與幾位同事通力合作，比較了93個（來自學術開放獲取列表的）非法實體、99個（來自PubMed Central的）合法開放獲取期刊和100個（來自醫學索引節略本的）訂閱基礎期刊之間的多個期刊級別特徵。
開放獲取、訂閱和非法期刊的差別
今天，我們在BMC Medicine中報道了我們的結果，並列出了可供作者在審查期刊網站合法性時查找的“危險信號”的循證列表。我們認為這篇文章提供了豐富的信息，並希望您也會認可其的有效性和實用性。底線在於，假定的合法期刊和非法期刊之間存在若干重要差別。
潛在掠奪性期刊的明顯特徵
1. 感興趣的範圍包括非生物醫學學科與生物醫學主題
2. 網站包含拼寫和語法錯誤
3. 圖像失真/模糊不清，意在表示並非其本身含義的內容或未授權的內容
4. 主頁語言針對作者
5. 網站上宣傳哥白尼索引值
6. 缺乏稿件處理過程描述
7. 要求通過電子郵件提交稿件
8. 承諾快速發表
9. 沒有撤回政策
10. 缺少是否以及如何對期刊內容進行數字化保存的信息
11. 文章處理/出版費用非常低（例如，少於150美金）
12. 期刊宣稱開放獲取，保留對已發表研究的版權或沒有提及版權
13. 聯繫電子郵箱地址是非專業和非期刊附屬郵箱（例如，@gmail.com或@yahoo.com）
存疑掠奪性期刊的循證、明顯特徵列表
非法實體的網站看上去不專業（模糊不清和/或具有去除的圖像），宣傳虛假的影響因子，缺乏成熟的道德政策、註冊和報告指南等報告標準以及與科學出版最佳實踐相關的其他活動。
與合法的開放獲取期刊（中位數為$USD1865）以及訂閱混合期刊（中位數為$USD3000）相比，非法實體的作者處理費用十分低廉（中位數為$USD100）。
儘管在這些實體中發表的論文通常無法在Medline等傳統的生物醫學數據庫上獲得索引，但可以通過一些諸如Google Scholar之類的搜索引擎對其進行檢索。如果研究由具有某些開放獲取政策的組織資助，那麼這些論文可被上傳到PubMed Central。來自這些實體的論文正向合法的科學文獻滲透，並被納入用於經費申請、晉升和任期檔案的簡歷中，而很可能未被評估者察覺。
生物體由於缺氧而死亡。對於這些非法實體我們需要採取類似的做法。如果從稿件來源階段就將其切斷，這些非法實體將不復存在。漢斯•克里斯蒂安•安徒生的故事《皇帝的新裝》是對擁護謊言的警示。對於出版界內冒充“皇帝”的非法實體同樣適用。
摘要：
Background
The Internet has transformed scholarly publishing, most notably, by the introduction of open access publishing. Recently, there has been a rise of online journals characterized as ‘predatory’, which actively solicit manuscripts and charge publications fees without providing robust peer review and editorial services. We carried out a cross-sectional comparison of characteristics of potential predatory, legitimate open access, and legitimate subscription-based biomedical journals.
Methods
On July 10, 2014, scholarly journals from each of the following groups were identified – potential predatory journals (source: Beall’s List), presumed legitimate, fully open access journals (source: PubMed Central), and presumed legitimate subscription-based (including hybrid) journals (source: Abridged Index Medicus). MEDLINE journal inclusion criteria were used to screen and identify biomedical journals from within the potential predatory journals group. One hundred journals from each group were randomly selected. Journal characteristics (e.g., website integrity, look and feel, editors and staff, editorial/peer review process, instructions to authors, publication model, copyright and licensing, journal location, and contact) were collected by one assessor and verified by a second. Summary statistics were calculated.
Results
Ninety-three predatory journals, 99 open access, and 100 subscription-based journals were analyzed; exclusions were due to website unavailability. Many more predatory journals’ homepages contained spelling errors (61/93, 66%) and distorted or potentially unauthorized images (59/93, 63%) compared to open access journals (6/99, 6% and 5/99, 5%, respectively) and subscription-based journals (3/100, 3% and 1/100, 1%, respectively). Thirty-one (33%) predatory journals promoted a bogus impact metric – the Index Copernicus Value – versus three (3%) open access journals and no subscription-based journals. Nearly three quarters (n = 66, 73%) of predatory journals had editors or editorial board members whose affiliation with the journal was unverified versus two (2%) open access journals and one (1%) subscription-based journal in which this was the case. Predatory journals charge a considerably smaller publication fee (median $100 USD, IQR $63–$150) than open access journals ($1865 USD, IQR $800–$2205) and subscription-based hybrid journals ($3000 USD, IQR $2500–$3000).
Conclusions
We identified 13 evidence-based characteristics by which predatory journals may potentially be distinguished from presumed legitimate journals. These may be useful for authors who are assessing journals for possible submission or for others, such as universities evaluating candidates’ publications as part of the hiring process.
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期刊介紹:
BMC Medicine(https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/,9.088 -2-year Impact Factor,9.41 -5-year Impact Factor) is the flagship medical journal of the BMC series. An open access, open peer-reviewed general medical journal, BMC Medicine publishes outstanding and influential research in all areas of clinical practice, translational medicine, medical and health advances, public health, global health, policy, and general topics of interest to the biomedical and sociomedical professional communities. We also publish stimulating debates and reviews as well as unique forum articles and concise tutorials.
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