Supporting the work of the researcher
KNOWLEDGE AND LIBRARY SERVICES
Introduction
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Journals are publications that specialise in a particular subject area [see examples here], containing a series of short, in-depth articles which describe or report on new research. Journal articles go into detail on very specific subject areas, and recent journal articles are a primary source of the latest research [learn more about scholarly information]. They are produced on a continual basis and can also be known as periodicals or serials. Some journals produce a new issue each week or month but others are quarterly or annual. Issues of a journal are often grouped and then referred to as a volume. As journals are published more quickly and more often than books, they can give more up-to-date information. If a journal is peer-reviewed it means experts check the content before it is published. Not all journals are peer-reviewed; check the journal's website to find out if it is. Generally, most journal are peer reviewed, have original research, focus on current issues or development, cite other works and have bibliographies, and can be in print, online or both. Read more....
Predatory and Fake Scientific Journals
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In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of predatory and fake scientific journals/publishers. This is because it has become so easy to start a new publication given the available technology, a new genre of predatory journals is emerging at an alarming rate. The New York Times published an exposée of sorts on the topic. Its only an exposée of sorts because the research community knows about the problem. There are blogs set up to shame the fake journals into halting publishing. There are tutorials online for spotting a fake journal. There's even a list created and maintained by academic librarian Jeffrey Beall that keeps an eye on all the new fake journals coming out. When Beall started the list in 2010, it had only 20 entries. Now it has over 4,000. This is to show you how widespread the problem has becom. How to stop this is really a challenge. However, researchers at IAPRI should be mindful of such journals and avoid publishing with them.
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Learn more about the features of fake journals here.
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List of some of the predatory open access journals.
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List of some of the predatory standalone journals.
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Top eleven ways to tell that a journal is fake.
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