Predatory Publishers & Other Bad Actors

There are a number of problems that plague the scholarly communication landscape, which is the term used to describe how academic research is created, evaluated, disseminated, and preserved (ACRL, 2003).

These problems -- which include but aren't limited to predatory publishers, research fraud and misconduct, and publication bias -- necessitate a healthy dose of skepticism and awareness. This matters because the scholarly literature shapes what we think we know about the world. And in fields like medicine, the scholarly literature is where professional organizations and practitioners look to make recommendations and decisions about patient care.

So why the problems? Many point to the incentive structures in academia, which reward professors and other researchers based on the quantity of publications they produce. In same countries and industries, financial bonuses are explicitly tied to publication. The aphorism "publish or perish" gets at the resulting pressure academics can sometimes feel, and a number of bad actors have capitalized on this award system and have created ways to "rig the system," which can result in subpar research in the scholarly literature.