Predatory Journals—A Looming Menace

Research and Publication

The word “research” (derived from the French word recerche) can be defined as the systematic study of materials and information, to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research is performed through posing clear questions and adapting standard principles and methods to arrive at answers for the research question. It aims to increase the stock of knowledge, which is then suffused across peers through research publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Since the publication of the first journal in the mid-17th century, the number of journals and publications has increased exponentially. For example, the number of indexed citations added to MEDLINE during each fiscal year is around 800,000. Apart from genuine, intentional, need-based research undertaken by clinical and basic scientists, multiple other reasons including peer pressure, establish professional supremacy, maintaining high academic posts, and staying afloat in demanding academic environments necessitate the young and senior researchers to publish periodically. As the notion “Publish or Perish” gains a stronghold in academia, the need to publish by any means looms large on the researchers. This paves the way for various iniquitous methods such as plagiarism, paraphrasing, duplicate publication, salami slicing, falsification, and fabrication of data. The latest entrant in these shady research publication methods is predatory journalism.

• References

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