Foto: David Ausserhofer
A team of international media companies (amongst them the NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung) has recently investigated the acitivities of so called predatory publishers in the science system worldwide. Fortunately, there has been no case of predatory publishing at IGB so far - not least due to our library information and advice services on the selection of respectable journals.
What is predatory publishing?
Since a while, predatory conferences and predatory journals undermine the science system. Shady providers publish scientific results for considerable sums of money. The publishers create the appearence of scientific quality and quality assurance (like the peer-review process) what is de facto not the case. In fact, these offers are based on private economic interests. Often, the performance of the publishers and conferences is highly professional and their dubiousness not obvious.