Predatory Publishing Guide

How Do Predatory Conferences Operate?

Predatory conferences focus on generating profit rather than advancing academic research. Conference fees can include registration fees as well as fees to publish the conference proceedings in an associated predatory journal. These fees paid by speakers, presenters, attendees, and other conference attendees are a primary source of revenue for the organizer(s). They often exceed those charged by legitimate conferences and are typically non-refundable.

Common tactics are as follows:

• Sending unsolicited emails to potential speakers and presenters with flattering offers for high visibility roles, such as keynote speaker, chairperson, moderator, committee member, etc.
• Quickly accepting submissions without proper peer review or quality checks to increase the number of paying participants.
• Falsely advertising the involvement of prominent academics to attract more attendees.
• Promoting a multidisciplinary scope and attractive venue to encourage registration.

These practices exploit researchers and undermine the integrity of academic scholarship.

Why Is It Harmful to Participate in a Predatory Conference?

Participating in legitimate conferences provides valuable benefits, such as ensuring the validity of presented work, enhancing academic reputation, increasing visibility, and contributing to the academic and scientific communities.

Risks of participating in predatory conferences include the following:

• Lack of Peer Review – predatory conferences often forego proper peer review and editorial oversight, leading to the spread of low-quality or flawed research.
• Limited Visibility - unlike legitimate conferences that preserve proceedings in repositories or other reputable outlets, predatory journals may delete content or cease operations, making it difficult to verify published work.
• Reputation Damage – presenting at predatory conferences can harm researchers' credibility, hinder career advancement, legitimacy of the research as well as their affiliated institutions. Institutions associated with predatory conferences may be viewed as lacking in academic rigor and integrity, which can negatively affect their standing in the academic community.
• Ethical Concerns – participating in predatory conferences can introduce low-quality research or misinformation into the scientific literature which can misguide subsequent research, negatively impact public policies, and hinder social progress. Researchers have an ethical responsibility to ensure their work is disseminated at conferences that adhere to high ethical standards, including transparency, rigorous peer review, and editorial integrity.

Predatory Journal and Predatory Conference Table

Refer to the table in the Red Flags section. If you answer "yes" to a majority of the characteristics, the conference may be predatory. Beware!

Other Tools and Resources

• Think, Check, Attend – an initiative that aims to guide and assist researchers and scholars in choosing trusted conferences to attend and to present their research.
• Conference Checker – the short questionnaire is designed to help to determine whether or not a conference is legitimate.
• Pivot – in addition to being a searchable database for funding opportunities, Pivot includes comprehensive information and deadlines for open calls for papers from forthcoming conferences.  While the list is not all-encompassing, it can be a starting point in addition to searching academic and professional association/societies/organizations.

Combating predatory publishing requires teamwork and support. This guide provides information about predatory publishing, covering journals and conferences.  It's meant to be a helpful resource, but ultimately, it's up to each author to decide where to publish or present their work.