Fighting the Fakes: Spotting and Fighting the Fakes in Research Policy and Practice

Predatory publishers and their scam journals and conferences pose today’s biggest threat to nursing and health research credibility and legitimacy(1,10,11). The scope of their influence is difficult to exaggerate. Predatory conferences now outnumber legitimate events (7) and there are close to 10,000 predatory journals publishing over 400,000 dubious if not completely unreviewed 'papers' . The predators take advantage of a 'perfect storm' of a ‘publish or perish’ climate (3,6) and some researchers and academics so keen for a 'research outcome' that critical faculties appear to desert them.

Predatory publishers are not stupid. They did not create a multimillion dollar business (2) by being amateurish. It can often be difficult for new researchers and even experienced faculty to see through their polished websites and ingratiating email invitations (3,8,9).

Researchers, Schools, teaching hospitals and Universities can help to cut off their supply. In this symposium, we show how.

Purpose: To expose and highlight the rise of predatory publishers and their damaging impact on nursing research and scholarship
* To alert participants to some of the predatory publishers' worst excesses and practices
* To detail the dangers that predatory publisher pose to all researchers (5)
* To offer a '10 point protection plan', a range of practical and 'due diligence' initiatives that every researcher and faculty member can implement today.
* To outline the policy initiatives that every Head of School, University and organisation can take to starve predatory publishers of their supply.

Methods:

Explanation, use of current research and experimental litre concerning predatory publishers, dialogue with participants, presentation of clear, do-able strategies, provision of key readings, weblinks and additional resources.

Results:

Participants will be able to conduct the due diligence necessary to avoid predatory publishers and thus protect their own work and scholarly reputations. Schools of Nursing and Midwifery will learn how to establish policies that will help cut off the predators 'supplies' (6).

Conclusion:

This is possibly the most pressing issue facing nursing research today (1,4). If we do not combat the rise of predatory publishing today, we may have little genuine scholarship or science publishing left in 5 or 10 years time. The situation is THAT serious.