Biomedical researchers and students knowledge about predatory journals

The number of predatory journals is constantly growing and creating a major threat. Researchers in biomedical sciences should be aware of predatory publishers and be able to recognize them. The aim of this study is to assess biomedical researchers' knowledge about predatory journals both before...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of academic librarianship 2019-09, Vol.45 (5), p.102056, Article 102056
Main Authors: AlRyalat, Saif Aldeen, Farah, Randa I., Shehadeh, Bara', Abukeshek, Aseel, Aldabbas, Leen, Al-fawair, Ayah, Ababneh, Osama
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic publications
Biomedical
Biomedical research
Biomedicine
False information
Infographic
Open access
Periodicals
Predatory journals
Researchers
Scholarly publishing
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:The number of predatory journals is constantly growing and creating a major threat. Researchers in biomedical sciences should be aware of predatory publishers and be able to recognize them. The aim of this study is to assess biomedical researchers' knowledge about predatory journals both before and after showing them an infographic explaining these journals and their publishing model. This study was conducted with a sample of biomedical researchers and students. Subjects answered two questionnaires, one before explaining a designed infographic to each participant through a direct face-to-face interview. A total of 158 participants were included in this study, with a mean age of 22.6 (±1.72) years. They were 122 (77.2%) undergraduates and 36 (22.8%) graduate students. The median number of research projects our subjects participated in was 1 (0–5), and the median number of published projects was 0 (0–3). Awareness of predatory journals or Beall's List improved from 7% and 2.5%, respectively, before the infographic to 97.5% and 94.9% after the infographic. Our results indicate the beneficial use of the designed infographic to improve young researchers' awareness of predatory journals. We encourage research institutions and universities to effectively spread awareness of predatory journals.
ISSN:0099-1333
1879-1999
DOI:10.1016/j.acalib.2019.102056