The Predator Effect: Understanding the Past, Present and Future of Deceptive Academic Journals

The aim of this short book is to shed light on the dark arts of predatory journals. Readers will learn about the history and development of predatory journals, their typical makeup and modus operandi, and how to use this knowledge to avoid the traps predatory publishers lay for them. This briefing will not try to define predatory publishing too precisely nor try to measure the value of the enterprise too exactly. It will certainly not seek to identify every guilty agent by name, which would be a lengthy undertaking in its own right. I hope, however, to provide some important contextual information on the topic, as well as some practical guidance and suggestions for authors who are worried about publishing unwittingly in predatory journals. In writing this book, it is hoped most of the issues concerning predatory publishing are at least brought together in one place.