title: The false academy: predatory publishing in science and bioethics.
abstract: This paper describes and discusses the phenomenon 'predatory publishing', in relation to both academic journals and books, and suggests a list of characteristics by which to identify predatory journals. It also raises the question whether traditional publishing houses have accompanied rogue publishers upon this path. It is noted that bioethics as a discipline does not stand unaffected by this trend. Towards the end of the paper it is discussed what can and should be done to eliminate or reduce the effects of this development. The paper concludes that predatory publishing is a growing phenomenon that has the potential to greatly affect both bioethics and science at large. Publishing papers and books for profit, without any genuine concern for content, but with the pretence of applying authentic academic procedures of critical scrutiny, brings about a worrying erosion of trust in scientific publishing.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. stefan.eriksson@crb.uu.se.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7486-4678
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of LIME, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Helgesson
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D006801:Humans; D011643:Publishing
keywords: Bioethics; Peer review; Predatory publishing; Publication ethics