title: Potential predatory and legitimate biomedical journals: can you tell the difference? A cross-sectional comparison.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Internet has transformed scholarly publishing, most notably, by the introduction of open access publishing. Recently, there has been a rise of online journals characterized as 'predatory', which actively solicit manuscripts and charge publications fees without providing robust peer review and editorial services. We carried out a cross-sectional comparison of characteristics of potential predatory, legitimate open access, and legitimate subscription-based biomedical journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  On July 10, 2014, scholarly journals from each of the following groups were identified - potential predatory journals (source: Beall's List), presumed legitimate, fully open access journals (source: PubMed Central), and presumed legitimate subscription-based (including hybrid) journals (source: Abridged Index Medicus). MEDLINE journal inclusion criteria were used to screen and identify biomedical journals from within the potential predatory journals group. One hundred journals from each group were randomly selected. Journal characteristics (e.g., website integrity, look and feel, editors and staff, editorial/peer review process, instructions to authors, publication model, copyright and licensing, journal location, and contact) were collected by one assessor and verified by a second. Summary statistics were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-three predatory journals, 99 open access, and 100 subscription-based journals were analyzed; exclusions were due to website unavailability. Many more predatory journals' homepages contained spelling errors (61/93, 66%) and distorted or potentially unauthorized images (59/93, 63%) compared to open access journals (6/99, 6% and 5/99, 5%, respectively) and subscription-based journals (3/100, 3% and 1/100, 1%, respectively). Thirty-one (33%) predatory journals promoted a bogus impact metric - the Index Copernicus Value - versus three (3%) open access journals and no subscription-based journals. Nearly three quarters (n = 66, 73%) of predatory journals had editors or editorial board members whose affiliation with the journal was unverified versus two (2%) open access journals and one (1%) subscription-based journal in which this was the case. Predatory journals charge a considerably smaller publication fee (median $100 USD, IQR $63-$150) than open access journals ($1865 USD, IQR $800-$2205) and subscription-based hybrid journals ($3000 USD, IQR $2500-$3000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified 13 evidence-based characteristics by which predatory journals may potentially be distinguished from presumed legitimate journals. These may be useful for authors who are assessing journals for possible submission or for others, such as universities evaluating candidates' publications as part of the hiring process.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Journalology, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, K1H 8L6, Canada. lshamseer@ohri.ca.|School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventative Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, K1H 8M5, Canada. lshamseer@ohri.ca.
authors.forename: Larissa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3690-3378
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shamseer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Journalology, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, K1H 8L6, Canada.|School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventative Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, K1H 8M5, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moher
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7BL, UK.
authors.forename: Onyi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Maduekwe
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, K1H 8L6, Canada.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Office of Research Ethics and Integrity, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barbour
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burch
authors.affiliation: icddr,b, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Jocalyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Centre for Journalology, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, K1H 8L6, Canada.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Galipeau
authors.affiliation: Origin Editorial, Plymouth, MA, 02360, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Synthesis Group, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, K1H 8L6, Canada.
authors.forename: Beverley J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Shea
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D018156:Journalism, Medical / Q000592:standards; D017146:Models, Organizational; D066295:Open Access Publishing / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D010380:Peer Review / Q000379:methods*; D011643:Publishing / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards
keywords: Biomedical journal; Journalology; Open access; Predatory; Publishing models; Scientific publishing