The term Predatory Publishing refers to fraudulent publishing practices. Predatory journals are pretending to be academic publications. They charge fees for the publication of the submitted articles which are to be paid by the authors (Article Processing Charges/APCs). However, these fees are not met by a corresponding services: Peer review is only simulated, the articles are not listed in subject-specific databases, and long-term availability on the web is not guaranteed.
This also applies to so-called Predatory Conferences: The organisers stage multiple conferences on the same date at the same location. For a fee, participants are given the opportunity to give their presentation to an audience which is largely unfamiliar with the subject.
Publications of research results in so-called predatory journals are not necessarly of inferior quality, but they always run the risk of being judged not to meet the scientific standards.
There are well over 100.000 scientific e-journals, and new journals are added every week. Not every unknown title is of poor quality or the product of a pirate publisher. Nevertheless, you should critically check where you want to publish your research results (Think. Check. Submit. is a great place to start):
Please note that any content displayed on this page is presented here for information purposes only and is neither intended as nor constitutes legal advice.