Predatory publishers ensnare even Ivy League scientists — sometimes at taxpayers’ expense
“Predatory” publishing is a trap for scholars in the developing world — but it turns out they’re also ensnaring scientists at Harvard and Mayo Clinic.
Not long ago, Marilyn Oermann, a professor of nursing at Duke University, got an alarming email from a colleague.
The researcher in question had submitted an article to a scientific journal. Within 48 hours, she’d received a PDF of the proofs of her manuscript. No probing questions from the editor. No peer review. Just the paper, laid out and ready for publication — along with a bill for a few hundred bucks.
“She knew right away that that was a predatory journal,” said Oermann, who has done research on these kinds of shoddy publishing operations. “I told her to email saying she wasn’t going
