Institutional and individual reputation damage can result when researchers publish in predatory journals, said David Moher, Director, Centre for Journalology, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), and a Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, at a PHRI Special Rounds today: Dealing with predatory journals: How to identify and avoid them, and how to support research integrity.
Watch the recorded PHRI Special Rounds here.
Download Professor Moher’s presentation sides [PDF].
Sadly, even sound research – including clinical trials – has been published in predatory journals because of the authors’ unawareness.
Much of the content, however, in predatory journals is not sound, he added, and that can misguide patients and their families who find that information online.
Professor Moher, who specializes in studying open scholarship and trustworthiness in research, also discussed: fake DOIs; how Open Access is fueling predatory publishing; the usefulness of preprint; and the recent re-evaluation of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF).
He recommended the formal adoption of research integrity training at universities and research institutes. “I have to take formal training in WHMIS [workplace hazard materials] and I never enter a lab,” said Moher. “Why wouldn’t researchers be required to take training on how to spot, and avoid, predatory journals?”
#PublishorPerish or #PerishbyPublishing? #predatorypublishing insights @dmoher @_Journalology at #PHRI Special Rounds#OA #openaccess steep fees driving opps for #predatoryjournals such as #OMICs J
Penetrating #pubmed #cochranereviews #fakeDOIs #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter pic.twitter.com/myGOqdlIyT— PHRI Population Health Research Institute (@PHRIresearch) March 24, 2021
David Moher received his PhD in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, from the Amsterdam Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, and has more than 700 publications. He has been a Clarivate Analytics ‘most cited researcher in the world’ on several occasions, and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.
