Predatory Publishing: Jeffrey Beall

Jeffrey Beall, who coined the term "predatory open access publishing," is a Scholarly Communications Librarian at the University of Colorado-Denver. Beall studies scholarly open-access publishing, and until January of 2017 he maintained a list of individual journals and publishers he viewed as "potentially predatory." His Scholarly Open Access blog existed from 2012 to 2017. 

While Beall has been viewed as an expert on the topic of predatory publishing, he is also a controversial figure who has openly criticized the open access publishing model, arguing that the "author pays" model has created an opportunity for predatory publishers. Well known for his knowledge on the topic, Beall's critics have expressed concerns about his lack of support for the open access movement, and a lack of transparency regarding his reasons for including journals and publishers on his list of "potentially predatory publishers."

Beall abruptly stopped maintaining his Scholarly Open Access blog on January 16, 2017. Across the country, many debated the reasons for the sudden shutdown of this important blog, however in May of 2017, Beall published What I Learned from Predatory Publishers. In the article, he states his reasons for ending his blog: 

"In January 2017, facing intense pressure from my employer, the University of Colorado Denver, and fearing for my job, I shut down the blog and removed all its content from the blog platform." (Beall, 2017)

References:

Beall, J. (2017). What I learned from predatory publishers. Biochemia Medica, 27(2), 273-9. doi: 10.11613/BM.2017.029

After Jeffrey Beall stopped maintaining his Scholarly Open Access Blog, many in academia were left hoping that another entity would take up Beall's work of maintaining a predatory journal blacklist.

Cabell's Scholarly Analytics has attempted to fill this void. While Cabell's has been praised for its transparency (which many felt was lacking from Beall's List), Cabell's is also a commercial, subscription based product.

Curious about Cabell's? Take a look at the reviews and articles below:

If you've been approached by a publisher as an author or editor and are concerned it may be predatory, email Ruth Bueter, Associate Director of Library Operations (rbueter@gwu.edu).

Priority is given to requests submitted by members of the GW community.