Proscription lists and predatory publishers: Pointing to careful certifications

Abstract

An article by Macháček and Srholec titled “Predatory publishing in Scopus: evidence on cross-country differences” was recently withdrawn by the journal Scientometrics (Macháček & Srholec, 2021). The motivations were the lack of a “control group,” and the restriction of the analysis “to publications in four languages.” Moreover, a letter from the Frontiers editor-inchief largely criticized the use of the famous Jeffrey Beall’s list to identify predatory publishers.