Peruvian Scientific Production Affected by Predatory Journals

Abstract The following study presents the output of predatory publications in the Peruvian universities that were included in the SCImago Institutions Rankings of 2020 during the period 2015–2019. The universities considered in this work are ones of the most established and prominent in this Latin American nation. Due to a relatively new University Law, enacted in 2014, and a National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation, a research culture is starting to build-up in this country, which is reflected in its growing scientific production. However in this study, by using data from the Beall’s list, Stop Predatory Journals list and the citation database Scopus, we have observed that predatory publications are infiltrating the Peruvian scientific production. Our analysis reveals that the growth of questionable publications is exponential. Financial incentives and also promotion and tenure are quite possibly the key factors as to why the rise of predatory publications is occurring in Peru. On the other hand, we indicate that the growth of predatory publications can bring about the emergence of rogue researchers and also in the long run the damage of universities’ reputations. This is the first study to present an output of questionable publications in Peru and it is expected that serves the competent authorities for research as well as inexperienced and young researchers to avoid further the spread of this bad publication practices.