A website that has kept track of publications falsely claiming to be peer reviewed has vanished, and many scientists are alarmed. In recent years pseudo-peer reviewed journals have become a growth industry. Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado had been leading the fight back, working to expose such journals. Suddenly, last week, Beall's website was shut down, reportedly because of legal threats and political attacks.
Science relies on evidence and the capacity to replicate research. Peer review acts as a filter, keeping out many of the most unsubstantiated claims from scientific publications, and providing an indication of credibility for those lacking the skills or time to investigate the quality of research. However, the Internet has opened up space for fake journals, which claim to be peer reviewed but allow anyone willing to pay to have their work published.
Beall refers to this as “predatory open access publishing”, allowing bad scientists to pad their CVs and people pushing dangerous pseudo-science to make their claims look credible. The publishers make a profit, while the community that gets taken in by the lies, and honest scientists who won't engage, lose out. The extent of the situation was highlighted when a paper entirely consisting of the words “Get Me Off Your Fucking Mailing List” repeated 863 times was accepted for two such journals.
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