We recently posted an “Only Connect” wall, where we challenged you to put sixteen clues into four groups.
This article looks at one of the groupings (four papers that addressed predatory publishing and nursing) and provides a little more detail.
Before we begin
If you don’t know about Only Connect, take a look at the article we wrote which describes the BBC quiz show and also explains why we are attracted to it and which parts of the show we draw from.
The Only Connect wall that we presented, and from which this article draws from, can be seen here.
The connection
The connection between the four papers (see Figure 1) is that they all address the problem of predatory publishing and they look at the problem from the perspective of nursing.
The papers
If you are interested in the papers listed in Figure 1, here are the details.
- Gabrielsson S, Eriksson S, Godskesen T. 2021. Predatory nursing journals: A case study of author prevalence and characteristics. Nursing Ethics. 28(5):823-833. DOI:10.1177/0969733020968215
- Watson R. 2018. Predatory publishing continues. Nursing Open. 6(1):4. DOI: 10.1002/nop2.226
- Oermann MH, Nicoll LH, Carter-Templeton H, Woodward A, Kidayi PL, Neal LB, Edie AH, Ashton KS, Chinn PL, Amarasekara S. Citations of articles in predatory nursing journals. 2019. Nursing Outlook. 67(6):664-670. DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2019.05.001
- Oermann MH, Nicoll LH, Chinn PL, Ashton KS, Conklin JL, Edie AH, Amarasekara S, Williams BL. 2018. Quality of articles published in predatory nursing journals. Nursing Outlook. 66(1):4-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2017.05.005
Why nursing?
Why have we specifically focused on nursing? The simple answer is why not? But a longer answer is that nursing does seem to publish more than most disciplines on predatory publishing. To get some solid facts/figures, we searched on Scopus (we tend to use Scopus as this has more publications indexed that Clarivate).
Scopus search
There are many ways we could search for predatory publishing that address nursing. We decided to search for the three terms “Predatory Publishing“, “Predatory Journals” or “Predatory Publisher” (the quotes are part of the search terms) in the article title, abstract or keywords. We also searched for “Nursing” or “Nurse“, again in the article title, abstract or keywords (the quotes are not needed this time, but we included them anyway).
The (advanced) search term, if you want to try it yourself, is:
(TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Predatory Publishing”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Predatory Journals”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Predatory Publisher”)) AND (TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Nursing”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Nurse”))
Search results
The above search returned 60 results (the search was done on 18 Feb 2023). The complete list of papers is at the end of this article.
Publications by year
Figure 1 shows the spread of publications, by year.
It is interesting to see that in the first year (2015) that this topic was addressed, 17 papers were published. It is also interesting to see that in the past three years (2020-2022), there has been a decrease in the number of papers published. We are unsure why there has been less research than previously. We also note that there have been no papers published (yet) in 2023.
Publications by journal
The 60 papers that have been published have appeared in 48 publications. Figure 2 shows the journals which have published more than one paper addressing predatory publishing and nursing. The other 40 publications have only published one article each; not that there is anything wrong with that. Indeed, it is good to see any publications that address this important topic.
Most prolific authors
About 90 authors have contributed to the 60 papers. Some of those authors have authored more than one paper. These authors, and the number of papers they have published are shown in Figure 3.
Most cited papers
It is always interesting to look at which papers have received the most citations, on the assumption that these are having the most impact.
Of course, you need to be a little careful as older papers will tend to attract more citations and there are some papers that may be cited for the wrong reasons.
Bearing in mind those caveats, Figure 4 shows the five most highly cited papers from the 60 papers that we have identified.
These five papers are in the complete list below, but for ease of reference, we list them here:
- Oermann M.H., Conklin J.L., Nicoll L.H., Chinn P.L., Ashton K.S., Edie A.H., Amarasekara S., Budinger S.C. 2016. Study of Predatory Open Access Nursing Journals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 48(6),624-632 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Chinn P.L., Ashton K.S., Conklin J.L., Edie A.H., Amarasekara S., Williams B.L. 2018. Quality of articles published in predatory nursing journals. Nursing Outlook 66(1),4-10 Link to publication
- Kearney M.H., Thorne S., Chinn P.L., Nicoll L.H., Pickler R., D’Antonio P., Connolly C., Peternelj-Taylor C., Welliver D., Don Baker J., Flanagin A., Bradley-Springer L., The INANE Predatory Publishing Practices Collaborative 2015. Predatory publishing: What authors need to know. Research in Nursing and Health 38(1),1-3 Link to publication
- McCann T.V., Polacsek M. 2018. False gold: Safely navigating open access publishing to avoid predatory publishers and journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing 74(4),809-817 Link to publication
- Lewinski A.A., Oermann M.H. 2018. Characteristics of e-mail solicitations from predatory nursing journals and publishers. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 49(4),171-177 Link to publication
The papers
Here is a list of the 60 papers that we found. There is a link to the paper, in case you want to read it (there is one paper that we could not locate, so cannot provide a link – #46).
The papers are sorted newest to oldest.
- Godskesen T., Eriksson S., Oermann M.H., Gabrielsson S. 2022. Predatory conferences: A systematic scoping review. BMJ Open 12(11) Link to publication
- Baker K.G. 2022. Unleash your inner author: Getting published in a professional nursing journal. Nursing 52(10),36-39 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Carter-Templeton H., Owens J.K., Wrigley J., Ledbetter L.S., Chinn P.L. 2022. How to identify predatory journals in a search: Precautions for nurses. Nursing 52(4),41-45 Link to publication
- Conlogue B.C., Gilman N.V., Holmes L.M. 2022. Open access and predatory publishing: a survey of the publishing practices of academic pharmacists and nurses in the United States. Journal of the Medical Library Association 110(3),294-305 Link to publication
- Peng M.-T. 2021. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing: A brief introduction to open access and predatory journals. Journal of Nursing 68(6),91-98 Link to publication
- Broome M.E., Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Waldrop J.B., Carter-Templeton H., Chinn P.L. 2021. Publishing in Predatory Journals: Guidelines for Nursing Faculty in Promotion and Tenure Policies. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 53(6),746-752 Link to publication
- Gabrielsson S., Eriksson S., Godskesen T. 2021. Predatory nursing journals: A case study of author prevalence and characteristics. Nursing Ethics 28(5),823-833 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Wrigley J., Nicoll L.H., Ledbetter L.S., Carter-Templeton H., Edie A.H. 2021. Integrity of Databases for Literature Searches in Nursing: Avoiding Predatory Journals. Advances in Nursing Science 44(2),102-110 Link to publication
- Collom C.D., Oermann M.H., Sabol V.K., Heintz P.A. 2020. An Assessment of Predatory Publication Use in Reviews. Clinical Nurse Specialist 34(4),152-156 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Ashton K.S., Edie A.H., Amarasekara S., Chinn P.L., Carter-Templeton H., Ledbetter L.S. 2020. Analysis of Citation Patterns and Impact of Predatory Sources in the Nursing Literature. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 52(3),311-319 Link to publication
- Karatas N., Dalgic A.I. 2020. Effects of reflexology on child health: A systematic review. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 50 Link to publication
- Thomas S.P. 2020. No Laughing Matter: Proliferation of Predatory Journals. Issues in Mental Health Nursing 41(4),269-270 Link to publication
- Rawas H., de Beer J., Al Najjar H., Bano N. 2020. Falling prey to predatory journal: Experiences of nursing faculty. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences 13 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Carter-Templeton H., Woodward A., Kidayi P.L., Neal L.B., Edie A.H., Ashton K.S., Chinn P.L., Amarasekara S. 2019. Citations of articles in predatory nursing journals. Nursing Outlook 67(6),664-670 Link to publication
- Bourgault A.M. 2019. Predatory journals: A potential threat to nursing practice and science. Critical Care Nurse 39(4),9-11 Link to publication
- Milton C.L. 2019. Predatory Publishing in Nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly 32(3),180-181 Link to publication
- Clarke P.N. 2019. Open or Conventional Access: Integrity in the Process. Nursing Science Quarterly 32(3),198-200 Link to publication
- Florczak K.L. 2019. The Nature of Truth: The Need for Peer Review. Nursing Science Quarterly 32(3),176-179 Link to publication
- Sanz Á., del Valle M.L. 2019. Predatory Publishing in Palliative Care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 57(6),e4-e5 Link to publication
- Owens J.K., Nicoll L.H. 2019. Plagiarism in Predatory Publications: A Comparative Study of Three Nursing Journals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 51(3),356-363 Link to publication
- Ashton K.S. 2019. Teaching nursing students and nurses about predatory publishing. Journal of Nursing Education 58(11),627-631 Link to publication
- Edie A.H., Conklin J.L. 2019. Avoiding predatory journals: Quick peer review processes too good to be true. Nursing Forum 54(3),336-339 Link to publication
- Barroga E., Mitoma H. 2019. Improving scientific writing skills and publishing capacity by developing university-based editing system and writing programs. Journal of Korean Medical Science 34(1) Link to publication
- [No author name available] 2018. Watch Out for Emails From Predatory Publishers. Nurse educator 43(6),333 Link to publication
- Schulmeister L. 2018. Publishing in Oncology Nursing: A Look to the Past, Present, and Future. Seminars in Oncology Nursing 34(4),329-337 Link to publication
- Nahlen D., Clark S. 2018. The Publisher’s Perspective on Journal and Book Publishing. Seminars in Oncology Nursing 34(4),381-385 Link to publication
- Alexander M. 2018. Authors, Beware of Predatory Publishing. Journal of Infusion Nursing 41(5),277-278 Link to publication
- Young E.L., Paul S.P. 2018. Menace of predatory journals. British Journal of Nursing 27(10),532 Link to publication
- Mauk K.L. 2018. Predatory Journals: Author Beware!. Rehabilitation Nursing 43(3),125-126 Link to publication
- Umlauf M.G., Mochizuki Y. 2018. Predatory publishing and cybercrime targeting academics. International Journal of Nursing Practice 24 Link to publication
- Ryan-Wenger N.A. 2018. Predatory journals and their effect on the advancement of nursing science. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing 23(2) Link to publication
- Lewinski A.A., Oermann M.H. 2018. Characteristics of e-mail solicitations from predatory nursing journals and publishers. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 49(4),171-177 Link to publication
- McCann T.V., Polacsek M. 2018. False gold: Safely navigating open access publishing to avoid predatory publishers and journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing 74(4),809-817 Link to publication
- Power H. 2018. Predatory Publishing: How to Safely Navigate the Waters of Open Access. The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres 50(1),3-8 Link to publication
- Gerberi D.J. 2018. Predatory Journals: Alerting Nurses to Potentially Unreliable Content. American Journal of Nursing 118(1),62-65 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Nicoll L.H., Chinn P.L., Ashton K.S., Conklin J.L., Edie A.H., Amarasekara S., Williams B.L. 2018. Quality of articles published in predatory nursing journals. Nursing Outlook 66(1),4-10 Link to publication
- [No author name available] 2017. Don’t fall for predatory publishers. Nursing 47(10),6 Link to publication
- Pearson G.S. 2017. Avoiding Predatory Journals With “Think. Check. Submit.”. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 23(4),239-240 Link to publication
- Relf M.V., Swanson B. 2017. Predatory Publishing: A Growing Threat to HIV Nursing?. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 28(3),303-305 Link to publication
- Oermann M.H., Conklin J.L., Nicoll L.H., Chinn P.L., Ashton K.S., Edie A.H., Amarasekara S., Budinger S.C. 2016. Study of Predatory Open Access Nursing Journals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 48(6),624-632 Link to publication
- Masten Y.B., Ashcraft A.S. 2016. The dark side of dissemination: Traditional and open access versus predatory journals. Nursing Education Perspectives 37(5),275-277 Link to publication
- Baker J.D. 2016. Professional versus predatory publishing: Cautions for perioperative nurse authors. ACORN 29(4),48-49 Link to publication
- Betz C.L. 2016. Authors Beware: Open Access Predatory Journals. Journal of Pediatric Nursing 31(3),233-234 Link to publication
- Angelini D., Bakewell-Sachs S. 2015. Predatory Publishing: What Do Perinatal and Neonatal Nurses Need to Know. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing 29(2),95-96 Link to publication
- Nolfi D.A., Lockhart J.S., Myers C.R. 2015. Predatory Publishing: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You. Nurse Educator 40(5),217-219 Link to publication
- Hawks J.H. 2015. Predatory Publisher Statement. Urologic nursing 35(5),217-219
- Stone T.E., Rossiter R.C. 2015. Predatory publishing: Take care that you are not caught in the Open Access net. Nursing and Health Sciences 17(3),277-279 Link to publication
- Taylor R.B. 2015. What every medical writer needs to know: Questions and answers for the serious medical author. What Every Medical Writer Needs to Know: Questions and Answers for the Serious Medical Author ,1-220 Link to publication
- Baker J.D. 2015. Professional Versus Predatory Publishing: Cautions for Perioperative Nurse Authors. AORN Journal 101(6),599-601 Link to publication
- Bradley-Springer L. 2015. Predatory Publishing and You. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 26(3),219-221 Link to publication
- [No author name available] 2015. Predatory Publishers: What the Nursing Community Needs to Know. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing 30(2),87-90 Link to publication
- Hill K.S. 2015. Predatory publishing: What nurse executives need to know. Journal of Nursing Administration 45(2),59-60 Link to publication
- Nicoll L.H. 2015. Predatory publisher statement. CIN – Computers Informatics Nursing 33(2),43-45 Link to publication
- Susan Carroll V. 2015. Watch out for the wolves: Predatory publishing. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing 47(1),1-2 Link to publication
- Kearney M.H., Thorne S., Chinn P.L., Nicoll L.H., Pickler R., D’Antonio P., Connolly C., Peternelj-Taylor C., Welliver D., Don Baker J., Flanagin A., Bradley-Springer L., The INANE Predatory Publishing Practices Collaborative 2015. Predatory publishing: What authors need to know. Research in Nursing and Health 38(1),1-3 Link to publication
- Sorrell J.M., Owens J.K. 2015. Ethics: Predatory publishing: Keeping the wolves from your office door. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 20(3) Link to publication
- Roberts D. 2015. Author, beware! a look at the dangers of predatory publishing. MEDSURG Nursing 24(1),7 Link to publication
- INANE Predatory Publishing Practices Collaborative 2015. Predatory publishing: What editors need to know. CANNT journal = Journal ACITN 25(1),8-10 Link to publication
- Fitzpatrick J.J. 2015. Predatory journals: What nurse educators need to know. Nursing Education Perspectives 36(1),7 Link to publication
- Pearson G.S. 2015. Predatory Publishing Practices and Nurses. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care 51(1),1-2 Link to publication