Scholarly Open Access
Critical Analysis of Jeffrey Beall's Blog - Open Access Publishing
Beall's Criteria
Predatory Blogger
|
Here are some of the highly questionable, bogus criteria Beall used in
determining Open Access Journals are predatory and posted on his predatory
blog.
Here
are the reasons we’ve added Jeffrey Beall to the list.
(We frequently update the list so please visit our website often for
additional information).
Top
3 Predatory Beall's criteria
(1) Only Open Access Journals are predatory
Our Analysis
Beall is biased in arguing to protect academic
scholarly publication. He invented bogus criteria to discredit open access
journals in the best interest of larger publishers. Beall continually
attacks open access journals and publishing houses but never criticizes
closed access publishers as predatory. Is there any reason behind it?
Beall is a scammer and is currently working for the best interests of
major publishing companies. Friends of Open Access forecast that Beall’s
list will grow until all popular open access journals are included into
his blacklist. He utilizes this mechanism to collect ransom. As such,
Beall is a predatory blogger and an academic criminal.
For this reason we added Beall to our list as predatory blogger.
------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Open access journal's Gold (Author-pays) criteria is predatory
Our
Analysis
Why
are PLOS, Springer, Elsevier
not predatory?
Beall
heavily attacks Open Access journals and also maintains a hit list to
collect ransom. Beall, however, never criticized PLOS, Springer, or Elsevier
— publishers who are charging huge amounts in publication fees for a
single article. This demonstrates Beall’s bias towards open
access journals as well as towards certain publishers from India and
Africa.
Many
Open access Journals follow an author-pays model at a substantially lower
cost than the fees that PLOS, Springer, and Elsevier
charge. Nevertheless, Beall neither criticizes nor did he include
PLOS, springer, or Elsevier
on his hit list.
Please
see the article processing charges for these three major publishers.
PLOS
Open Publication Fees
To
provide Open Access, PLOS uses a business model to offset expenses –
including those of peer review management, journal production and online
hosting and archiving – by charging a publication fee to the authors,
institutions or funders for each article published. Publication fees vary
by journal and are payable for articles upon acceptance.
PLOS
Biology $2,900 USD
PLOS
Medicine $2,900 USD
PLOS
Computational Biology $2,250 USD
PLOS
Genetics $2,250 USD
PLOS
Pathogens $2,250 USD
PLOS
Neglected Tropical Diseases $2,250 USD
PLOS
ONE $1,350 USD
URL:
http://www.plos.org/publications/publication-fees/
(Accessed
on March 03, 2015)
Springer
Open Publication fee
Publishing
Open Choice involves an open access publication fee of US$ 3000/EUR 2200
(excl. VAT). You can choose to pay by credit card or to receive an
invoice.
The
open access publication fee does not replace any existing journal policies
publication costs to be paid by the author, which are billed separately
(e.g. surcharges for color in print, oversized articles, etc.)
Customers
providing payment from the Americas will be charged in US$. Sales taxes
will be charged if applicable. Customers providing payment from Europe,
Africa, and Asia will be charged in EUR. VAT is not included in the price
and will be added, at a standard rate, if applicable.
Final charge may vary
from over $5000.00 US.
http://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/springer-open-choice (Accessed
March 03, 2015)
Elsevier open access publication fee
Adjustments in article publishing charges (APCs)
reflect a number of factors including competitive considerations; market
conditions; journal impact factor; article type; journal function;
editorial processes; and technical features. Our APCs are journal specific
and range from $500 to $5000 US Dollars. For specific pricing information,
please refer to the individual journal homepages or alternatively download
the 2015
APC price list. Subscription articles are not included in these calculations.
http://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/pricing-policy#price-setting
(Access on March 03, 2015)
Beall,
Can you provide us an explanation?
This provides clear evidence that Beall’s list is flawed and has no credibility whatsoever. Beall’s Gold Open Access criteria of the article processing fee are predatory, and its purpose is only to collect ransom and nothing more.
For this reason we added Beall on to our list as a potential, probable, and possible predatory blogger.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3)
Open Access Publishers from Asia and Africa are predatory
Our Analysis
This is one of the most ridiculous
criteria invented by Beall thus far. There is no way to compare their
academic facilities and standards with those of the western world. Most of
the countries in Asia and Africa are still developing nations and are
unable to offer infrastructure for the academic institutes.
However, they are successfully emerging into the global market
thanks to the internet and other communication technology. We should
encourage Asian and African scholars to publish their research and should
provide adequate support for their enhancements. Rather than giving
support for the Asian and African scholars, however, predatory Beall
continually discredits their publications and journal publishers. When
compared to larger Open access publishers these publishers charge authors
very minimal article processing fees. In our view, the support of their
publishing combined with their low fees, will enhance knowledge
circulation and readers from all over the world will also have access to
Indian and African scholar's research work.
In
conclusion Beall's predatory criteria are, once again, ridiculous. For
this reason we added Jeffrey Beall on to our list as possible, potential,
and probable predatory blogger.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------- ------------------
(31)
Beall Criteria
An unscientific
epidemiology article was published (According to Beall). Therefore the
Journal is predatory. (Posted on April 23, 2015).
Our
analysis
Beall has no Ph.D in
any discipline and holds only a Bachelor degree in Spanish. It is
laughable how Beall could possibly qualify to review an article based on
epidemiology. This jack of all trades is a Colorado clown and nothing
more.
-----------------------------------------
(30)
Beall's Criteria
A subscription costs
$160, and there are additional fees once the paper is accepted. Therefore
Journal is predatory. (Posted on April 21, 2015)
Our
analysis
Beall cannot interfere
in the economic relations of the publishing house. If Beall or any author
does not like to the practices they are free to find another publisher. It
is the same as with any other business in this world. Beall has been
posting this sort of useless nonsense for long time and it must end now.
This is yet another bogus predatory criterion invented by Beall. Beall is
insane, nothing more.
----------------------------
(29)
Beall's Criteria
The February,
2015 issue of the journal contains 59 published articles which
translate to $5,900 in revenue for the publisher, Mr. Biswas — enough
perhaps to buy a house for Mr. Biswas. Therefore journal is predatory.
(posted on April 16, 2015)
Our
analysis
Beall is suffering
from some undiagnosed mental disorder. If a publisher makes a profit from
his/her publishing business, it has nothing to do with predatory criteria.
It is the as what any other publishers do. Beall is continually posting
content full of nonsense and, as such, providing jokes for the academic
community.
---------------------------------
(28)
Beall's criteria
If an open access
journal removed a review invitation, it is predatory. (Posted on April 09,
2015)
Our
analysis
This is actually a
common practice used by even some of the most renowned journals Expert
Opinion on Investigational Drugs (IF 5.432)
Journal, for example, has the same practice. Wiley’s journal, Advanced
Energy Materials (IF 14.385), which is one of the best journals for
materials science, also has this same practice. Now it is clear that Beall
is simply trying to point fingers on Open Access journals. Beall's
opinions are bias and have no credibility whatsoever.
------------------------------
(27)
Beall Criteria
If the publisher
changed its name, it is predatory. (Posted on April 07, 2015)
Our
analysis
This is another
laughable criterion invented by Beall. These bogus criteria render him a
laughing stock for rest of the world. Beall becomes an academic joker,
nothing more.
---------------------------
(26)
Beall's criteria
If
a company offers a publication service it is predatory. (Posted on April
02, 2015)
Our
analysis
This is yet another
laughable criterion invented by Beall to discredit Open Access journals.
This clearly indicates the status of Beall's mental health, nothing more.
------------------
(25)
Beall's criteria
If an Open Access
journal has a similar title to another journal, it is predatory. (Posted
on March 31, 2015)
Our
analysis
We believe additional
analysis is not necessary in determining this bogus criterion also
invented by predatory blogger Jeffrey Beall.
--------------------------------
(24)
Beall's criteria
The published article
is poorly edited therefore it has little value. This is therefore
predatory. (Posted on March 24, 2015).
Our
analysis
Beall is insane. He
has now started his own made-up rendition of quality control of the open
access journals. It is the most laughable predatory criterion invented by
predatory blogger, Jeffery Beall, yet. The quality of the publication has
no relation whatsoever to Beall's bogus predatory practices. Beall is a
not a qualified authority to evaluate journals and he is a jack of all
trades criticizing open access journals in his vicinity.
-----------------------
(23)
Beall's Criteria
If an article
published is too brief, then the open access journal is predatory (posted
March 03, 2015)
Our
Analysis
Predatory blogger
Beall invented another criterion. According to Beall if the review article
published is short, that open access journal is predatory. Beall keeps
changing his bribery business model. Publishing an article is a matter of
the decision of an editorial board affiliated with the journal. If the
editor decides the length of a given article is appropriate, they are free
to publish the article. Beall cannot interfere with journal practices. It
is none of his business. This predatory blogger takes every action he can,
regardless of its merit, to discredit open access journals. This bogus
criterion has further clarified to us Beall’s motive behind his blog.
For
this reason we included Beall on to our list as a potential, possible, and
probable predatory blogger.
-----------------
(22)
Beall Criteria
If
an Open AAccess journal publishes 500 articles, that journal is predatory.
(posted on March 05, 2015)
Our
analysis
Beall goes beyond
ridiculous here. Beall is running out of his predatory criteria by which
to tarnish the journal’s reputation. His main intention is an attempt to
raise questions on the number of publications of Open Access journals.
Other closed access publishers, such as Elsevier and Springer, are
publishing more than hundreds of articles in their journals. According to
Beall, though, those journals and publishers are not predatory. However,
in contrast to his whole argument against Open Access, Beall the predatory
blogger, discredits journals that publish more articles. Beall's
double standard policy and predatory business model is exposed once again.
For
this reason we included Beall on to our list as a predatory blogger.
-----------------
(21)
Beall criteria
If a publisher starts
an open access model of publication, it is predatory. (Posted on March 10,
2015)
Our
analysis
Beall is continually
inventing new predatory criteria and he has no idea that the academic
world is laughing at him. None of the criteria invented by Beall is nor
can it be considered predatory. Instead the only thing proven predatory is
Beall himself. Any person in this world has the right to start and
maintain a business. Beal has no right whatsoever to interfere in
others’ economic relations. Beall is crossing his boundaries and
demonstrates to the rest of the world that he is predatory. Beall’s
bribery businesses model is no longer working and so he has taken to
continually inventing new criteria to discredit open access journals.
For
this reason we added Jeffrey Beall on to our list as a predatory blogger.
-----------------
(20)
Beall Criteria
If a journal has more
authors from another country, that open access journal is predatory.
(Posted on March 17, March 19, 2015)
Our
analysis
Beall continually
discredits open access journals by inventing bogus criteria. This
criterion has no relation whatsoever to the practices of the journals.
Those are only Beall's predatory opinions and nothing more. It seems as
though Beall is running out his predatory criteria with his outlandish and
beyond ridiculous arguments, providing jokes to rest of the academics in
the world. Many Journals have authors from all over the world and Beall's
bogus criteria make no sense. If the journal is popular among researchers
in another country, it is not grounds for considering it as predatory at
all.
For
this reason we added Jeffrey Beall on to our list as a predatory blogger.
------------------------
(19)Beall
Criteria
Low quality contents are in the open access journal, therefore it is
predatory.
Our
analysis
Beall is a jack of all
trades. Beall criticizes Open Access journals including those specializing
in disciplines from the medial sciences to the social sciences. This man
has no expertise in any single one of those subject areas and no actual
research work has been conducted on his behalf. It is surprising that
Beall has the courage to provide this academic joke to rest of the world.
For
this reason we added Jeffrey Beall on to our list as a potential, possible
and probable predatory blogger.
-----------------------
(18)
Beall Criteria
If an Open Access journal has a hybrid model fee structure it is
predatory.
Our
analysis
Beall thinks he is
very creative and finds whatever reason he can to discredit his opponent
without any merit. He has no credibility to his blog. It is providing
jokes for the rest of the world. Predatory blogger Jeffery Beall, needs to
grow up.
--------------------------
(17)
Beall Criteria
If an Open Access Journal indexed in Pubmed
it is predatory. (Posted on March 06, 2015)
Our
analysis
Beall
is insane and definitely requires a psychiatric assessment.
We
are not going to provide any additional analysis for this one of his
predatory criterions.
We
included Jeffery on to our list as a predatory blogger.
(16)
Beall's crtiteria
Open
Access Journals are making a huge profit from special issues (posted on
Feb 24, 2015)
Our
Analysis
Beal
claims Open Access Journals are making a huge profit from special issues.
This clearly provides us with evidence for the reason behind his extortion
attempts. Beall's associate will contact Open Access publishers and demand
ransom. Additionally, there are hundreds of cases against Beall. Most
cases Beall is failing to collect ransom and inruturn he include journal
into his hit list.
For
these reasons highlighted, we added Jeffrey Beall as potential, possible,
probable predatory blogger.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(15)
Beall’s Criteria
Open access journal is
shutting down therefore they are predatory. (Posted on February 26, 2015)
Our
Analysis
Scholarly publishing is a
business same as any other business. The success of a business depends on
various factors. According to Beall, the journal mainly depends on
volunteerism and therefore it is predatory. Beall is clearly going to
continue inventing criteria as much as he can in order to discredit Open
Access Journal. If any business like this one has failed in the past, it
does not mean that all businesses in his field are going fail also.
Beall’s intention could not be clearer. Beall wanted to shut down all
open access journals. This is because doing so would provide opportunity
for high paying commercialized closed access journals. The closed access
journals would be able to once again take back their lost revenue by
monopolizing journal publishing. Beall’s ideology is vicious and will
benefit only his supporters within the closed access publishing industry.
Beall wants to scam millions of dollars from researchers.
For this reason we added
Beall on to our list as a potential, possible, probable predatory blogger.
(14)
Beall’s Criteria
Publishing a larger number of papers in the Journal is predatory (Posted
on March 05, 2015)
Our
Analysis
Beall
goes wild again. Beall has no information about and there is no logical
analysis to how those publishing houses run. Predatory
Blogger and Jack of all trades, Beall, criticizes the quality of work of
the journals from Biology to Chemistry. This is also bogus criteria
invented by Beall for purpose of the discrediting Open Access publishers
from Asia.
For
this reason we added Beall on to our list as a possible, potential,
probable predatory blogger.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(13)
Beall’s Criteria
Open access journal has a similar title to that of closed access
journals. According to Beall, it is a "copy cat." According to
him, open access journal launch
and publish scholarly journals whose titles closely match those of
established and respected journals, including journals published by
scholarly societies. (Posted on February 19, 2015)
Our
Analysis
Beall
has invented another bogus criterion. We have looked closely at his claims
and would like to point out that ISSN will not allow similar titles on
articles published. ISSN is the authority determining the titles of the
journals. Take the common names John, Jane and Jeffrey for example; there
are many who posses those names and yet it is not an indication that these
people are similar at all. Nor is it misleading to have the same name for
different individuals.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(12)
Beall's
Criteria
Based on conference location, specifically held in
popular tourist destinations (posted January 29, 2015)
Our Analysis
Based on Beall’s post on January 29, 2015 he has
evidently invented another bogus criterion.
This time, based on the destination of the conference.
If the location is a tourist destination he will include the conference
and Journal on his hit list. Beall has gone beyond ridiculous. He is a
clown and only suitable for the merry-go-round at the Colorado carnival.
For this reason, we have added Beall to our list of
predatory Blogger.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(11)
Beall's
Criteria:
Unable to access the website (posted January 29, 2015)
Our analysis
We found another criterion invented by Beal as posted
on his Blog January 29, 2015. According to his statement, the sole reason
to discredit a journal was that he was not able to access the Journal
website. This is one of the most ridiculous and bogus reasons he’s
invented so far. Soon after Beall had declared the journals as predatory,
however, one of the bloggers posted access URLs for all the journals. Even
so, the journal still remains on his blacklist.
It is now clearly evident that Beall’s blog is a
scam. The website may have
been experiencing technical difficulty and may have been undergoing an
updating process. If the website is not able to be accessed at a moment,
it does not merit its inclusion as a predatory journal.
For this reason we included Beall on our list as a
predatory Blogger.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(10)
Beall’s Criteria
Beall’s Blog gives no office location
Our analysis
On Beall’s January 29, 2015 post, he discredits
another open access publisher, quoting that the Journal gives no office
location (But the publisher provides a legitimate address in the USA).
Conversely, Beall’s blog gives no office location.
It is now highly questionable as to why Beall is hiding behind his
blog. Is he utilizing the University of Colorado system, is he utilizing
the University of Colorado’s library to run his scamming activities?
For this reason we included Beall on our list as a
predatory blogger.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(9)
Beall’s Criteria
Peer review is too fast (posted January 29, 2015)
Our Analysis
Beall cannot determine other journal’s peer review
process. There is no way for Beall to determine whether the peer review
process is fast or slow. It depends on the resources available for
publishers. This is yet another bogus reason Beall gives to discredit Open
access Journals.
Therefore we have added Beall on our list as a
predatory blogger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(8)
Beall Criteria
Colorado clown, Jeffery Beall invented another new
criteria for evaluating Open access Journals. According to him, if open
access journals utilized a manuscript-managing software system, it is
predatory. (Posted February 03, 2015)
Our Analysis
Beall has gone beyond ridiculous. Beall is not only
criticizing Open access journals but is also interfering with the economic
interest of the Open access Journal publishers. Whether or not any journal
utilized manuscript-managing system software has nothing to do with the
quality of the journal publication. Beall, on his post, stated that he
logged the complaint against the open access publisher using manuscript
managing system software. Beall has no right whatsoever to interfere with
the economic interests and business transactions of two organizations. In
a similar context, for the purpose of comparison, is Beall going to log a
compliant against Internet companies against Open Access Journals.
For this reason we have added Beall on our list as a
predatory blogger.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(7)
Beall’s
Criteria
Open
Access Journals charge publication fee or article processing fee in US
dollars.
Our
Analysis
Beall
includes journals into his hit list based on his ridiculous criteria.
International publishing houses use US dollars as their main currency for
their transactions. Additionally, US dollars are utilized as a universal
currency for global transactions.
However, the transactions made in US dollars have no relation to
the quality of Journals.
We
have, as a result, added Jeffrey Beall to our list as a predatory
blogger.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(6)
Beall’s
Criteria
Based
on Organization’s
location.
Our
Analysis
The
location of organization has no relation what so ever to the quality of
publication. Whether the publishers are from India, Turkey, China, USA,
UK, Ontario or Canada has absolutely no relation what so ever to the
quality of publications. This clearly explains Beall’s
conspiracy against Open Access Publishers. Again, the ridiculousness and
even comedy in Beall’s
criteria should be noted.
We
have therefore, added Jeffrey Beall to our list as a predatory blogger.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(5)
Beall’s
Criteria
The
journal does not appear to have an established editorial board; none is
listed on the website, nor is any Editor-in-Chief listed.
Our
Analysis
We
do not agree with Beall because he added to his black list, Journals that
already have an established editorial board and Editor-in-Chief.
They are also listed on the publisher's / organization's website.
Beall
utilized these criteria to undermine research activities and discredit
scholars around the world. His behavior is highly questionable and his
motive is now clear. His idea is to ridicule professionals ruthlessly and
in an unmerited fashion for the alternate purpose of scamming other of
their hard-earned money.
This
is therefore another reason we have added Jeffrey Beall to our list
as a predatory blogger.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(4)
Beall’s
Critera
The
journal gives authors the option to pay an extra fee to get a fast
track review on submitted papers. This fee is in addition to the
normal article processing charge. It’s
not clear who does the review, as there is no editorial board.
Our
Analysis
We
closely looked at Beall’s
claims and could not find any information related to his specific claim on
the Journal website. The Journal website clearly posted their Editorial
Board and Editor-in-Chief. This is one of the clear examples where Beall
is providing false and misleading information on his blog and slandering
the names of otherwise reputable journal publishing organizations.
We
were also able to confirm that Beall demanded one million dollars ransom
from this particular Journal. Once the Journal refused pay ransom, Beall
posted false claims about the Journal and included this Journal into his
blacklist stating that it is predatory.
This
is yet again another reason we have added Jeffrey Beall to our list
as a predatory blogger.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3)
Beall’s
Criteria
The
organization does not publish the journal itself; all of its published
papers are only available on the SSRN website.
Our
Analysis
We
already established facts that Beall is a predatory Blogger. If Beall
could not understand or had not realized it functioned as scholarly
publisher, then he
should have made inquires to the publisher. Unsurprisingly, we confirmed
that Beall never contacted the publisher. Beall is acting out on his own
assumptions. This further proves that Beall is writing nothing but
incredible nonsense on his Blog. According to the publisher and SSRN, they
have established Partnership in a publishing agreement to be utilized on
SSRN platforms. The Journal is publishing on the SSRN platform and taking
full advantage in order to publish research work at the lowest possible
cost. SSRN is not a publisher for the organization.
Organization
is a Partner in publishing with SSRN.
(Screen shot from SSRN website)
SSRN
consists of numerous Research Networks. The organization is a partner in
publishing and utilize the SSRN platform to publish Journal articles.
Beall’s claims are bogus, ridiculous and misleading.
The
264,000+ authors who have contributed their research to SSRN have trusted
their intellectual output. SSRN continues to invest substantial resources
in providing a responsive, reliable, and scalable platform to deliver
services to users. SSRN's objective is to provide worldwide distribution
of research to authors and their readers and to facilitate communication
among them at the lowest possible cost. The vast majority of papers in the
SSRN eLibrary are downloadable at no charge. In addition, SSRN provides
free subscriptions to all of their abstracting e-Journals to users in
developing countries on request.
Therefore,
we have added Jeffrey Beall to our list as a predatory blogger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2)
Beall’s
Criteria
Beall
did not see authors from Country of publisher.
Our
Analysis
This
is a most ridiculous and immature reason to include Journals to his
blacklist and as such Beall is providing a laugh to academic world. Many
authors from the publisher’s country contributed to the Journal. This
will further establish Beal as a predatory Blogger and nothing more.
Therefore,
we have added Jeffrey Beall to our list as a predatory blogger
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)
Beall’s
Criteria
The
organization prominently refers to itself as a “Non Political and Non
Religious Foundation,” yet there is no evidence that it is actually a
foundation. It does not claim to be non-profit and may in fact be a
for-profit entity. Also, the name of this organization seems to steal some
legitimacy from the agency that was formerly called the Canadian
International Development Agency and from the province itself.
 Jeffrey Beall : Predatory psychic |
Our
Analysis
We
contacted the publisher to obtain more information.
The
Organization is a non profit, non-governmental organization founded in
2001 and registered in Ontario, Canada with registration #: 1673435. The
Organization does not state that it is a foundation.
The Organization says it does not represent any political or
religious group, and it is clearly posted on the website. It is highly
questionable how Beall determined the organization’s internal functions
and activities without affiliating to it and without contacting them. The
agency was founded in 2001— almost 15 years ago. In 2014, the Canadian
International Development Agency transformed into a newer organization
operating under the ministry of foreign affairs, trade and development
Canada. The publisher has been operating since 2001. Beall’s
claims are bogus and misleading.
We
now conclude that Beall is not only a predatory Blogger but also a
predatory psychic, and we have henceforth added Jeffrey Beall to our list.
