Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2025 Apr 2;22(4):e1004542.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004542. eCollection 2025 Apr.

Predatory journals: What can we do to protect their prey?

Christine Laine  1 , Dianne Babski  2 , Vivienne C Bachelet  3 , Till W Bärnighausen  4 , Christopher Baethge  5 , Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo  6 , Frank Frizelle  7 , Laragh Gollogly  8 , Sabine Kleinert  9 , Elizabeth Loder  10 , João Monteiro  11 , Eric J Rubin  12 , Peush Sahni  13 , Christina C Wee  1 , Jin-Hong Yoo  14 , Lilia Zakhama  15
Affiliations
Editorial

Predatory journals: What can we do to protect their prey?

Christine Laine et al. PLoS Med. .

Abstract

In this Editorial, representatives of the International Committee of Medical Editors discuss the need for multi-stakeholder involvement to recognize and counter the actions of predatory journals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

TB reports grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, German National Research Foundation, European Union, Germany Ministry of Education and Research, German Ministry of the Environment, Wellcome, and KfW; serving on scientific advisory boards for NIH-funded research projects in Africa on climate change and health; and his role as Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Medicine, for which he receives a monthly stipend.

References

    1. Clark J, Smith R. Firm action needed on predatory journals. BMJ. 2015;350:h210. doi: 10.1136/bmj.h210 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Laine C, Winker MA. Identifying predatory or pseudo-journals. World Association of Medical Editors; 18 February 2017. [cited 15 November 2024]. Available from: https://wame.org/identifying-predatory-or-pseudo-journals
    1. Linacre S. Mountain to climb. Cabells blog. 1 September 2021. [cited 15 November 2024]. https://blog.cabells.com/2021/09/01/mountain-to-climb/.
    1. ICMJE. Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals. Updated January 2025. Available from: https://icmje.org/recommendations/browse/. - PubMed
    1. Manca A, Moher D, Cugusi L, Dvir Z, Deriu F. How predatory journals leak into PubMed. CMAJ. 2018;190(35):E1042–5. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.180154 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources