Predatory journals infiltrating Greek academia
Greek universities are facing a growing issue of academic misconduct with the rise of “predatory journals,” which publish papers without a proper peer review, for a fee. These journals, which now number over 15,000 globally, have infiltrated scholarly publishing, as institutions and researchers seek to boost their academic standing.
In an experiment in 2013, a fake scientific paper was submitted to 304 open-access journals. A staggering 82% of journals on US library scientist Jeffrey Beall’s authoritative list of “potentially predatory journals” accepted it.
Surprisingly, 45% of journals in the trustworthy Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) also accepted the bogus paper.
The problem is worsening in Greek universities, with a sharp rise in such publications. Data from 2013 shows that just 2% of publications from two Greek universities were in these journals. By 2021, this had jumped to 18% at a central university and 39% at a regional one.
