Sydney Declaration on Predatory or Pseudo Journals and Publishers

We, the participants in the Joint Meeting of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME), the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM), and Index Medicus of the South-East Asia Region (IMSEAR), held in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia from August 28 to 30, 2024: CONSIDERING That predatory (or pseudo) journals and publishers offer open access publication in exchange for fees without robust editorial or publishing services; these include “fake” or “scam” journals or publishers who send phishing emails which promise quick review; That the articles collected by predatory (or pseudo) journals or publishers may never be published, or often are published with poor quality or accessibility, irrespective of any attempts by authors to withdraw them, resulting in such research effectively being lost; CONFIRM Our commitment to uphold the quality and integrity of our individual journals and their respective submission, editing and review processes, in opposition to predatory (or pseudo) journal practices; Our commitment to exercise vigilance and safeguard the quality and integrity of our respective publishers against predatory (or pseudo) publication processes; Our commitment to ensure that member journals of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (including those indexed in the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus and Index Medicus of the South East Asia Region) and their publishers do not engage in predatory (or pseudo) journal or publication practices; CALL ON Member States of and governments in the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions, in collaboration with stakeholders from the nongovernmental and private sectors, to formulate and implement procedures and processes for identifying and dealing with predatory (and pseudo) journals and publishers, and for guiding new and existing journals away from engaging in predatory (and pseudo) journal and publisher practices; Stakeholders from the public and private sectors, national and international organizations, universities and academic societies to support WPRIM, IMSEAR, the Global Index Medicus of WHO, in ensuring the availability of high quality health information for all that is not marred by predatory (and pseudo) journal and publication practices;