Rogue ‘Academic’ Journals – Mostly Published in India, China, and Narnia - Are an Awfully Mean Fake that Scams Authors Out of their Money and Erodes the Integrity of the Scientific Community – Shame on Them!

Predatory journals and publishers are not simply low-quality outlets; they are crooks and fraudsters operating under the guise of scholarly communication. Their sole objective is to extract money from researchers while bypassing every principle of editorial integrity and peer review. These operators engage in deception by fabricating editorial boards, inventing false metrics, and publishing unvetted or nonsensical manuscripts. Such fraudulent practices corrupt the scientific record, mislead policymakers and clinicians, and undermine trust in research across all disciplines. This review synthesizes the evidence on predatory publishing, exposing its fraudulent character and analyzing its widespread detrimental impact. Beyond documentation, the review argues that passive avoidance is insufficient: predatory publishers and the editors who collaborate with them must be named, exposed, and publicly shamed. Only through public accountability can the academic community strip these fraudulent enterprises of any veneer of legitimacy. The article also examines activist countermeasures such as hoaxes, spoofing, and whistleblowing, which have successfully revealed the emptiness of predatory claims. Ultimately, predatory publishing is not a cultural or economic byproduct but a form of organized academic fraud. Safeguarding science requires zero tolerance, collective resistance, and a commitment to shaming crooks who prey on scholarship.