Stop paying predatory publishers of academic journals—A policy proposal to restore scientific integrity and transparency
Scientific publishing is undergoing a systemic breakdown. Thousands of journals now collect article processing charges (APCs)-increasingly paid from public research funds-while providing minimal editorial oversight. This erodes standards, distorts incentives and threatens public trust in science. APC payments to six major publishers exceeded 8 billion dollars between 2019 and 2023, with almost no transparency over how these fees are set or spent. This cannot continue. We propose that public and institutional funds support journals-whether through APCs, subscriptions or bundled agreements-only where they are accredited against a transparent, enforceable quality standard. Implemented in stages and led by funding bodies and learned societies, such accreditation would narrow the space in which predatory journals operate without resorting to blacklists.
Authors
- Michael Hochberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6774-5213)
- António Ventosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7573-0556)
- W. Verstraete
- Purificación López‐García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0927-0651)
- Max Chavarría (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5901-3576)
- Stipan Jonjić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5003-3108)
- Chris Greening (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7616-0594)
- Zeynep Ceren Karahan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7727-3363)
- Juan Luis Ramos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5350-7249)
- Angela Sessitsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0137-930X)
- Paul B. Rainey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0879-5795)
- Cristina Silva Pereira
- Olga Nunes (7006082)
- Rafael Giraldo
- Paul A. Williams
- Bruce R. Levin
- Rachel Armstrong
- Kenneth N. Timmis
- Eliora Ron
- Brandon Berryhill
- Karen Steward
- Hui Wang
Institutions
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AT)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Emory University (US)
- University of Rijeka (HR)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- Universidad Nacional (CR)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Discovery Institute (US)
- Universidad de Costa Rica (CR)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Ecologie, Société, Evolution (FR)
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín (ES)
- Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (ES)
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR)
- Sina Hospital (IR)
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology (DE)
- Sunny BioDiscovery (United States) (US)
- Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (PT)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
- Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- FEBS Letters
- Published
- 2026-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70451
- Primary Topic
- scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00