Predatory conferences or predatory meetings are set up and appear like legitimate scientific conferences. However, like predatory publishing they are exploitative offering little in the way of editorial control over content. Researchers attending may have good intentions, organizing company only interested in money. These conferences are organized and run by revenue seeking companies; some of these companies also arrange your travel and hotel for the conference. Many also publish conference papers in affiliated journals. Organizing committee members, those claimed to be involved with the conference, may not know they are even linked to the conference.
Characteristics of predatory conferences:
- Little or no academic merit
- High fees for attendance
- Poor reviewing standards for acceptance
- Opportunity for chairing session – great draw for you investigators
- Multiple conferences in same place at same time – discounted registration fees to attend more than one conference
- Deceptively similar names to existing reputable conferences
- Claiming editorial boards and organizing committees with prominent academics who have not agreed to participate
- Same plenary speakers for the multiple conferences
- E-mail solicitation – especially outside field of expertise
- Often target early career researchers
Reasons for not going to Predatory Conferences
- Waste of Money
- Who really goes? Who is interested in what you are talking about?
- Poor screening of presentations – anyone can present if you pay
- Publish in their “Proceedings” and you loose rights to publish elsewhere
- Not everyone is there for the talk as such – they want your intellectual property
Think. Check. Attend.Choosing the right conference to attend and present your research. A sister site to Think Check Submit. This site “aims to guide and assist researchers and scholars to judge the legitimacy and academic credentials of conferences in order to help them decide whether to or not attend the same.” There is check list that provides guidance on trusting a conference to attend.
Additional Information on Predatory Conferences
- Predatory journals and Conferences: why fake counts
- What are ‘predatory’ conferences and how can I avoid them?
- Tips on How to Identify and Avoid Predatory Conferences
- Are Predatory Conferences the Dark Side
- “Buyer Beware!” predatory conferences: Avoiding an expensive mistake
- Is This Conference for Real? Navigating Presumed Predatory Conference Invitations
- Predatory Conferences Undermine Science And Scam Academics
- Beware the Imposter: Predatory Conferences Lure the Unsuspecting
- Questionable Conferences (contains a list of Conferences/Conference Organizers)