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Africa Social Work and Development Network | Mtandao waKazi zaJamii naMaendeleo waAfrica
Africa Social Work & Development Network | Mtandao waKazi zaJamii naMaendeleo waAfrika

Africa Social Work & Development Network | Mtandao waKazi zaJamii naMaendeleo waAfrika

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YOU ARE HERE » Home » Admin ASWDNet » Protecting your research: identifying legitimate journals and avoiding predatory authorship

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Protecting your research: identifying legitimate journals and avoiding predatory authorship

Posted on 9 May 20259 May 2025 By aswnetadmin No Comments on Protecting your research: identifying legitimate journals and avoiding predatory authorship
  • Steps in publishing a good journal article
  • Predatory journals, how to spot them
  • Predatory writers, how not to be one

Steps in publishing a good journal article

  1. Conduct ethical, original research and analysis – The author carries out rigorous research grounded in ethical principles and produces meaningful, authentic findings.
  2. Select a suitable academic journal – The author evaluates and chooses the most relevant journal and prioritise African journals where appropriate, to support the local publishing industry and contribute to decolonising knowledge.
  3. Get feedback from colleagues – Before writing the manuscript, the author seeks informal or formal feedback from peers, mentors, or supervisors to strengthen the work.
  4. Prepare the manuscript – The author transforms the research into a structured article following the selected journal’s manuscript guidelines and beware of using generative AI tools to do the work for you – ensure the work reflects your own analysis, voice, and insight.
  5. Submit the manuscript – The article is submitted through the journal’s official submission process (e.g. online system or email).
  6. Initial editorial review – The editor (or editorial assistant) screens the manuscript and decides whether to reject it, return it for revision, or send it for peer review.
  7. Peer review and revisions – Experts in the field review the manuscript. The author may go through several rounds of revision based on reviewer comments until the editor accepts the final version.
  8. Formatting and typesetting – The accepted article is formatted into the journal’s publication template for print or digital versions (PDF, HTML, EPUB, etc.).
  9. Copy editing – A professional copy editor improves grammar, language, structure, and style while preserving the author’s meaning and voice.
  10. Author proofreading: The author reviews the final version to approve corrections or make final adjustments before publication.
  11. Printing and distribution – The journal article is printed (for hard copy publications) and/or digitally distributed through the journal’s website or academic databases.
  12. Public access and readership – The article becomes available to readers, who may access it through open access, subscriptions, libraries, or institutional repositories.

Predatory journals, how to spot them

Step in legitimate publishingHow predatory journals skip or manipulate the stepEffects
1. Conduct ethical, original researchAccept low-quality, plagiarised, or fabricated researchUndermines academic integrity; spreads false or harmful information
2. Select a suitable, reputable journalMislead authors with fake impact factors, names mimicking real journalsWastes authors’ work; damages reputation; not recognised by institutions
3. Get feedback from colleaguesDiscouraged or ignored; no peer dialogueResearch remains unrefined; lacks critical insight
4. Prepare the manuscript carefullyAccept sloppy, unstructured submissions; no guideline enforcementPoor presentation and readability; hard to follow
5. Initial editorial reviewAccepts everything or auto-accepts in hours without real reviewNo quality control; irrelevant or weak work gets published
6. Peer review and revisionsNo real peer review; sometimes fake reviewers or no reviewer feedbackErrors and weak arguments go unchallenged; no scholarly improvement
7. Formatting and typesettingMinimal or absent; raw documents uploaded as-isPoor professional appearance; lack of consistency
8. CopyeditingSkipped; language and grammar errors remainUnprofessional; harder to cite or build on; author credibility reduced
9. Author proofreadingAuthors not involved in final reviewMistakes go uncorrected; loss of control over final publication
10. Legitimate distribution and accessPaywalls with little visibility; not indexed in credible databasesArticles not found or cited; little academic impact; hinders knowledge sharing

Predatory writers, how not to be one

Unethical practice by authorHow it happensConsequences
Faking or fabricating dataInventing results or manipulating data to get desired outcomesMisleads the field; may cause real-world harm; career-ending if exposed
Plagiarising others’ workCopying texts, ideas, or results without proper citationLegal and ethical violation; ruins credibility; retractions and blacklisting
Using AI to write entire articlesSubmitting AI-generated content without proper review or attributionUndermines academic originality; misrepresents authorship
Submitting the same article to multiple journalsTrying to increase chances of acceptance or exposureDouble publishing is unethical; leads to retractions and damaged reputation
Paying for fake authorshipPaying to be added as an author without doing the workViolates authorship criteria; misrepresents contribution
Adding honorary or guest authorsIncluding someone as an author just for prestige or connectionsUnethical; distorts credit and accountability
Citing excessively for self-promotionIncluding irrelevant self-citations or friend-citations to boost metricsSkews citation impact; unethical metric manipulation
Targeting predatory journals knowinglyChoosing quick, pay-to-publish venues despite knowing they skip peer reviewWeakens academic standards; research not respected or used
Ignoring ethical approval for studiesConducting research without clearance from ethics boardsViolates human subject protections; risks legal consequences
Ghostwriting or outsourcing researchHiring others to write or conduct research and claiming it as one’s ownMisrepresents authorship and expertise; undermines trust

In conclusion, the steps for legitimate publishing in an academic journal are:

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  • In Memoriam: Mzee Valentin-Yves Mudimbe (1941–April 2025)
  • Protecting your research: identifying legitimate journals and avoiding predatory authorship
  • Forced from Dahomey in Benin to Alabama in the United States of America (USA): stories of intergenerational wealth versus intergenerational trauma
  • Call to join Africa Day conversations
  • Now on the DHET list – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA)

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