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"Predatory publishers" are questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. Predatory publishers may have low standards for the quality of the articles they publish in their journals. Since they make money on the volume of articles rather than their scholarly reputation, they strive to maximize the number of articles and/or may ask for high open access publication fees.
Authors should critically evaluate journals for their quality before deciding to publish. Read scope notes, journal descriptions, and journal reviews for criticism or red flags. Read other articles in the journal and evaluate them for quality. Examine the list of editors and reviewers for their qualifications and experience as editors. Well-meaning academics may get involved editing or reviewing for a predatory journal because they need experience for their tenure case or curriculum vita. Websites and e-mail communications may contain grammatical and spelling errors.
Predatory publishers have been known to publish a submitted article even when the open access fees were not paid so be careful.
Predatory Conferences
In addition, some conferences use predatory practices. Conferences make money from registration and other fees. The more attendees, the more money. Often, accepted speakers must also pay registration fees. This tempts some groups to promote conferences with the purpose of maximizing fees and with little effort to maintain quality. Unsuspecting faculty and students may be contacted and invited to attend a conference or be a speaker by a conference that is shoddy and/or nonexistent.
Some publishers and distributors specialize in publications or databases in specific disciplines. Some are known for offering quality products. Researchers will become familiar with these names. It can help distinguish quality publications from those publications offered by popular vendors.
However, always evaluate information critically. Even quality publishers might publish an occasional dud. Even good researchers occasionally make mistakes.
University presses publish scholarly books and reports. Below are just a few examples.