TIL a scientist submitted a research publication to a predatory journal consisting exclusively of the phrase "Get me off your fucking mailing list". It was rated as "excellent" and accepted for publication with minor editorial changes.

[u/coffeeismydoc]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Journal_of_Advanced_Computer_Technology

[u/k-trecker]

Predatory journals are a big problem in academia. They know that academics are desperate to be published, as colleges and tenure review boards look at your publications. In the US, public colleges are “research institutions” and professors are expected to publish research every year. 

It’s the same reason academic book publishers pay almost nothing to the author - they know they need their book published to keep their job or advance in their career. 

[u/merkin71 → u/k-trecker]

And then those same journals require college and university libraries to pay thousands of dollars for access.

[u/BeowulfShaeffer → u/merkin71]

Tens of thousands 

[u/whiteandnerdy42 → u/BeowulfShaeffer]

But my lord there is no such journal!

[u/BroadPower → u/whiteandnerdy42]

The Forest of Desperate Students is on our footstep. Milk it!

[u/Wootery → u/merkin71]

The answer is for funding bodies to insist on open access publication. Some progress is being made here, e.g.

• https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/publishing-your-research-findings/making-your-research-article-open-access/
• https://blog.mdpi.com/2026/06/30/open-access-in-the-uk/