Predatory Open Access journals: A review of past screenings within the Flemish performance based research funding system (2014 – 2018)

From 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance Based Research Funding System, these screening exercises are conducted to assist university review boards with the decision-making processes concerning what is and what is not to be considered a peer reviewed periodical. Each year, the results of these monitoring exercises than, are published in as a report, and presented to the Authoritative Penal. In the introductory part of this essay, we will present a general background against which these yearly screenings emerged. Second, we will present the sources used and the methods deployed for the yearly screenings. Thereafter, we will shortly present the yearly results these exercises yielded. In the third section, we present a more comprehensive analysis of the results. We conclude with reflecting on the past exercises and the findings presented in this report, and discuss some implications for colleagues and scholars manoeuvring through the contemporary journal landscape