Guest editions bring the benefits of expertise, diversity, and interdisciplinary collaboration, enhancing the journal’s reputation and readership. However, they recently have become the targets of fraudsters and paper mills, leading to the publication of junk science papers that ultimately have to be retracted. Consequently, journal leadership and publishers are now required to implement rigorous processes to maintain editorial standards and guard against the publication of pseudo-science. Recently, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) released a detailed discussion document on best practices in managing guest edited collections. The infographic below presents a handy summary of key steps journal leadership can take to ensure that the journal doesn’t fall victim to scammers through fake guest editions.
