A lesson learned about predatory journals and their difference from peer-reviewed open-access publishing

Ever since theWomen’s Dermatologic Society (WDS) Board of Directors voted in March of 2014 to establish a peer-reviewed journal, our leadership has realized how the advent of predatory publishing has affected the establishment of a legitimate medical publication. For example, in 2014, there were already approximately 40 different dermatologic journals but nonewith a specific focus onwomen’s skin problems and career issues of female dermatology trainees. In fact, there are no specific journal publications dealing with careers for women in medicine. The WDS is the third largest dermatologic society in the United States with approximately 10% male membership holders and a growing proportion of international members. Leaders in academic dermatology, both female andmale, make a significant difference in terms of themain goals of theWDS:mentorship and leadership development. The two WDS co-editors in 2014 approached a number of respected publishers to explore options to publish the journal. Not one of the medical publishers offered the WDS the possibility of a subscription-based publication, stating that with the proliferation of predatory open-access publications, most libraries were not willing to add on additional charges for new journals. Hence, the only way forward was an open access, peerreviewed model. For many of us within the WDS, this has been hard to accept because we havematured in our careers with journals that have no publication charges and are generally accessible free-ofcharge through the university or hospital we are affiliatedwith, or by society subscription. In addition, many dermatologists and even trainees have become accustomed to receiving invitations almost on a daily basis from nonmedical journal editors representing various “predatory journals” and asking us to write articles for them. Some of these journals have titles that are very similar to those of legitimate dermatology journals associated with prestigious dermatologic societies, such as the British Association of Dermatology’s two journals. In fact, these predatory journals have invited dermatologists to join their editorial boards as an honorary activity, so the journals appear to be legitimate on the basis of who is associated with them. I had the personal experience of being invited to submit a case report to one such journal, and after seeing the names of several respected colleagues serving on their editorial board, I believed it to be a legitimate publication. Therefore, I decided to submit an interesting case report for publication. Yet, within a couple of hours of submitting the case report, I received an email from the non-medical editor, stating it had been reviewed and was accepted for publication with no revisions. This is very unusual for any journal submission. Subsequently, what I thought was a $50 submission fee for the article turned into a $3,000 charge to my credit card! I tried to contact the journal for an