Cabell’s International publishing blacklist

An interview with Kathleen Berryman

Authors

  • Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva Independent

Keywords:

blacklists versus whitelists, open access, predatory behavior, unscholarly publishing

Abstract

On January 15, 2017, a blog that was maintained by a US librarian, Jeffrey Beall, was suddenly shut down. That blog was famed for its divisive and controversial content, namely two blacklists that in essence labelled open access journals and publishers as “predatoryâ€. Beall showed that the entries on his lists increased annually, yet several publishing entities that had been blacklisted by Beall felt that they had been unfairly listed, causing, in some cases, reputational damage. In the vacuum that ensued in academic publishing quality control, a few entities tried to fill the gap to serve as a warning to academics. One of the organizations that stepped in was US-based Cabell’s International, which created a blacklist of journals that did not fulfill their established criteria. This brief communication reports on a structured interview that was held in June of 2017 between the author and Kathleen Berryman, Cabell's project manager. Some perspectives on Cabell’s whitelists and blacklists are provided.

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Published

2020-07-30

Issue

Vol. 6 (2020)

Section

Reports and Commentary

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