{"id":2389,"date":"2025-08-04T10:13:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T08:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/?p=2389"},"modified":"2025-08-04T10:13:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T08:13:39","slug":"revistas-depredadoras-y-trabajos-finales-una-guia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/mushware\/revistas-depredadoras-y-trabajos-finales-una-guia\/","title":{"rendered":"Predatory Journals and Final Projects – A guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, while reviewing projects and supervising Master\u2019s theses, I came across something that concerns me more and more: not just the now classic AI-generated texts with no real references, but also students citing articles that appear to be academic, yet are published in journals of very questionable quality. Journals that, at first glance, seem to have everything needed to appear \u201creliable\u201d: DOI, professional formatting, \u201cpeer review,\u201d impact badges (even if we have no idea where they come from). In reality, these are predatory journals\u2014designed precisely to look scientific without actually being so. In one paper, I found no fewer than three articles from journals called LATAM<\/em> and Ciencia Latina<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What worries me most is not that students cite these articles, but that they have no real way of knowing something is wrong. Many have little or no research training, are unfamiliar with indexing systems, or are unaware of the existence of fake metrics. And in today\u2019s search environments\u2014especially when using AI\u2014these journals show up easily. Some even appear in superficial academic searches, making this not just an individual problem, but a structural one.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s especially concerning is that, in undergraduate programs, there are fewer and fewer opportunities to teach students how to conduct a proper literature review. Yet in their final projects, we expect them to know already how to do it\u2026 when in reality, few have ever been taught properly. As supervisors, we support the process, of course, but we can’t\u2014and shouldn’t\u2014do the review for them. And often, we realise too late that what they\u2019ve read and cited doesn\u2019t hold up, even if it\u2019s been carefully written and impeccably referenced (though I should say this isn\u2019t the norm).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why\u2014after several tutorials that ended up being more about journals than about the articles themselves\u2014I decided to pause and put together a guide. It’s not definitive, not exhaustive, not extensive. It\u2019s a practical tool, created to help. It was made in a rush, like many things that emerge in the middle of an overflowing calendar, but with real care in its core intention. The goal is to give students a quick way to filter and decide whether a source is worth citing. Without unnecessary jargon, and with real examples.<\/p>\n

The guide includes basic checking criteria (Is it indexed? Is the metric legitimate? Do the editors exist? Does the DOI work?), a table of free tools, a couple of obvious case examples, and a small \u201cquick check card\u201d they can use before citing an article. All designed so they can make an informed decision in less than ten minutes. Not to be perfect, but to make fewer mistakes.<\/p>\n

This is not a crusade, nor is it trying to define what is or isn\u2019t valid science\u2014and the conversation about predatory journals is neither simple nor quick. It\u2019s an invitation to care. To teach students how to take a second look, more calmly and critically. To avoid reproducing, even unintentionally, a publishing model that thrives on negligence. And to do so from the classroom, from tutorials, from the margins of our own limited time.<\/p>\n

If it helps someone avoid a questionable citation in their final project\u2014or even sparks a more critical conversation about what it means to cite well\u2014then it has done its job. In the meantime, it remains open, like all tools born from a desire to improve things together.<\/p>\n

You can find it linked here. It\u2019s only available in Spanish for now, but I hope it\u2019s still useful (https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/antipredadoras.pdf<\/a>)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, while reviewing projects and supervising Master\u2019s theses, I came across something that concerns me more and more: not just the now classic AI-generated texts with no real references, but also students citing articles that appear to be academic, yet are published in journals of very questionable quality. Journals that, at first Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trabajos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2392,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions\/2392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lindacastaneda.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}