Beall’s List is Problematic and Dead! Should it be Taken Seriously?

Abstract

Three years ago, I wrote a post about Beall’s list, available from
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2989209. A problematic
website devoted to blacklisting Open Access Journals. But, as some time had passed
and this website had been taken down, I decided it would be best to go forward, I
knew I would one day be asked about Beall’s list, and a few weeks ago, I received an
email from Professor Abdulghani Alsamarai, editor-in-chief of the Aalborg Academy
Journal of Medical Sciences (AAJMS), who brought my attention to that Beall’s list,
a backup of it exists on the internet archive which is of course not being updated, is
still used to an excessive extent in some developing countries, in particular Iraq, for
decisions of assessing research and researchers and hiring and promoting academics,
and asked me if I could possibly write another article on this problematic list. After
some time, I agreed to write an editorial on the subject mainly to increase depth of
understanding and encourage ideas, and I’m pleased I have done that