Out of concern for the continuous improvement of the quality of research and scientific publications carried out by representatives of the discipline of politics and administration and related disciplines, we would like to draw your attention to the phenomenon known as "predatory science", which is related with the functioning of predatory journals and predatory publishers.

We find it very disturbing that the titles of journals and the names of publishers suspected of predatory practices can be found in the most important databases used not only by the scientific institutions, but also by the government administration bodies. On their basis, the quality of the research work of a university, a specific discipline and individual scientists is assessed.

The Predatory Journals and Publishers by Jeffrey Beall is a list of journals and publishers suspected of not maintaining an adequate scientific standard during the review process of articles and works submitted for publication. Articles published in predatory journals are not subject to expert evaluation or it is done based on very low standards, as a result of which scientific papers submitted to these publications are published very quickly. The editorial offices of the predatory journals also charge high fees for the publication of the texts (the amounts are usually not provided on websites), and they acquire authors by writing e-mails inviting them to publish, referring to articles already published by specific people. It should be noted that such periodicals often mark their multidisciplinarity - they are not devoted to a specific discipline or scientific subject, but are general in nature.

It is worth adding that not all journals included in the Beall list are predatory periodicals, so before sending the manuscript, it is worth analyzing the information on the journal's website in detail (regarding the composition of the editorial office - members of the editorial team should come from from good research centers and recognizable scientific achievements in a given field; description of the reviewing system (single-blind review, double-blind review, peer-review or other); bibliometric indicators and the presence of these periodicals in recognized international databases).

Unfortunately, in the ministerial list of scientific journals and peer-reviewed materials from international conferences (which is the basis for assessing the quality of scientific work), one can find titles that coincide with the lists of predatory journals.

Therefore - as the Main Board of the olish Political Science Association - we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the publishing houses of our scientific works do not belong to those that put profit above the ethics of the researcher and the quality of the texts published there. Without supporting the publishing practices characteristic of predatory journals, we appeal that the works published by representatives of our discipline be published in journals that adhere to high ethical standards and expert assessment, which will guarantee a systematic improvement of the quality of research and scientific publications.

Main Board of the olish Political Science Association