Cabells’ Predatory Reports database passes 20,000-journal milestone
Cabells has expanded its Predatory Reports database to include more than 20,000 journals.
The US-based information services company reports that Predatory Reports has grown by more than 300% since its launch in 2017. Having reached 10,000 journals in 2019 and 15,000 in 2021, a recent upgrade to its underlying technology has enabled the addition of further titles in recent months. As of January 30, 2026, the database contains 20,274 journals.
Journals are included in Predatory Reports if they meet some of the 70-plus criteria used by Cabells’ team to assess whether a journal is deceptive. Predatory journals are often fake or misleading, frequently seeking to dupe authors into paying for publication by mimicking legitimate peer-reviewed outlets.
Predatory Reports is complemented by Journalytics Academic and Journalytics Medicine, curated databases covering more than 13,000 and 9,000 journals respectively that have been verified as reputable. Together, the three resources provide publication information, metrics and analytics to help researchers identify appropriate venues and maximise the impact of their work.
Commenting on the milestone, Cabells chief executive officer Lacey Earle said: “As this new milestone shows, the increasing activity from predatory publishers to con academic researchers and defraud funders shows no sign of stopping, particularly as generative AI technologies make the creation of academic content easier than ever. In order to navigate this increasingly difficult landscape, Predatory Reports supports funders, publishers, academics and their institutions to verify journal options and avoid the range of deceptions represented by predatory journals.”