Predatory Conferences: How to Spot a Fake Conference

A flattering invitation, a famous venue and a keynote slot are easy to fake. A few independent checks before you pay can protect your fees, your abstract and your name.

Checklist · 7 min read · Directive Publications Editorial Team

What predatory conferences are

Predatory conferences are events that look like scholarly meetings but exist mainly to collect registration fees. Some run with a thin, mixed programme and little or no peer review. Some are cancelled with the fees kept. Some never take place at all.

The InterAcademy Partnership's 2022 report on predatory journals and conferences treats this as a spectrum rather than a single category. At one end are fake or deceptive events, where one confirmed sign should be enough to walk away. In the middle and at the other end are low-quality meetings that may be real but are poorly run. In the IAP's survey of more than 1,800 researchers, 14% said they had published in a predatory journal or taken part in a predatory conference, and a further 10% did not know whether they had.

The deception has also been tested in court. In September 2020 the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a ruling in the FTC's case against OMICS, finding that the company had made false representations about the attendees and organisers of its academic conferences, as well as about its journals.

Why senior authors are targets

Early-career researchers are often described as the main victims, but the IAP's survey found no significant link between career stage and using predatory outlets. Senior authors also face a different risk: their names are the product.

The IAP lists, among the most common traits, programmes and advisory boards that name established researchers, often without their consent. Your name on a committee page is what persuades a postdoc to pay. A keynote invitation is often the bait, and your trainees may register because they assume you have checked.

So the checks below matter twice: once for your own fees and abstract, and once for the people who trust your judgment.

Red flags in the invitation

A conference invitation scam usually arrives as unsolicited email. Treat these as reasons to check further:

• A role you never applied for. An invitation to give a keynote or join an organising committee from an organiser you have never dealt with.
• Out of field. A meeting outside your specialty, or one addressed to you because of a single old paper.
• Pressure. Early-bird deadlines, "last slots" and repeated reminders.
• Vague organiser. No named society or institution, a private email address, or contact details that do not quite match.
• Publication promises. Guaranteed publication in unnamed "indexed journals", or combined registration and publication fees.

The IAP's own advice for researchers is blunt: ignore spam email, because it is likely to be scam email. If the meeting interests you, find it yourself rather than clicking the link.

Red flags on the website and programme

The IAP's appendix of typical markers of predatory conferences includes several you can check yourself:

The IAP also notes that some well-known institutions have hosted predatory conferences, which lends those events credibility. A prestigious venue or a university logo on the page is not verification in itself.

Extra checks for fake medical conferences

Medical meetings add claims that are easy to state and easy to check:

• Continuing medical education credit. If a meeting claims accredited CME, check the provider with the accreditor it names. In the United States that is usually the ACCME, which offers a searchable directory of accredited providers. In Europe, the UEMS's EACCME accredits live educational events and lets you search the activities it has accredited. Credit systems differ by country and specialty, so confirm with your own licensing body or specialist society.
• Society affiliation. Real specialty meetings are normally announced on the society's own website and in its member communications. If your society does not mention the meeting, ask it.
• Industry sponsorship. Look for named sponsors and a disclosure policy for speakers. Undisclosed commercial relationships are a problem at any meeting, predatory or not.

How to verify a conference in seven steps

This is the routine to run before you accept an invitation, register, or approve a trainee's travel.

1. Find the organiser independently. Search for the named society or institution without using the invitation's links, and confirm the meeting appears on its own website.
2. Check the people named. Pick several committee members and keynote speakers. Look at their institutional pages, or simply email one and ask whether they agreed to take part.
3. Read the programme and scope. A real meeting has a specific scope, a timetable with named sessions, and content that fits your field.
4. Look at the organiser's other events. One company running dozens of meetings across unrelated disciplines in the same months is a strong warning.
5. Check the review process and proceedings. Ask how abstracts are reviewed and where any proceedings will be published. If the organiser claims indexing, check the database yourself. The IAP gives the same advice for journals.
6. Read the fee and refund terms. Fees should be stated in full, with a cancellation and refund policy. Be wary of registration bundled with publication charges.
7. Ask someone who has attended. Colleagues, your specialty society, or your library may already know the meeting or its organiser. Keep a note of what you checked.

The IAP suggests that an event showing more than two of the common and most reliable traits should ring alarm bells. The Think. Check. Attend. checklist from Knowledge E covers similar ground on organisers, committees and proceedings if you want a second list.

If your name is already on a programme

Act quickly and keep a record:

• Take dated screenshots of every page that lists you.
• Write to the organiser asking for removal, and keep a copy.
• Tell your research office and your society, and warn trainees and colleagues who may have seen your name.
• Check again after a few weeks, because listings are not always removed.

In the OMICS case, the court record describes conference advertisements in which individuals stated they had not agreed to serve on the organising committee or take part. Statements like yours are the evidence.

What happens to your abstract

If you have already presented, the damage may be limited. The ICMJE recommendations on overlapping publications say that an abstract or poster at a scientific meeting does not prevent a journal from considering the complete report, nor does a presentation that was not published in full.

The harder case is a full paper already published in the conference's proceedings or partner journal. Disclose it to your target journal and ask how it applies its prior publication policy. Our guide to moving from conference abstract to journal article covers the disclosure in more detail, and many of the same warning signs appear in our 12 red flags for predatory journals.

Before you register or accept

Once the seven steps are done, three items are easy to miss:

1. At least two named speakers or committee members confirmed directly
2. CME accreditation checked with the named accreditor, if claimed
3. Trainees told what you found before they register