Abstract:
Science policy is becoming one of the priority areas of government activity.
Various indicators are used to determine the development of science. One of them is the
presence of publications in foreign peer-reviewed journals. This indicator is important
when advancing in a career, obtaining a degree, and funding projects. The demand for
such articles has led to the formation of the phenomenon of predatory journals or
pseudoscience, when researchers, for various reasons, publish their articles in low-grade
journals. Determining the main characteristics of such journals, as well as identifying the
reasons why the author is sent articles there, is the purpose of this work.
Also, this article presents an analysis of the publications of Kazakhstani scientists and
reveals the motives of researchers who publish in predatory journals. The main hypothesis
is that the policy pursued by the state negatively affects publication practices, namely, it
contributes to an increase in the proportion of articles in predatory journals. The scientific
and practical significance of the work lies in the assessment of the ongoing scientific policy
of the state. The article uses a secondary data analysis, based on the Scopus and SJR
databases, and an analysis of the publication activity of Kazakhstani scientists was carried
out. Proposed measures to combat pseudoscience.
