Cabells has expanded the 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. It reached 10,000 journals in 2019 and 15,000 in 2021, and recent upgrades to the underlying technology have enabled the addition of further titles in recent months. As of January 30, 2026, the database contains 20,274 journals.

Journals that meet some of the more than 70 criteria used by Cabells’ team to assess whether a journal is deceptive are included in the Vulture Report. Predatory journals are often fake or misleading, often imitating legitimate peer-reviewed journals in an attempt to trick authors into paying publication fees.

Predatory Reports is complemented by Journalytics Academic and Journalytics Medicine, curated databases covering over 13,000 and 9,000 trusted journals, respectively. Together, the three resources provide publication information, metrics, and analysis to help researchers identify the right locations and maximize the impact of their research.

Commenting on this milestone, Lacey Earle, Chief Executive Officer of Cabells, said: “As this new milestone shows, the rise in scams of academic researchers and funds from predatory publishers shows no signs of slowing down, especially as generative AI technology makes it easier than ever to create academic content. To overcome this increasingly difficult situation, Predatory “Reports helps funders, publishers, academics, and their institutions examine their journal options and avoid the various deceptions typified by predatory journals.”

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