Revistas e editoras predadoras no campo da saúde: problemática e recomendações aos investigadores.

The problem of predatory journals and publishers in the health field is analyzed, identifying characteristics and the insights acquired. A review of health literature indexed in ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, and Web of Science was conducted in 2020 and 2021. The data survey was confirmed in March 2022. The analysis allowed the characterization of the phenomenon and verify the negative effects on the health sciences, and therefore a set of recommendations was written for the researchers. A growing apprehension with predatory journals and publishers was evidenced over the past few years, especially from 2015 and confirmed since 2017. Figures for 2021 and the first months of 2022 follow this increase. The Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed are the databases that show a notorious concern with health sciences. The pressure to publish, and the difficulty in discerning legitimate journals from the illegitimate one foster a favorable environment for the proliferation of questionable publications. Researchers should assume good research practices in a demanding and informed attitude on behalf of the reliability of science, by avoiding the inclusion of false, plagiarized, or manipulated data, which damage the quality of the results and conclusions, influencing scientific evidence, clinical practice, and ultimately the patients, in a negative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]