News from Mayo Clinic Libraries

Mayo Clinic Libraries Nomad Browser Plugin Adds Predatory Journal Checking

The Nomad browser plugin is an article management tool that is installed on every Mayo PC in both Chrome and Edge browsers. When you visit a webpage containing a journal article, this plugin quickly and easily links you to Mayo Clinic Libraries subscriptions and helps you order the article via the library’s Document Delivery Service. 

Early in January of 2025, the Nomad plugin was upgraded to add notifications on predatory journal pages.  This integration draws data from Cabells Predatory Journal Reports, a tool that tracks nearly 20,000 journals exhibiting predatory practices. Predatory publishing is a major issue in scientific and academic publishing. These fraudulent journals deceive authors into submitting their work, resulting in wasted time, financial loss, and forfeiture of copyright ownership. The library offers a guide explaining Predatory Publishing in more detail.

By combining the immediate feedback of the Nomad plugin and the extensive data from Cabells journal reports, this new integration will help you avoid citing and publishing in predatory journals. There is no need to install any additional software or update your system. This new feature is already in place, and predatory journals viewed in your browser will be flagged with red buttons, as shown in the screenshots below. Clicking the button will load a page showing additional information about why the journal has been flagged.

PubMed Result for a Predatory Journal

Website of a Predatory Journal with Nomad Popup