Predatory publications are different from mainstream journals because they charge exorbitant fees to publish the articles they solicit, and they don’t follow any of the quality assurance processes expected in academic publication. Academics in the developing world have become a favorite target for these journals, and many seem to be falling into the trap. We need to ask why.

After collecting reflections on their PhD journey from 28 doctoral scholars, Rhodes University’s Sioux McKenna distilled some of their collected wisdom into five ideas that might make the uphill effort to earn a doctorate less of of a Sisyphean task.