Cabell Publishing is a scholarly services company based in Beaumont, Texas. Established in 2000 by management professor David W. Cabell, it originally maintained only a directory of whitelisted academic journals. Since then, it has grown to include a blacklist of predatory journals, journal metrics, and a set of tools to help academics prepare their manuscripts. Its whitelist has also been expanded to include many types of information about the included journals, such as article acceptance rates and average review times. As of 2017, the company's whitelist contains over 11,000 journals.
Although the company's website suggests its name is "Cabell's International", the site's Terms of Use page indicates the company name is "Cabell Publishing Co." In addition, a "find-entity" search with the Texas Office of the Secretary of State, returns no results for an entity named, "Cabell's International", but Texas corporate filing records show that Cabell Publishing Company filed articles of incorporation with the Texas Office of Secretary of State in 2000 and has maintained its corporate status in Texas since then.
Blacklist
In 2015, Cabell's began working with Jeffrey Beall, the creator of Beall's list, on developing a new list of predatory journals. In early 2017, Beall's list was abruptly taken offline, leading to speculation that Cabell's was involved in the list's removal; the company denied any involvement. On June 15, 2017, Cabell's launched its own blacklist of academic journals it considers predatory. Like their original whitelist they have maintained since 1978, their blacklist is subscription-only.
Reception
With regard to Cabell's whitelist, Manhattan Collegelibrarian William H. Walters noted that "Cabell’s maintains minimum standards for inclusion but is not comprehensive in its coverage of good journals." A Charleston Advisor reviewer wrote that "Cabell’s takes complaints about journals in their database seriously, and they will conduct a review and decide if it’s necessary to remove the offending publication." But they also noted, "Inclusion in Cabell’s is not an automatic stamp of quality. Users should realize that while Cabell’s prohibits journals that their staff deems predatory, publications of low quality will not necessarily be excluded."
