A study by two Czech economists who mapped the infiltration of ‘predatory journals' into the Scopus database, reported that ‘in these countries, predatory publication practices have apparently become a systemic problem at the national level, not limited to particular clusters.” How do we fairly assess our universities in the global higher education economy? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Idlan Zakaria, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.