Preserving Scholarly Warning Lists: Documentation of a Removed Cautionary Resource on Predatory Conferences

This report documents the removal and subsequent restoration of a publicly available cautionary list of potentially predatory conference organizers that had been published on a Dutch academic consultancy website. The list was originally presented as part of an educational resource intended to help researchers identify common warning signs associated with exploitative or pay-to-participate conferences.

Following acknowledged external pressure from an affected organizer, the list was removed without judicial review or factual adjudication. This report preserves the list as an archived exhibit and situates its removal within the broader scholarly literature on predatory conferences, chilling effects, and informal pressure on academic and journalistic speech.

The purpose of this work is documentary and archival. It does not independently verify or adjudicate the practices of listed entities. Instead, it aims to preserve a record of a scholarly warning resource that was previously accessible, analyze the conditions under which it was withdrawn, and contribute to ongoing discussions about transparency, academic integrity, and the resilience of community-maintained guidance materials.

This publication is intended for researchers, librarians, journalists, and policy professionals concerned with scholarly communication, research ethics, and the preservation of contested informational resources.