predatory publishing 2016
TRANSCRIPT
Scholarly Publishing
Predatory Publishing: what it is and how to avoid it
February 2016Sharon Bunce
Scholarly Communication and Repository Service, Learning and Research Services
CC Image courtesy of : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGeorgia_Aquarium_-_Giant_Grouper
Scholarly Publishing
Overview
• Context: changes in scholarly communication• Predatory publishing: why, what, and how• Identifying the predators – avoiding the pitfalls• Tools for finding reputable journals
Scholarly Publishing
Game Changer
Context: changes in scholarly publishing
eJournalsOpen Access RepositoriesHyperlinked referencesCitation trackingScholarly BlogsTwitterScholarly Social Media
Open Access
https://101innovations.wordpress.com/about-1/
Scholarly Publishing
Rise of Open Access
Open Access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles, coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment (SPARC)More access means more potential for impact
Not just those with a UQ Login!
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• Over 90 research funding agencies now require open access for grant-related articles
Funders and OA
Scholarly Publishing
Context: Publish or perish
Why publish?• Disseminate new
knowledge• Increase the impact and
visibility of your research• Establish/build your
reputation• Esteem measures based on publication• Be visible or vanish!
30 – 60%Rejection rate
Scholarly Publishing
What is predatory publishing?
Scholarly Publishing
• Sends spam invitations to students and academics
• Editorial Board either non-existent or same person is
named as Editor of multiple journals
• Name of the journal does not reflect its origin (or does
not reveal its location)
• Name of journal is VERY broad (to attract more content)
• Grammatical errors on website
How to spot a predatorQuestionable practices of predatory journals
a selection
Scholarly Publishing
Questionable practices of predatory journals
• Publishes pseudo-science articles
• Launches with fleet of empty journals
• No value-add services such as reference linking
• Not indexed by genuine indexes such as Scopus or Web
of Science
• Misleading information about having an ‘impact factor’
Scholarly Publishing
Examples of scam emails
This is from Frontiers of Engineering Mechanics Research (FEMR). It is a great honor writing to you. We found a paper you published. It’s an excellent paper which is well matched with the Focus & Scope of FEMR. Title: Erratum: Theory of thin-film, narrowband, linear-polarization rejection filters with superlattice structure (Optics Communications (2006) 268:1 (182-188) DOI:10.1016/j.optcom.2006.07.006)
To promote the communications in the area of engineering mechanics, we are now sending our earnest invitation for you to submit new paper to FEMR. If you are interested in it, please submit your paper online, Website: http://www.academicpub.org/femr/SubmissionGuidelines.aspx
If you are interested in being our reviewer, please send us your CV (including your title, affiliation, department, research interests, qualification, email, etc.). We appreciate the cooperation with you and look forward you hearing from you in the near future. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. Best regards,
Scholarly Publishing
Dear ……,I was hoping to talk with you at some point over the next week. I came across your research and I wanted to speak with you about the possibility of highlighting the broader scope and impact of you work in our research publication ……. so I thought I would pop you an e-mail.
Scholarly Publishing
http://weeklyscience.org/default.aspxExamples of journal websites
Scholarly Publishing
Scholarly Publishing
Editorial board for each of its 36 journals is : “Chief Editor, Council for Innovative Research http://www.cirworld.com, United States.”
Scholarly Publishing
Fake Impact Factors
Access via UQ Library Database searchJCRweb or Journal Citation Reports
Scholarly Publishing
‘Sting’ operation exposes fake peer review
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60/suppl/DC1
Scholarly Publishing
Impact upon the Researcher• Longer term reputation sacrificed for immediate gains – no
academic gain (no/poor quality peer review or academic rigor)
• Permanent ? on your academic reputation• Even if your research is sound, it will likely be disregarded by
the academic community if published in a predatory journal• Waste of your research funding – may be held accountable by
your funding agency
Authors want their work to be read and cited - publish in journals that you know authors in your discipline are reading!
Scholarly Publishing
How to catch a predator and avoid publishing pitfalls
Learn to identify and evaluate and select suitable publishing outlets
http://guides.library.uq.edu.au/getting-published
Scholarly Publishing
Where to publish: journal evaluation.
Identify list of peer-reviewed journal titles Ulrich's
AccessHow will you make your publication available open access?UQ Open Access Policy
Impact/prestige• Journal impact factors• Predatory Publishers
Aims/scope• Discipline area• Publishes work you cite• Audience
Likelihood of acceptance for ECRs.
READ journal publishing guidelines
Scholarly Publishing
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Useful tools for avoiding predatory publishers
• Jeffrey Beall’s List and blog• Characteristics of a predatory publisher• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)• Ulrich’s Database of (Ulrichsweb)• Journal Citation Reports (JCRweb) - impact
factors.
Scholarly Publishing
Before submitting a manuscript
Ask yourself• Is this a journal you read?• Is your supervisor familiar with this journal?• Is it indexed by Scopus or Web of Science or a
reputable data base that is relevant to your discipline (PubMed/EMBASE for Medicine)?
• Is the journal or publisher named on the ‘Predatory Publisher List’? http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/
Scholarly Publishing
Supporting OA at UQ – consider ‘green’
UQ eSpaceUQ’s official digital space for:
• the research outputs
• the research data
of staff and students of
The University of Queensland
Post-print
Scholarly Publishing
References: Crawford, W (2011). ALA Editions Special Reports : Open Access: What you need to know now. Chicago, Il. American Library Association Editions.