Keywords
predatory journals
publication strategies
Harbingers study
scholarly communication
How to Cite
Abstract
The paper draws on evidence of predatory publishing obtained from the 4 year-long Harbingers research study of the changing scholarly communication attitudes and behaviour of early career researchers (ECRs). The project featured longitudinal interviews for its first 3 years with 116 ECRs researching science and social sciences who came from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Spain, UK and USA. The interview data provided the building blocks for a questionnaire survey in the 4th year, which obtained 1600 responses from a global audience, which included arts and humanities ECRs and those from Russia. These studies investigated predatory publishing as part of general questioning about scholarly communications, in other words, in context. The main finding from the interview study were:
1) ECRs generally do not publish in predatory journals; 2) they only allude to them lightly and mainly in the context of open access publishing; 3) they no longer acquaint all open access publishing with predatory journals. The questionnaire found that, as in the case of the interviews, complaints that open access is low quality publishing are diminishing, however, this positivity has been partly offset by increased concerns about the dangers of predatory journals.
References
Abrizah A., Shah N.A.K., Nicholas D. (2019) Malaysian early career researchers on the ethics of scholarly publishing. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 24(1), 75-96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22452/mjlis.vol24no1.5
Alrawadieh Z. (2018) Publishing in predatory tourism and hospitality journals: Mapping the academic market and identifying response strategies. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 20(1), 72-81. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1467358418800121.
Bagues M.F., Sylos Labini M., Zinovyeva N. (2017) A walk on the wild side: An investigation into the quantity and quality of ‘predatory' publications in Italian academia (LEM Working Paper Series 2017/01). http://hdl.handle.net/10419/174551, дата обращения 16.08.2020.
Blankstein M., Wolff-Eisenberg C. (2019) U.S. faculty survey 2018, Ithaka S+R, New York. https://sr.ithaka.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SR-Report-US-Faculty-Survey-2018-04122019.pdf, дата обращения 16.08.2020.
Cobey K.D., Grudniewicz A., Lalu M.M., Rice D.B., Raffoul H., Moher D. (2019) Knowledge and motivations of researchers publishing in presumed predatory journals: A survey. BMJ Open, 9(3), e026516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026516
Cobey K.D., Lalu M.M., Skidmore B., Ahmadzai N., Grudniewicz A., Moher D. (2018) What is a predatory journal? A scoping review. F1000Research, 7, 1001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.15256.2
Demir S.B. (2018) Predatory journals: Who publishes in them and why? Journal of Informetrics, 12(4), 1296-1311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2018.10.008
Eriksson S., Helgesson G. (2018) Time to stop talking about ‘predatory journals'. Learned Publishing, 31(2), 181-183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1135
Eykens J., Guns R., Rahman A.J., Engels T.C. (2019) Identifying publications in questionable journals in the context of performance-based research funding. PloS One, 14(11), e0224541. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224541
Frandsen T.F. (2017) Are predatory journals undermining the credibility of science? A bibliometric analysis of citers. Scientometrics, 113(3), 1513-1528. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2520-x
Frandsen T.F. (2019) Why do researchers decide to publish in questionable journals? A review of the literature. Learned Publishing, 32(1), 57-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1214
Grimes D.R., Bauch C.T., Ioannidis J.P.A. (2018) Modelling science trustworthiness under publish or perish pressure. Royal Society Open Science, 5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171511
Harley Y.X., Huysamen E., Hlungwani C. Douglas T. (2016) Does the DHET research output subsidy model penalise high-citation publication? A case study. South African Journal of Science, 112(5/6), 114-117. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2016/20150352
Herman E., Nicholas D. (2019) Scholarly reputation building in the digital age: An activity-specific approach. Review article. El Profesional de la Informacion (EPI), 28(1), e280102. https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/EPI/article/download/epi.2019.ene.02/42164, дата обращения 06.07.2020.
Kurt S. (2018) Why do authors publish in predatory journals? Learned Publishing, 31(2), 141-147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1150
Memon A.R. (2019) Revisiting the term predatory open access publishing. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 34(13), e99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e99
Moher D., Shamseer L., Cobey K.D., Lalu M.M., Galipeau J., Avey M.T., Ahmadzai N., Alabousi M., Barbeau P., Beck A., Daniel R., Frank R., Ghannad M., Hamel C., Hersi M., Hutton B., Isupov I., McGrath T.A., McInnes M.D.F., Page M.J., Pratt M., Pussegoda K., Shea B., Srivastava A., Stevens A., Thavorn K., van Katwyk S., Ward R., Wolfe D., Yazdi F., Yu A.M., Ziai, H. (2017) Stop this waste of people, animals and money. Nature, 549(7670), 23-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/549023a
Mouton J., Valentine A. (2017) The extent of South African authored articles in predatory journals. South African Journal of Science, 113(7-8), 1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2017/20170010
NDR (2018) More than 5,000 German scientists have published papers in pseudo-scientific journals. https://www.ndr.de/der_ndr/presse/More-than-5000-German-scientists-have-published-papers-in-pseudo-scientific-journals,fakescience178.html, дата обращения 31.08.2020.
Nicholas D., Herman E., Jamali H., Bravo B. R., Boukacem-Zeghmouri C., Dobrowolski T., Pouchot S. (2015) New ways of building, showcasing, and measuring scholarly reputation. Learned Publishing, 28(3), 169-183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1087/20150303
Nicholas D., Jamali H.R., Herman E., Watkinson A., Abrizah A., Rodriguez?Bravo B., Boukacem?Zeghmouri C., Xu J., Swigon M., Polezhaeva T. (2020) A global questionnaire survey of the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers. Learned Publishing, 33(3), 198-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1286
Nicholas D., Rodriguez?Bravo B., Watkinson A., Boukacem?Zeghmouri C., Herman E., Xu J., Abrizah A., Swigon M. (2017) Early career researchers and their publishing and authorship practices. Learned Publishing, 30(3), 205-217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1102
Nicholas D., Watkinson A., Boukacem?Zeghmouri C., Rodriguez?Bravo B., Xu J., Abrizah A., Swigon M., Clark D., Herman E. (2019) So, are early career researchers the harbingers of change? Learned Publishing, 32(3), 237-247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1232
Nicholas D., Watkinson A., Jamali H.R., Herman E., Tenopir C., Volentine R., Allard S., Levine K. (2015) Peer review: Still king in the digital age. Learned Publishing, 28(1), 15-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1087/20150104
Nobes A., Harris S. (2019) Open Access in low-and middle-income countries: Attitudes and experiences of researchers. Emerald Open Research, 1(17). DOI: https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13325.1
Nwagwu W.E. (2015) Counterpoints about predatory open access and knowledge publishing in Africa. Learned Publishing, 28(2), 114-122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1087/20150205
Offord C. (2018) German scientists frequently publish in predatory journals. The Scientist, 19.07.2018. https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/german-scientists-frequently-publish-in-predatory-journals-64518, дата обращения 15.06.2020.
Ojala M., Reynolds R., Johnson K.G. (2020) Predatory Journal Challenges and Responses. The Serials Librarian, 78(1-4), 98-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2020.1722894
Omobowale A.O., Akanle O., Adeniran A.I., Adegboyega K. (2014) Peripheral scholarship and the context of foreign paid publishing in Nigeria. Current Sociology, 62(5), 666-684. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0011392113508127.
Perlin S., Imasato T., Borenstein, D. (2018) Is predatory publishing a real threat? Evidence from a large database study. Scientometrics, 116(1), 255-273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2750-6
Pyne D. (2017) The rewards of predatory publications at a small business school. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 48(3), 137-160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.48.3.137
Richtig G., Richtig M., Hoetzenecker W., Saxinger W., Lange-Asschenfeldt B., Steiner A., Strohal R., Posch C., Bauer J.W., Mullegger R.R., Deinlein T. (2019) Knowledge and influence of predatory journals in dermatology: A Pan-Austrian survey. Acta Dermato-Venereologica, 99(1-2), 58-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2340/00015555-3037
Roberts J. (2016) Predatory journals: Illegitimate publishing and its threat to all readers and authors. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 13(12), 1830-1833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.10.008
Shaghaei N., Wien C., Holck J., Thiesen A.L., Ellegaard O., Vlachos E., Drachen T. (2018) Being a deliberate prey of a predator: Researchers' thoughts after having published in predatory journal. LIBER Quarterly, 28(1), 1-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10259
Shehata A.M.K., Elgllab M.F.M. (2018) Where Arab social science and humanities scholars choose to publish: Falling in the predatory journals trap. Learned Publishing, 31(3), 222-229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1167
Shen C., Bjork B.C. (2015) ‘Predatory'open access: A longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine, 13(1), 230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-015-0469-2
Truth F. (2012) Pay big to publish fast: Academic journal rackets. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 10(2), 54-105.
Van Dalen H.P., Henkens K. (2012) Intended and Unintended Consequences of a Publish-or-Perish Culture: A Worldwide Survey (CentER Discussion Paper Series 2012-003). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1983205
Wallace F.H., Perri T.J. (2018) Economists behaving badly: Publications in predatory journals. Scientometrics, 115(2), 749-766. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2690-1
Xia J., Harmon J.L., Connolly K.G., Donnelly R.M., Anderson M.R., Howard H.A. (2015) Who publishes in ‘predatory' journals? Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 66(7), 1406-1417. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23265
Xu J., He C., Su J., Zeng Y., Wang Z., Fang F., Tang W. (2020) Chinese researchers' perceptions and use of open access journals: Results of an online questionnaire survey. Learned Publishing, 33(3), 246-258. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1291
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.