Hello:

I think the question you raised in this paper is very important. I also want to add that I know certain professionals that their only interest is to build up their resume!! My take is that real research takes time, effort, and commitment. Some of these persons whose only interest is build- up their resume, "produced" 3-4 articles per year, but how do you measure "quality"? beyond impact factor?

Hello:

I think the question you raised in this paper is very important. I also want to add that I know certain professionals that their only interest is to build up their resume!! My take is that real research takes time, effort, and commitment. Some of these persons whose only interest is build- up their resume, "produced" 3-4 articles per year, but how do you measure "quality"? beyond impact factor?

One strategy is to identify which journals are predatory.  If you have not, be sure to consult the list at:  http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/01/02/list-of-predatory-publishers-2014/

Dr. Rodriguez, I wish this issue will be taken up by other researchers.  Quality of research can be measured not by its publication in a journal but in a way it was used to advance knowledge, may it be in the behavioral/social sciences, humanities or physical/natural sciences.  A scholastic output meet the standard if prolific and high-impact researchers accepted it to be of relevance and value to the different facets of our existence.

Prof. Marek, thank you for the advice.  From time to time, I will visit the link you provided, just to make sure that the presence of predatory journal publications be minimized if not eradicated by doing in whatever little way we can.

There are some academic book publishers that also make a practice of getting people to pay for publication.  This might be publicized, so academics will be warned against going to these journals and librarians and others will be warned against buying their books.  I know at least one of them that is known by writers beware.  There should be some kind of list that is circulated to indicate these publishers and journals, so academics don't get any benefit from publishing there -- in fact, they might find they get bad marks against them for trying to build their reputation with ersatz academic books and journals.

This practice of paying for publication in journals is not the norm in the UK scene. I am aware that is exists in other parts of the world. There are a number of very good high impact journals in the UK that are always seeking international contributions. These are worth considering, though the articles must be in English and will be subjected to a rigorous peer review. Can I also suggest the journal I co-edit: The Scottish Educational Review: http://www.scotedreview.org.uk/

First researcher's should be aware that these kind of unethical means of publication should not be encouraged.

Please be aware of one such Paid publication .... which reads as follows....

Author(s) whose manuscript(s) are accepted for publication in Swiss Journal of Research in Business and Social Sciences are required to pay 120 Euros (exclusive of any service or transfer charges) as a publication fee. Kindly note that ability to pay the publication fee does not necessarily guarantee that the paper will be accepted for publication in SJRBSS because we, at SJRBSS, believe that quality comes first.

http://www.sjrbss.com/publication-fee

Professors Scott, Mckinney and Umachandran:

Thank you very much for the very helpful advises.  I don't want to degrade my countrymen but the reality is that they are being exploited by predatory and paid journal publications and unscrupulous "research organizations".

There has to be an organization that should set the standard of what is an acceptable journal.  Not much with ISO since it only looks into the 'process'.  It should be an international organization, acceptable to all member-countries, that will establish the parameters and framework of quality in terms of problems, methods, content and results.

I know how to initiate it, but I need first the comments of those who will be interested to join.  Scientists and academicians should protect the dignity of our profession from the harsh clout of commercialism and exploitation.

This problem will not end  as long as the academic careers of lecturers to be promoted to professors are based upon academic credit points systems and the ambitions to become a "world class university" or get a higher place in universities ranking is on. Both need  research credit points  which are accumulated by published articles inby academic international 

Another line of attack would be to initiate and sustain a conversation at your university (EVSU) on research integrity and ethics. Involving research students in this conversation would be a good idea. For some initial pointers, you may refer to the following page in our university's website:

http://www.research.swinburne.edu.au/ethics/integrity/

Dr. Dash,

Thank you so much for sharing your opinion.  It's really true that students' involvement would enhance the practice of research integrity and ethics.

I think there should not only be a list of journals, but of book publishers who essentially require academics to pay to have their books published.  They appear to have a legitimate academic journal, but they use a few solid books from academics as a front and then are essentially vanity presses for academics.  I had an encounter with one that wanted me to make corrections on a really bad book, and when I tried to fix it by rewriting some of the material that was badly written since I work as a ghostwriter and editor sometimes, I was fired and not paid because they really wanted to a light editorial polish so the scholar wouldn't embarrass herself or the press -- but the work really needed more than that.   I think such publishing houses, in additional to ersatz academic journals should be exposed for what they are. 

Dear Gerry, thanks to introduce such interesting discussion!

It is not time to seriously think on what we call "quality" or "excellence" in R+i? If we continue to use only bibliometric parameters and we are so pressured to publish (particularly young researchers) we could never avoid this overpublishing fever and the proliferation of predator publishing companies. (See reference below and paper attached)

Even recognising the contribution of Impact Factor and other bibliometric indicators, excellence in science has proven to not much to do with them. "The most cited work in history, for example, is a 1951 paper describing an assay to determine the amount of protein in a solution" (http://www.nature.com/news/the-top-100-papers-1.16224). This is problably a very important contribution to science but for sure is not the first!!!  

And even less meaningful are other indicators that many non-English countries are managing, such of the number of papers in English language because some think that English is equivalent to international (and the case explained by Gerry is very ilustrative of what are the consequences of such practices).

Excellence in science should be a question of its degree of alignment with social needs and values, its real contribution to the understanding of the world, Universe, human being, etc. But how can we measure it? The new movement of Responsible Research and Innovation is reviewing some of these ideas, but it represents a deep change on the whole RD system. And changes, as you know, are allways difficult.

G. Revuelta, While changes in the “how” are exciting, changes in the “how much” could be exasperating, JCOM 12(01) (2013) C08.

Dear Prof. Gerry B. De Cadiz

It is not only happening in your country. It is also happening in India and it is important to note that most of such open access journals are published from India. Please try to avoid this kind of journals. On the other hand, most of the reputed journals also collecting money to publish the papers in open access in the name of open access publication fee. Scientists and academicians should not encourage this kind of journals. That is the only way and no law can prevent these kind of publishers that too in this digital age.

The problem has to be seen in broader context.

1. The predatory journals and publishers are thriving because they are catering to a need or demand. How this demand is driven? Can this demand be reduced or eliminated? I think it requires institutional support and directive rather than just appealing to the researcher or segregating the publishers.

2. Most of the good journals somewhere have western and English bias, where as mother tongue of many researchers are not English. Many times this is a heavy price to pay for, because the English is not good. Language command and research methodology are two different things. If the researcher feels that there is a bias of existing good quality journal, then there is an unmet need the publishers are cashing on.

Market leaders in publishing industry have started proof reading and editing services and the price they charge is exorbitant for researchers of most of the countries. Since all researches are not funded, the researcher has to pay huge money for such services.

3. There is also an issue with journal subscription and revenue. Most of the journals are used by academicians and articles are read by them only. To cover the cost, the journals have very high price and it is not open access. So many researchers are even not able to access good quality journals. This mismatch creates a market for such pay and publish journals.

4. Each researcher is expected to be gaining knowledge and improving upon her research practice and reporting over a long period of time. So initial research writing and subsequent ones will have improvement, but the current practice of blind reviews are really blind. The reviewer is free to comment on matters without having contextual understanding (in social sciences) and the author does not know what to do with those comments. Thereby, the researcher is not able to accept the comments or learn from them. This is a stifling issue. How to make this learning better? and improve on each paper? Can there be closure engagements within the existing schedule or processes?

5. At the same time, many so called researchers play to the market demand and have to publish. This is an individual ethical issue as well.