Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 10(1)
DOI: 10.31274/jlsc.13011
Abstract
Introduction: Not enough is known about what faculty understand about predatory journals, how they learn about them, and how they feel about them, which has led to insufficient education and guidance on the phenomenon.
Method: A survey was sent to all publishing faculty at a mid-sized doctorate-granting university, and it received 109 responses. The survey covered faculty professional history, departmental culture and environment, criteria for journal selection, and knowledge of and experiences with predatory journals.
Results: Almost all faculty had at least heard of predatory publishing and believed it to be a problem. Faculty reported that, most of the time, they learned about it through colleagues and/or the literature in their field. Yet faculty expressed uncertainty about the impact that predatory journals have on their field and expressed hesitance in penalizing colleagues for publishing in them.
Discussion: Faculty understanding of fraudulent journals—and of predatory publishing overall—may be too basic for efficient application in complex situations such as exploring new publication opportunities and evaluating scholarship. This leads to incongruencies between faculty values and the courses of action they pursue.
Conclusion: It is important to form a fuller picture of faculty relationships with journal publication in order to respond appropriately to their needs. The results from this study inform how academic libraries might work with colleges and other entities on campus to provide early and ongoing professional development.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
From the National Library of Medicine Technical Bulletin: Are you a health educator or librarian looking for the best quality consumer health information? MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine’s ...
The article linked below was recenly published by The Southeastern Librarian. Title Georgia’s Libraries and the Needs of Patrons Experiencing Homelessness: An Exploratory Study Author Anne Blood Source The Southeastern ...
From the Publication Page Children in America are inie E. Casey Foundation with 50-state data on child well-being. The annual report focuses this year on youth mental health, concurring with ...
From The Scotsman: Within days, libraries across the country had set up initiatives to supply books to citizens sheltering in underground Metro stations, had created centres for refugees displaced within ...
From the Associated Press: A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were ...
From The University of Toronto: Women filmmakers in Canada have often grappled with low budgets, employment scarcity and a lack of recognition. Yet they’ve also built a powerful canon of ...
Alaska: New Head Librarian Declines to Take Job at Embattled Anchorage Library (via Anchorage Daily News) & Mayor’s Pick for Top Anchorage Librarian Declines Job, Leaving Controversial Deputy Director in ...
From ExecutiveGov: Colleen Shogan, a nearly 15-year federal service veteran and currently an executive at the White House Historical Association, has been nominated to serve as the U.S.’ archivist, the ...
From the University of Louisville Libraries: University of Louisville Libraries Archivist Heather Fox is traveling to Whitesburg, KY to assist in cleaning and preserving damaged archives at Appalshop, an arts ...
From the University of Surrey: Augmented reality might allow printed books to make a comeback against the e-book trend, according to researchers from the University of Surrey. Surrey has introduced ...
The article linked below was recently published by International Journal of Communication. Title Twitter and Endorsed (Fake) News: The Influence of Endorsement by Strong Ties, Celebrities, and a User Majority ...
