Academics are Publishing in so-called Predatory Journals

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Academics are Publishing in so-called Predatory Journals

Many Academics Are Eager to Publish in Worthless Journals

By GINA KOLATAOCT. 30, 2017

But it’s increasingly clear that many academics know exactly what they’re getting into, which explains why these journals have proliferated despite wide criticism. The relationship is less predator and prey, some experts say, than a new and ugly symbiosis.

Many faculty members — especially at schools where the teaching load is heavy and resources few — have become eager participants in what experts call academic fraud that wastes taxpayer money, chips away at scientific credibility, and muddies important research.

SOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/science/predatory-journals-academics.html?_r=1

For a Longer CV

Oct 31, 2017

Many academics are happy to publish in so-called predatory journals, the New York Times writes.

Predatory journals are called that, it says, as they are thought to trick academics into working or publishing with them by, for instance, having a name that’s similar to another, prestigious journal. These predatory journals instead publish low-qualirty articles they receive in exchange for a fee and add nearly any academic’s name to its editorial board.

Rather than being a “predator and prey” relationship, the Times says that the relationship between these journals and academics might be a “new and ugly symbiosis.” It says that many academics that work with these journals know what they are getting into and use publications in these journals or spots on their editorial boards to pad their CVs. The individual rewards for publishing in these journals — promotions — outweigh the penalties, it adds. However, the Times says some search committees have cottoned on.

The University of Sussex’s Katarzyna Pisanski adds that knowing people’s motivations for publishing in such journals is hard to tease out. “If you were tricked by spam email you might not want to admit it, and if you did it wittingly to increase your publication counts you might also not want to admit it,” she tells the Times.

SOURCE

https://www.genomeweb.com/scan/longer-cv?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scan%20Tues%202017-10-31&utm_term=The%20Scan%20Bulletin