Scholarly Publishing

We can’t discuss professional publishing without addressing the problem of predatory publishers. Although we think of it in terms of “publishing” you also need to be aware of “predatory” conferences. Participating in either the journals or the conferences could potentially impact your promotion and/or tenure status.

Below we will discuss steps you can take to ensure you do not fall prey to either of these. 

Remember, you can always contact your liaison librarian if you would like assistance determining if a journal or conference is legitimate or not.

Visit the website for the journal. Ask yourself these questions. If you cannot answer yes, these are potential red flags.:

• Is the scope of the journal clear? 
• Who are the editors? Do you recognize any of them?
• Do they have clear instructions for the author?
• Are they peer reviewed?
• Do they provide copyright information? 
• Do they have a retraction policy?
• What can you determine about the publisher?
  • Does an internet search reveal any negative information?
  • Do they have a PHYSICAL address or only a PO Box?
• Do they have author processing fees and are they reasonable for the field? 
• Is the journal affiliated with a reputable/familiar University or scholarly organization?
• Look at an issue - do you find more than one article by the same author?
• Do they promise to publish quickly?
• Is there an ISSN?
• Does the publication appear professional?

Open-access is a model for publishing scholarly, peer-reviewed journals on the Internet that relies on sources of funding other than subscription fees. Some publishers and editors have exploited the author-pays model of open-access, publishing for their own profit. Submissions are encouraged through widely distributed e-mails on behalf of a growing number of journals that may accept many or all submissions and subject them to little, if any, peer review or editorial oversight. Bogus conference invitations are distributed in a similar fashion. The results of these less than ethical practices might include loss of faculty member time and money, inappropriate article inclusions in curriculum vitae, and costs to the college or funding source.

Bowman, J. D. (2014). Predatory Publishing, Questionable Peer Review, and Fraudulent Conferences. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(10), 176. http://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe7810176

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315198/

• Conference Subject & Scope
  • Are your colleagues familiar with this conference?
  • Is it too broad? In most fields, the subject of the conference should be targeted to a specific subject.
  • If it claims to be an “international conference”, it is important to take extra steps to ensure its quality and validity. The terms “international’ and “global” may be an overstatement if it is not attracting participants from across the globe.
• Conference Website
  • Is the website well-organized, uses correct terminology for the field and proper spelling and grammar? Or are there mistakes or is poorly written.
  • Who are speakers? If you are not familiar with the, check them out on Google. Are they authorities in your field?
  • Have they had previous conferences or is this their first one? Check out information on past conferences.
• Conference Organizers & Sponsors
  • Who are the organizers of the conference and what is their goal? This information should be specific and readily available
  • Is contact information for the organizers provided – and are they real phone numbers & P.O. boxes?
  • Are the sponsors organizations you are familiar with?
  • Are the conference fees in line with similar conferences or unusually high?
  • Don’t require peer review.

Adapted from:
What are ‘Predatory’ Conferences and How Can I Avoid Them?  https://www.authoraid.info/en/news/details/1156/

Nine Signs a Conference is Fake. https://www.exordo.com/blog/9-signs-this-is-a-fake-conference/

Here is an example of a real predatory conference letter: The faculty who received it did not have a Ph.D and was not in the sciences!

Dear Dr  Ruleman,

Cambridge Scholars Publishing are now accepting book proposals in Physical Sciences, and we would be pleased if you would consider submitting a proposal to publish a book or edited collection. With more than 700 titles due to publish this year, and sales in more than 120 countries worldwide, Cambridge Scholars Publishing is one of the world’s leading scholarly publishers. Founded in Cambridge in 2001, Cambridge Scholars Publishing Limited is not affiliated to, or associated with, Cambridge University Press or the University of Cambridge.

We are committed to supporting long-form research dissemination in all our fields of academic and scholarly publishing, through the publication of monographs and edited collections. This is, and will remain, our core focus in the years ahead. You can read more about our work in the No Shelf Required  online magazine.

Cambridge Scholars Publishing aims to put our authors at the heart of everything we do. We bring that ambition into our publishing operations with our Author Promises:

• Fast, fair and friendly proposal review;
• Publication in handsome hardback, as well as eBook formats, for our academic library customers;
• Worldwide distribution to research and study centres across the globe, via our international network including Amazon, Ebsco/GOBI, ProQuest and Ingram;
• A book published with us is always in-stock, and always available for sale, thanks to our unique Print on Time global distribution system;
• An escalating royalty payment—the more titles sold, the higher the royalty rate, from the first copy sold;
• No charges for publication.

We publish in all major fields of academic research and practice, including Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Health Sciences. To submit a book proposal, please visit our website, where you can download a Book Proposal Form, and find out more about us. Alternatively, you can reply to me for more information.