Analysis and news
gchange the academic publishing system, and Alexandra Elbakyan, the researcher who was faced with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit for illegally releasing nearly every scientific paper ever published.
The proliferation of low-quality journals The emergence and proliferation of low- quality journals has also had a significant impact on the academic publishing industry. If someone’s research is rejected by a top journal, they can always reach out to a lower-profile one. However, this is a double-edged sword as the number of studies so flawed that they need to be pulled back has tremendously increased over the past few years. Funnily enough, top journals are pulling back more papers than their lower-profile counterparts. According to Beall’s list, the number
of predatory journals doubles every two years, and the number of articles appearing in them has exploded, reaching more than half a million low-quality articles per year. This trend is driven by the two to three per cent increase year-on-year in the number of researchers who need to publish their papers in order to access grants, build recognition and obtain awards to advance their careers. A recent Guardian investigation has
actually revealed the open-access publishers who are accepting any article submitted for a fee, contributing to the growing trend of studies being published for profit, instead of scientific advancement. Similar investigations in Japan and India have also shone a glaring light on the predatory publishing practices in these countries, illustrating the prevalence of the issue on a global scale. And while the proliferation of low-
quality journals is undoubtedly damaging the credibility of the sector, some commentators actually feel that such inadequacies in the academic publishing sector are hindering scientific progress as a whole. They point to a handful of scientific publishers that are shaping the evolution of science according to their financial interests, leaving them in a significant position of power. Many feel that the leverage and influence of the status quo within the publishing industry is directing what scientists choose to study, which, in turn, has a negative impact on the evolution of science. With scientific outlets favouring new, spectacular, or controversial results, scientists tailor their work accordingly, knowing what is more likely to be published. This situation is similar to that
Predatory conferences on the rise Thousands of researchers being conned into attending ‘fake’ events, reports Tim Gillett
Predatory journals have been a feature of the scholarly communications industry for some while, but predatory conferences are on the rise as well. Times Higher Education
(THE) reported ugly scenes at a recent conference in Vancouver, Canada, when angry academics demanded that organisers refund their fees of thousands of dollars and claimed that they had been exploited. The story details how
a professor from the University of Strathclyde paid thousands of dollars to give a paper at a conference organised by the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology (WASET), which was in fact squeezed into one room at a Holiday Inn in the city, along with several unrelated
“The scientific community… is often charged hundreds of dollars to access decades- old studies”
confronting traditional publishing: the prevalence of fake news and journalism’s degringolade. The authenticity of information is an issue affecting many businesses, and our society in general, both for printed and digital media. On social networks, the situation is sombre, with news pieces spreading at such a fast pace that distorted, inaccurate, or false information can gain a groundswell of momentum, potentially causing real-world impacts in minutes for millions of users.
The high costs associated with access to scientific results For many years now, researchers and scientific institutions have tried to remodel the publishing of scholarly peer-reviewed journals by creating digital open access journals. However, the high costs to develop, maintain, and operate the required services and infrastructure have hampered the continuity and longevity of operations. Around 50 per cent of open access journals survive long-term. In addition, authors directly experience high publication costs ($3,000 to $5,000 per publication), which precludes the submission of manuscripts from researchers with fewer resources. Aside from these costs, another
Vancouver, where the angry scenes took place
conferences. Instead of presenting her paper, the professor used her time on stage to describe to delegates how she considered the event to be a predatory conference. THE has reported
that WASET holds about 50,000 ‘conferences’ a
12 Research Information December 2018/January 2019
year, although they were concentrated into about 170 events in major cities across the world, particularly Vancouver. About 180,000 papers have been produced by the five biggest predatory conference organisers, the publication states.
problem for libraries comes in the form of subscription packages that bundle hundreds of journals of widely varying quality. Bundling is a strategy used by publishers to sell journals that few libraries would subscribe to if they were to be selected individually, meaning libraries are unable to choose and refuse specific journals. Consequently, to obtain the desired journals, they must also accept poor-quality journals with few readers. For too long, the biased and protracted
peer review process, along with the misplacement of copyrights and the proliferation of low-quality journals, have shifted power away from researchers and firmly into the hands of a select number of publishers. The oligopolistic nature of the industry must be challenged. It’s time to empower the individual, restore the integrity of the academic publishing sector and most importantly, return the benefits of scientific discovery to wider society.
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