Akademiliv

Sahlgrenska akademins nyheter

På Svenska
University of Gothenburg Logotype
  • News
  • Notices
  • Calendar
  • Grants
  • About Akademiliv

“Researchers have a great responsibility for avoiding questionable publications”

23 February, 2022

PUBLISHING ETHICS. Akademiliv (Academy Life) provides a concise report from the webinar on questionable publications and the changing publishing climate presented on January 25. The webinar was organized by the Council for Research Ethics at Sahlgrenska Academy in collaboration with the Biomedical Library.

Watch the film from the seminar (link to GU Play), the seminar was held in Swedish.

Gustaf Nelhans, Eva Hessman and Linda Hammarbäck.

The seminar was part of the series “Research Ethics in Academia – Open Faculty Meeting.” Speakers included Gustaf Nelhans, a researcher and associate professor at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science at the University of Borås, and Eva Hessman and Linda Hammarbäck, librarians at the Biomedical Library, University of Gothenburg.

Publishers can make a lot of money through scholarly publication, and the prospect of quick earnings also attracts questionable market players/actors/operators/competitors. Some are less reputable, with a flawed or non-existent peer-review process.

Different funding models

There are different ways of funding publishing, mostly based on either subscription fees (i.e. pay to read), or subscription fees or article processing charges (APCs). Under the APC funding model, researchers pay a publication fee to provide open access to the article.

In 2014, this scientific article was published which made it clear that the journal was unserious. The title of the article was ‘Get me off your fucking mailing list’ and this phrase was repeated throughout the manuscript.

But recently, read-and-publish agreements, also known as transformative agreements, have become the dominant funding model.

Most major publishers–such as Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer Nature–now have agreements with the library consortium Bibsam. This means that publishing costs for Swedish corresponding authors are centrally covered by the organizations that participate in the agreements. However, some publishers who have not signed agreements and several titles that publishers have chosen not to offer in the central agreements still are paid for with APC fees. There also are many other forms of open access funding where costs are covered in other ways, such as by research funding bodies or libraries, learned societies and models for parallell publishing (known as “green open access”).

Assessed on a case-by-case basis

Researchers are regularly contacted by journals of dubious scholarly quality that want to charge for open access publishing of articles. The existing publishing climate can be stressful for researchers, which makes it tempting to accept publishing offers from less reputable journals.

There is always a risk that articles will be published in disreputable journals. Often the researcher needs to do a bit of sleuthing to assess the quality of the journal. The publishing landscape is constantly changing, making it difficult to create transparent criteria for determining what is reputable. Consequently, there are no reliable blacklists clearly identifying the disreputable journals. However, a few lists exist that provide some indication of whether a journal is reputable. These include the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series, and Publishers and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Think, check, submit

The letter in which the International Journal of Intelligent Information Systems offers the publication of Gustaf Nelhan’s article. [Click to enlarge image]
As an example, Gustaf Nelhans showed a letter he received from a journal called the International Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, which wanted to publish his article for an APC fee of $770. At the same time the journal asked him if he wanted to be part of its editorial board. In this case, a visit to the journal’s website provided useful information: the page looked old, and it lacked important information, such as the editor-in-chief’s name.

“If the journal communicates with poor spelling and grammar, that of course triggers a warning flag. These journals also often promise a very fast peer review process, maybe only two weeks,” Nelhans said.

In the last half of the seminar, librarians Eva Hessman and Linda Hammarbäck offered additional good advice on how researchers can identify journals that are not reputable. The advice can be summarized as “think–check–submit.” Researchers at the University of Gothenburg can receive support on publishing matters from the University Library by contacting forskarservice@ub.gu.se.

No innocent lambs

Disreputable journals are often called “predatory journals,” but Gustav Nelhans prefers to refer to them as dubious publications. The predatory journals term signifies that the journal bears all responsibility, which he thinks is wrong:

“When we describe them as predatory journals, we see them as predators making us researchers innocent lambs, but we have to take responsibility for the kind of publication we submit to. As supervisors, we also have a great responsibility for ensuring that our doctoral students never become involved in publishing in disreputable journals,” Nelhans said during the seminar.

“I have seen examples of doctoral students who have submitted to journals before realizing that the journal is not reputable. This can lead the doctoral student having to pay the journal recall the manuscript so it can be submitted to a serious journal.”

Less common at older universities

Click to enlarge image.

Together with Theo Bodin at Karolinska Institutet, Gustaf Nelhans published an article in 2020 about publications by researchers at Swedish higher education institutions in blacklisted journals during the 2012–2017 period. They identified 1,743 papers published in such journals during the period, which in a downward trend corresponded to 0.9–0.5% of the annual number of scholarly articles published by researchers at Swedish higher education institutions. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00033

The difference among universities was large. Researchers at newer higher education institutions tended to publish a larger proportion of their research in the questionable journals than researchers at the large and comprehensive or specialized universities. This may be due to a less established publishing culture or weaker support structure at the newer institutions. A related reason is that this is more likely to occur in applied research areas and in newly professionalized and academicized areas. During the period studied, the proportion of articles published in questionable journals declined.

Gustaf Nelhans and his colleague also compiled words that the journals used in their titles. Those occurring frequently were research domains in engineering, management, and educational sciences. Many journals are also active in the fields of health sciences and biotechnology.

Seldom cited

Publications in questionable journals seem to have little impact on the scholarly community, considering how rarely they are cited in other publications. A preprint from 2019 (How Frequently are Articles in Predatory Open Access Journals Cited, Björk et al.) went through 250 randomly selected articles from such journals and found that 60 per cent of them were not cited at all.

“A very small percentage of these articles received a substantial number of references. Whether we researchers actually recognize a publication in a questionable journal is a question well worth discussing,” Gustaf Nelhans said.

Only nine percent of articles that had undergone peer reviews before publication did not receive a single citation.

Read more about publishing ethics at Sahlgrenska Academy’s website Research Ethics.
If you have any questions about the choice of journals, dubious publishers or APC fees, please contact the Biomedical Library, forskarservice@ub.gu.se or see https://www.ub.gu.se/en/publish/open-access

BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM

 

 

By: Elin Lindström

Add your own events in the Akademiliv Calendar

No newsletter during the sports holiday – Wednesday, February 15

Information from Sahlgrenska Academy Research Support Office

[UPDATED JAN 24]
The Sahlgrenska Academy Research Support Office provides an overview of upcoming and current calls, nominations and events in an information letter. This letter is updated approximately four times per semester.

’20 minutes for researchers’ is back – see full spring program

During 20 minutes over Zoom, the Biomedical Library gives tips on tools and services that can facilitate your research everyday life.

We are building at Medicinareberget

You will now find comprehensive information on construction projects that affect the Sahlgrenska Academy in the Staff Portal.

Lunch menus

Café Anatomen
Menu not available on website.

Café Annedal
Menu not available on website.

Lunchen.nu

Lustgården på Änggårdsbacken
Take away for external guests between 11.00-12.30 weekdays.

Lyktan

Mersmak Mölndal

Mersmak Sahlgrenska

Mersmak Östra

Salt & Syra

More news

New thesis: Higher risk of future accidental bowel leakage after sphincter injury

3 February, 2023

THESIS. A study that was part of a recent doctoral thesis at the Institute of Clinical Sciences reports a significantly higher risk of developing …  

Formal ceremony for Zealous and Devoted Service

3 February, 2023

ACADEMIC CEREMONIES. On Wednesday, January 25, the University invited a 68 staff members to a ceremony to receive their Zealous and Devoted …  

Nominations for Honorary Doctors 2023 is open

2 February, 2023

HONORARY DOCTOR. All staff at Sahlgrenska Academy may nominate honorary doctorates. The appointments are evidence of the faculty’s appreciation, a …  

Depression and low quality of life 30 years after chemical attack

27 January, 2023

NEW STUDY. Mustard gas harms the vision, skin and breathing. Three decades on, however, the predominant effect is mental ill-health. At a time …  

Testing a immunological drug as a new treatment for early type 1 diabetes

26 January, 2023

CLINICAL STUDY. A large clinical study is now beginning on an approved drug for treating psoriasis. The drug will be tested on patients who were …  

Emma Eckernäs: GU now surveying doctoral students’ work environment too

25 January, 2023

COLUMN. For the first time, the work environment survey (ARK) at the University of Gothenburg (GU) now contains a sub-survey aimed specifically …  

Nominate for the award “PhD Thesis of the Year”

24 January, 2023

AWARD. Do you know of a really good thesis that was defended last year? Until February 7, you can nominate for the Sahlgrenska Academy's PhD …  

New legislation for clinical trials of medicinal products

24 January, 2023

RESEARCH RESOURCES. New EU legislation for clinical trials of medicinal products will be phased in over the coming years. All new applications …  

Joining forces for research on asthma, allergy, and airways

24 January, 2023

RESEARCH CONDITIONS. "Breathe Sweden", a digital platform for researchers who collect studies on diseases and disorders of the respiratory tract, …  

Fewer surgically treated ankle fractures with a clear-cut treatment routine

24 January, 2023

DOCTORAL THESIS. It has been shown that the percentage of ankle fractures that undergo surgery could be substantially reduced, from more than 30 …  

More news...

Sahlgrenska Academy

© University of Gothenburg
PO-Box 100, S-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Phone: 00 46 31 786 0000

About the website

Elin Lindström is editor for Akademiliv.
Please feel free to send your ideas and comments to akademiliv@gu.se

Sign up for the Akademiliv newsletter:

Send you tips to Akademiliv

Do you have a suggestion for news, grants, seminars or an education?
Send an email to Elin Lindström Claessen