Research ethics: Ethics for journals

Research ethics: Ethics for journals

 

Introduction

 

Question

Ethics is not just for researchers! Publishers of journals also need to work ethically.
Have you heard of predatory journals?
Try selecting the most appropriate description of a predatory journal:

Answers

Option 1

A predatory journal publishes work on predators in the animal kingdom

Option 2

A predatory journal picks up published papers and publishes them again

Option 3

A predatory journal is run by people who care only about making money for themselves

Option 4

A predatory journal makes it possible for people to misuse papers published in other journals

Feedback

3 ,That's correct. Predatory journals are only interested in one thing: making money from authors. They don't care about science or research. They make money by luring desperate authors who want to get published somewhere and somehow

Identifying a predatory journal

 

You can identify a predatory journal by looking for some suspicious practices the journal may use. Try spotting the suspicious practices in the below list.

The answer:

1. The title of the journal is overly generic, covering several subject areas  Suspicious
2. The journal editor or staff send unsolicited emails to people and invite them to submit papers  Suspicious
3. The journal is published in a developing country in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or elsewhere  Not a bad thing
4. Grand words or claims are used on the journal's website instead of verifiable facts  Suspicious
5. Fake or unverifiable metrics are used to promote the journal  Suspicious
6. The papers already published in the journal are poorly organised  Suspicious
7. The journal asks authors to pay a fee for getting their paper published  Not a bad thing
8. There are blatant errors in the content, language, or formatting of some of the published papers  Suspicious
9. The journal does not have an Impact Factor  Not a bad thing

Later in this lesson, you'll learn why the items marked "not a bad thing" are not bad at all.

 

The temptation

Consider this scenario:

A researcher is under pressure to publish. He has done some research, but it's not enough to write an original research article. To find a way out, he develops a research paper by copying information from various published papers. He sends it to a predatory journal and pays the money asked by the journal. And the journal publishes the paper quickly. The journal does not send the researcher any peer review comments, but the researcher doesn't care. All he wants is a publication. Very soon, he has published several such papers and he can get promoted!

This is the temptation that predatory journals exploit. Some researchers in developing countries feel that it's simply too difficult to do research because of various limitations, and they turn to predatory journals.
But no matter what one's circumstances may be, publishing in a predatory journal is wrong. Why? Well, any of the following can happen:

• University authorities in developing countries are becoming more aware of predatory journals. If any of their institution's researchers publish in a predatory journal, those researchers may be warned or penalised.
• A researcher who writes a grant proposal may need to present a list of publications. If reviewers at the funding organisation see that the researcher has published in predatory journals, they may immediately reject the application.

It's ultimately a matter of credibility. Researchers who publish in predatory journals risk losing their credibility, and other problems can follow.

If you get duped

Many researchers do not deliberately publish in predatory journals. They are duped or lulled into believing that those journals can be trusted. They get shocked when they come to know that their publications in such journals are useless and only make them look bad.

If you find yourself in such a situation, write to the editor of the predatory journal and ask your paper to be withdrawn from the journal. But it's possible that such a request will be ignored.

What you can certainly do is remove that publication from your CV and any online profile. And consider telling your university authorities that you have erroneously published your paper in a predatory journal and do not wish to claim any credit for it.

Open access

Before the digital age, journals were printed and sent out to institutions and individuals who had paid for subscriptions. Nowadays, nearly all journals are online. They may also have print issues, but researchers are increasingly reading journal papers online.

The online medium has given birth to a new model for journals: open access. Journals that use this model make their papers freely available for anyone to read. Open access journals don't make money from readers. But how will they make money to run their operations? There are two possible ways:

1. An institution or funding agency covers the running costs of the journal
2. Authors pay a fee to cover the costs of publication if their paper is accepted following peer review

Both models are valid and legitimate. Several major open access journals use one of these two models.
If you're a researcher in a developing country, you may be given a discount or waiver on the publication fee, commonly known as article processing fee (APC). You can usually include the APC in your research budget. Don't think you have to pay it yourself!

In any case, don't mix up the matter of APCs with predatory journals. Predatory journals will almost certainly ask you to pay an APC, but good open access journals may also do so.

Small or regional journals

Some researchers in developing countries aspire to publish in well-established journals based in developed countries. They might not have a high opinion of journals that are published in their own country. Such journals may be relatively new, may not look sophisticated, and may not have an Impact Factor. (You will learn more about the Impact Factor in a later lesson).

To make matters worse, ethically run journals in developing countries may be stigmatized by the phenomenon of predatory journals, which are also commonly based in developing countries.

However, if your research project addresses a regional issue, it could well be that a regional journal is suitable for your work. Of course, you need to think about some other criteria when you look for a target journal, and we will go over this matter in a later lesson. But for now, keep in mind that there are well-run journals in developing countries.

Here are some things to look for when you come across a regional journal and you want to check if it is credible:

• The journal is focused on one - or maybe a few - specific subject areas
• The editor-in-chief or members of the editorial board have qualifications or publications that can be verified (look up their names on Google or Google Scholar)
• The journal does not make unverifiable claims about its standing
• The papers published in the journal are authentic and relevant
• The journal is a member of publishing societies or networks
•  

• Think. Check. Submit.

  It is best to critically evaluate any journal before you submit your work instead of relying on a list of suspicious journals or approved journals. It can be very difficult to keep such lists free of bias and updated at all times.
  In 2015, the Think. Check. Submit. campaign was launched to help researchers choose the right journal for their research. By going through the Think. Check. Submit. website, you will be able to develop your skills in identifying trustworthy journals. Bookmark this website and tell your colleagues about it!
  
• 
  

  Points to remember

  1. Open access publishing is ethical, and it makes research more accessible to the world.
  2. There are many well-run journals based in developing countries, and these journals are often open access.
  3. Predatory journals often misuse the open access model to deceive authors.
  4. Try to objectively evaluate the merit of any journal you are interested in.
  5. Be suspicious of grand claims made by a journal that cannot be verified.
     

     End matter

     This lesson has been developed by INASP, an international development charity in the UK, as an extension of the work carried out by the AuthorAID team. Visit inasp.info and authoraid.info to learn about our work. 
     
     This lesson was authored and developed by Ravi Murugesan, an INASP Associate. The content was reviewed by Dr Barbara Gastel, also an INASP Associate, and Dr Anne Riederer, an environmental health scientist and technical advisor to Blacksmith Institute. Parts of this lesson were based on material in AuthorAID workshops facilitated by Dr Gastel.
     
     We have used a free and open source e-learning authoring tool called eXeLearning (http://exelearning.net/?lang=en) to create this lesson.
     This lesson was last updated on 14 April 2017.
     
     Licensing
     This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.