Avoiding the Peril of Publishing Qualitative Scholarship in Predatory Journals
Jeffrey Beall, M.S.L.S.
Scholarly Initiatives Librarian
University of Colorado Denver
Publications have historically been the moorings of higher education. Journals, in particular, have served two invaluable purposes. One is to engage scholars as research and theories are generated and disseminated for debate, further exploration, peer-review, and replication. Additionally, journals serve as a permanent archive for scholarship so that future generations can historically trace research findings and paradigms, building from what is known and has come before.
Printed journals have been the longstanding mainstay for publishing in higher education. With the advent of the internet, however, some journal publishers have moved to new publishing models. Whether the shift is a boon or bane, of course, remains to be seen as the move is one currently in progress. As with many facets of higher education, it may prove in time to be some of both.
Within this context, Mr. Beall will present his current scholarship regarding one particular facet of the current open access publication movement: predatory journals. Due to the burgeoning nature of on-line journal publications, Mr. Beall will focus his presentations on publication companies, rather than on specific journals that propagate vanity publications. Among other scholars in this field, Mr. Beall has gained cogent notoriety for taking the steps of (a) comprising a list of publishers that he considers to be predatory and (b) generating criteria that he believes helps scholars to distinguish high quality from predatory journal publishing.
Qualitative researchers at all phases of their academic careers will find Mr. Beall’s presentation to be valuable (junior through senior faculty). Departments within institutions typically set criteria by which scholars earn tenure, promotion, and financial raises. These standards expect certain levels of academic rigor to be demonstrated by the respective faculty. Mr. Beall will help scholars to recognize on-line predatory journals, differentiating them from those of advanced quality. Any participant who someday will serve on tenure & promotion committees, or participate in similar departmental processes involving peer-evaluation, will find the presentation particularly useful.
Qualitative researchers sometimes find it challenging to locate journals without biases toward scholarship that does not specifically apply the traditional scientific method. Mr. Beall will help conference participants, however, avoid the temptation trap of succumbing to predatory journals. The so-called green and gold models of open access may someday become the way of future publication, according to some academic futurists, and current qualitative scholars must be adequately informed regarding the issues, making good current publication decisions in a field that is rapidly changing.
About the Speaker
Jeffrey Beall earned his M.S.L.S. degree in library science from the University of North Carolina in 1990. He currently holds the rank of tenured Associate Professor as a Scholarly Initiatives Librarian at the University of Colorado Denver in Denver, CO. Previously, Mr. Beall served as a Metadata Librarian at UCD and, for ten years, was a Cataloger at Widener Library, Harvard University. In addition to having published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, Mr. Beall’s scholarship has received front page coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education, highlighting the expanding challenges with open access, predatory journal publishing. Mr. Beall has received particular world-wide attention from his web site: “Scholarly Open Access: Critical Analysis of Scholarly, Open Access Publishing.”
» View Mr. Beall’s curriculum vita
» View Mr. Beall's website