Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T22:52:44.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Publishing in predatory language and linguistics journals: Authors’ experiences and motivations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2023

Hassan Nejadghanbar Open the ORCID record for Hassan Nejadghanbar [Opens in a new window] ,
Guangwei Hu  and
Maryam Jahangiri Babadi
Hassan Nejadghanbar*
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR
Guangwei Hu
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR
Maryam Jahangiri Babadi
Affiliation:
Independent researcher, Iran
*
*Corresponding author. Email: hassan.nejadghanbar@polyu.edu.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines the experiences and motivations of language and linguistics academics who have published in potential predatory journals (PPJs). A questionnaire was administered to 2,793 academics with publications in 63 language and linguistics PPJs, and 213 of them returned their responses. A subsample of the respondents (n = 21) also contributed qualitative data through semi-structured interviews or email responses to open-ended questions. Analyses of the survey data found that the authors were mainly from Asia, mostly had a doctorate, chose the PPJs chiefly for fast publication and/or meeting degree or job requirements, were predominantly of the opinion that the PPJs were reputable, and commonly reported positive impacts of publishing in the PPJs on their studies or academic careers. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed five main themes: unawareness, unrelenting publication pressures, low information literacy, social identity threat, and failure to publish in top-tier journals.

Type
Study
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 297 - 312
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alrawadieh, Z. (2020). Publishing in predatory tourism and hospitality Journals: Mapping the academic market and identifying response strategies. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 20, 72–81. doi:10.1177/1467358418800121CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andringa, S., & Godfroid, A. (2020). Sampling bias and the problem of generalizability in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 134–142. doi:10.1017/S0267190520000033CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atiso, K., Kammer, J., & Bossaller, J. (2019). Predatory publishing and the Ghana experience: A call to action for information professionals. IFLA Journal, 45, 277–288. doi:10.1177/0340035219868816CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagues, M. F., Sylos Labini, M., & Zinovyeva, N. (2017). A walk on the wild side: An investigation into the quantity and quality of ‘predatory’ publications in Italian academia. LEM Working Paper Series (No. 2017/01).Google Scholar
Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489, 179–179. doi:10.1038/489179aCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beall, J. (2016). Essential information about predatory publishers and journals. International Higher Education, 86, 2–3. doi:10.6017/ihe.2016.86.9358CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, K. (2017). Predatory open access journals as parody: Exposing the limitations of ‘legitimate’ academic publishing. tripleC: Journal for A Global Sustainable Information Society, 15, 651–662. doi:10.31269/triplec.v15i2.870CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branscombe, N. R., Ellemers, N., Spears, R., & Doosje, B. (1999). The context and content of social identity threat. In Ellemers, N., Spears, R., & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Social identity: Context, commitment, content (pp. 35–58). Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (1996). ‘Nondiscursive’ requirements in academic publishing, material resources of periphery scholars, and the politics of knowledge production. Written Communication, 13, 435–472. doi:10.1177/0741088396013004001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2006). TESOL at forty: What are the issues? TESOL Quarterly, 40, 9–34. doi:10.2307/40264509CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobey, K. D., Grudniewicz, A., Lalu, M. M., Rice, D. B., Raffoul, H., & Moher, D. (2019). Knowledge and motivations of researchers publishing in presumed predatory journals: A survey. BMJ Open, 9, e026516. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026516CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, A. J., Patino, G., Kamal, P., Ndoye, M., Tresh, J., Mena, A., Butler, C., Washington, S., & Breyer, B. N. (2019). Perspectives from authors and editors in the biomedical disciplines on predatory journals: Survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21, e13769. doi:10.2196/13769CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Darbyshire, P. (2018). Fake news. Fake journals. Fake conferences. What we can do. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27, 1727–1729. doi:10.1111/jocn.14214CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demeter, M. (2020). Academic knowledge production and the global south: Questioning inequality and under-representation. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demir, S. B. (2018a). Predatory journals: Who publishes in them and why? Journal of Infometrics, 12, 1296–1311. doi:10.1016/j.joi.2018.10.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demir, S. B. (2018b). A mixed-methods study of ex-post funding incentive policy for scholarly publications: Academic or economic? Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 49, 1–28. doi:10.3138/jsp.49.4.05Google Scholar
Ebadi, S., & Zamani, G. (2018). Predatory publishing as a case of symbolic violence: A critical English for academic purposes approach. Cogent Education, 5, 1–25. doi:10.1080/2331186X.2018.1501889CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, T., Fazeen, B., Asrat, A., Cetto, A. M., Eriksson, S., Looi, L. M., & Negra, D. (2022). Perceptions on the prevalence and impact of predatory academic journals and conferences: A global survey of researchers. Learned Publishing. doi:10.1002/leap.1458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erfanmanesh, M., & Pourhossein, R. (2017). Publishing in predatory open access journals: A case of Iran. Publishing Research Quarterly, 33, 433–444. doi:10.1007/s12109-017-9547-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frandsen, T. F. (2017). Are predatory journals undermining the credibility of science? A bibliometric analysis of citers. Scientometrics, 113, 1513–1528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frandsen, T. F. (2019). Why do researchers decide to publish in questionable journals? A review of the literature. Learned Publishing, 32, 57–62. doi:10.1002/leap.1214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, D. A. (2021). Language socialization and academic discourse in English as a foreign language contexts: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 1–15. doi:10.1017/S0261444821000422Google Scholar
Grgic, I. H., & Guskic, M. (2019). Croatian scientists’ awareness of predatory pournals. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 15, 1–9. doi:10.1007/s40979-019-0041-5Google Scholar
Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., & Lalu, G. M. (2019). Predatory journals: No definition, no defence. Nature, 576, 210–212. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03759-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jemielniak, D., & Greenwood, D. J. (2015). Wake up or perish: Neo-liberalism, the social sciences, and salvaging the public university. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 15, 72–82. doi:10.1177/1532708613516CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krawczyk, F., & Kulczycki, E. (2021). How is open access accused of being predatory? The impact of Beall's lists of predatory journals on academic publishing. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47, 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). TESOL methods: Changing tracks, challenging trends. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 59–81. doi:10.2307/40264511CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurt, S. (2018). Why do authors publish in predatory journals? Learned Publishing, 31, 141–147. doi:10.1002/leap.1150CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lei, J. (2021). Neoliberal ideologies in a Chinese university's requirements and rewards schemes for doctoral publication. Studies in Continuing Education, 43, 68–85. doi:10.1080/0158037X.2019.1672638CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lei, J., & Hu, G. (2019). Doctoral candidates’ dual role as student and expert scholarly writer: An activity theory perspective. English for Specific Purposes, 54, 62–74. doi:10.1016/j.esp.2018.12.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathew, R. P., Patel, V., & Low, G. (2021). Predatory journals - The power of the predator versus the integrity of the honest. Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology, 51, 740–746. doi:10.1067/j.cpradiol.2021.07.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mertkan, S., Aliusta, G. O., & Bayrakli, H. (2022). Pressured to publish: Stories of inexperienced researchers. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 35, 603–615. doi:10.1108/JOCM-08-2021-0239CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertkan, S., Arsan, N., Inal Cavlan, G., & Onurkan Aliusta, G. (2017). Diversity and equality in academic publishing: The case of educational leadership. Compare, 47, 46–61. doi:10.1080/03057925.2015.1136924CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertkan, S., Onurkan Aliusta, G., & Suphi, N. (2021). Profile of authors publishing in ‘predatory’ journals and causal factors behind their decision: A systematic review. Research Evaluation, 30, 470–483. doi:10.1093/reseval/rvab032Google Scholar
Mills, D., & Inouye, K. (2021). Problematizing ‘predatory publishing’: A systematic review of factors shaping publishing motives, decisions, and experiences. Learned Publishing, 34, 89–104. doi:10.1002/leap.1325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moher, D., & Srivastava, A. (2015). You are invited to submit. BMC Medicine, 13, 1–4. doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0423-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nejadghanbar, H., & Hu, G. (2022a). Where predatory and mainstream journals differ: A study of language and linguistics journals. Learned Publishing, doi:10.1002/leap.1485CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nejadghanbar, H., & Hu, G. (2022b). Predatory and legitimate open-access journals in language and linguistics: Where do they part ways? Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 53(4), 224–248. doi:10.3138/jsp-2022-0021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nejadghanbar, H., & Hu, G. (2022c). Predatory and legitimate open-access language and linguistics journals: Where do they differ? Open applied linguistics (AILA ren) symposium. Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Open Applied Linguistics (AILA Research Network), Cambridge, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olejniczak, A. J., & Wilson, M. J. (2020). Who's writing open access (OA) articles? Characteristics of OA authors at Ph.D.-granting institutions in the United States. Quantitative Science Studies, 1, 1429–1450. doi:10.1162/qss_a_00091CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oviedo-García, M. A. (2021). Journal citation reports and the definition of a predatory journal: The case of the multidisciplinary digital publishing institute (MDPI). Research Evaluation, 30, 405–419. doi:10.1093/reseval/rvab020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R'boul, H. (2022). English and the dissemination of local knowledges: A problematic for South-South dialogue. In Makoni, S., Kaiper, A., & Mokwena, L. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language and the global south (pp. 147–157). Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salehi, M., Soltani, M., Tamleh, H., & Teimournezhad, S. (2020). Publishing in predatory open access journals: Authors’ perspectives. Learned Publishing, 33, 89–95. doi:10.1002/leap.1261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaghaei, N., Wien, C., Holck, J. P., Thiesen, A. L., Ellegaard, O., Vlachos, E., & Drachen, T. M. (2018). Being a deliberate prey of a predator: Researchers’ thoughts after having published in predatory journal. LIBER Quarterly, 28, 1–17. doi:10.18352/lq.10259CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shehadeh, A. (2022). Alternative modes of publication for novice researchers. TESOL Journal, 13, e626. doi:10.1002/tesj.626CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, C., & Björk, B. C. (2015). Predatory open access: A longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine, 13, 1–15. doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0469-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tan, Y. S., & Goh, S. (2014). International students, academic publications and world university rankings: The impact of globalization and responses of a Malaysian public university. Higher Education, 68, 489–502. doi:10.1007/s10734-014-9724-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teixeira da Silva, J. A., & Dobránszki, J. (2015). Problems with traditional science publishing and finding a wider niche for post-publication peer review. Accountability in Research, 22, 22–40. doi:10.1080/08989621.2014.899909CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teixeira da Silva, J. A., Tsigaris, P., & Al-Khatib, A. (2019). Open access mega-journals: Quality, economics and post-publication peer review infrastructure. Publishing Research Quarterly, 35, 418–435. doi:10.1007/s12109-019-09654-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truth, F. (2012). Pay big to publish fast: Academic journal rackets. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 10, 54–105.Google Scholar
Von Esch, K. S., Motha, S., & Kubota, R. (2020). Race and language teaching. Language Teaching, 53, 391–421. doi:10.1017/S0261444820000269CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeo, M. A., Renandya, W. A., & Tangkiengsirisin, S. (2022). Re-envisioning academic publication: From ‘publish or perish’ to ‘publish and flourish’. RELC Journal, 53, 266–275. doi:10.1177/0033688220979092CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zein, S., Sukyadi, D., Hamied, F. A., & Lengkanawati, N. S. (2020). English language education in Indonesia: A review of research (2011–2019). Language Teaching, 53, 491–523. doi:10.1017/S0261444820000208CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of second language acquisition between 1997 and 2018. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42, 199–222. doi:10.1017/S0272263119000573CrossRefGoogle Scholar