Research Papers: Journals to be avoided

1. Research Papers:Journals to be avoided John Morris Faculty of Engineering,Mahasarakham University Computer Science/Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland Iolanthe III racing at JomtienJan 2014

2. Problem for the international research community FAKE JOURNALS and CONFERENCES

3. Recognizing Fake Journals • Also known as • For Profit Journals • Not interested in knowledge • Only $$$$ or ¥¥¥¥ or ₹₹₹₹ • Characteristic • Papers are NOT reviewed • No one is checking quality • Too much real junk is published now!! • Criteria for a good journal • Papers reviewed seriously by (minimum) two experts • Papers are written carefully • English is reasonable • Experimental method completely and carefully described • Bibliography is not trivial .. ~20 references for journal

4. Recognizing Fake Journals • Experiment • John Bohannon “Who's Afraid of Peer Review?” • Science04 Oct 2013 : 60-65 • A spoof paper concocted by Science reveals little or no scrutiny at many open-access journals. • www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full • Bohannon wrote a fake paper • Containing several obvious scientific errors • ie bad science • Sent to 304 journals found in ‘suspect journal’ lists • After removing dead journals, 255 journals remained • 157 journals accepted the paper only • 98 rejected it More than 50% of tested journals Accepted a paper that was scientific JUNK

5. Process ReviEWS

6. Side note …Blind reviewing • Some journals and conferences review papers without authors’ names on them • About 50% • To prevent bias • Reviewer may not believe the work of someone • he’s had an argument with or • who criticized the reviewer’s work before!

7. Blind reviewing • Preparing for blind reviews • Remove your names and institution from the author list • I usually substitute some dummy names like • Author X, Author Y, etc • University ABC • Check for references to your institution in the text .. in the Photogrammetry Laboratory at Auckland changes to .. in the XYX Laboratory at PQR University • Remove citations to your own work from reference list • Again I usually substitute something like • Self citation 1: some journal, 2006 • Substituting dummy names makes it easy to put the real ones back when the paper is accepted! • Layout of the paper will not be changed Example: BasilWound.docx

8. Blind reviewing • Preparing for blind reviews • Remove your names and institution from the author list • I usually substitute some dummy names like • Author X, Author Y, etc • University ABC • Check for references to your institution in the text .. in the Photogrammetry Laboratory at Auckland changes to .. in the XYX Laboratory at PQR University • Remove citations to your own work from reference list • Again I usually substitute something like • Self citation 1: some journal, 2006 • Substituting dummy names makes it easy to put the real ones back when the paper is accepted! • Layout of the paper will not be changed Example:BasilWoundBlind.docx

9. Reviewing • Journal editor will send your paper to at least two experts in your area • They will be asked to write a review of your paper • They will comment on • Errors • Experimental methods • Presentation • Results • Analysis • Writing style in fact everything!

10. Reviewing • Editor will send the reports back to you • If you agree with the comments of the referees • Amend the paper to satisfy referees’ objections • Submit again • If you don’t agree, then • Write a carefully argued response and send to the editor • Do not attack the referees personally! • Editor may accept your comments and publish your paper or • Send them back to the referee • This may take several iterations • Actual procedure depends on journal policy and editor • and may take some time! • Allow many months!

11. Review Cycle Authors Editor Paper 2 ++ repeats Choose reviewers 1 - 2 weeks Reviewer #2 Reviewer #1 3- 8 weeks Your response Write report Write report 2- 4 weeks

12. Reviewing • Referees are anonymous • You will not be told who they are • Don’t even ask!! • Big mistake of some authors – argue personally with the referees • Journal editors will not allow it • If you start such an argument, your paper is likely to be rejected immediately • You will be considered unprofessional • You must accept the referees’ comments as reasonable • Even if you don’t agree with them! • Anonymity is important in the reviewing process • Allows the referees to express their opinions freely! • Even a junior lecturer can criticize a senior professor IF he or she can justify the criticism!!

13. Time for review • Referees are chosen as experts in the area • Usually, they have published several papers in the same area • Referees are not paid • Usually teachers in well known universities or research labs • They give their time for free • Contribution to the international scientific community • Reviewing is generally a small part of their job • Preparing reviews is SLOW .. • JRTIP asks me to send a review in 6 weeks and • Starts hassling me seriously after 8 weeks • I try to finish in 8 weeks

14. Time for review • Assume whole process may take 6 months .. • for a good journal • One that will allow you to graduate • Be patient! • Journal reviewing • 2 or 3 cycles of 8-12 weeks are common • Allow time to choose reviewers are start • Consider reviewers and author responses • If paper for a good journal accepted < 6 months • You are lucky!! • Summary • Journal promising a review < 3 months is probably fake • Insufficient time for review by experts • Journal or conference promising review in days? • Definitely low quality!! • Attractive for you but KMITL will not accept it  • Some editors work hard to keep delay to 3 months • But hard work for them …..

15. Recognizing FAKE JOURNALS

16. Journals: Warning! • Fake or For-Profit-Only Journals • Be careful! • Ensure that you mainly use papers from high quality international journals or conferences • Some well known sources • Professional Societies • IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, US • IET - Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK • IEE - Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK (now IET) • ACM – Association of Computing Machinery, US • …. • Commercial publishers • Elsevier, Netherlands • Springer (Springer Verlag), Germany

17. Fake or For-Profit-Only Journals: Warning! • List of suspect journals • Jeffrey Beall, librarian, Auraria Library, University of Colorado, USA • http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/ • Check this list before sending a paper to any dubious journal • Beall no longer publishes his list • but • KMITL still has a copy • International Office • KRIS will also help recognize good journals!!

18. Fake or For-Profit-Only Journals: Warning! • Warning signals • Fast publication • Less than 1 month?? • Good journals require months for review • High page charges • Professional societies are often free! • Editor – not well-known university? • Can’t find journal in Thomson Reuters list? • http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/ • Web of Science • Wide range of topics in one journal • Example • http://www.ijirset.com/volume-3-issue-9.html • Good journals have well defined topic list Real Journals Publication delay Nature Fake Journals + + + + + + + + + Impact factor +

19. Impact Factors • Some real journals

20. Journal advertisement • We invite you to submit your manuscript(s) to recentscientific2017@gmail.com or recentscientific@gmail.com for publication. Our objective is to inform authors of the decision on their manuscript(s) within 24h of submission. Following acceptance, a paper will be published in the Current issue. Wow .. That will help me graduate this semester!! BUT … will KMITL accept this as evidence that your research was good?? VERY VERY RISKY … research office updates listsof journal like this regularly!!

21. Another Example • Fake or not? • http://www.amrpt2019.org/

22. FINAL WORD • Get your paper checked! • John Morris, KRIS Officejohn.mo@kmitl.ac.th • PhD (Physical Chemistry) • Most scientific and engineering papers OK • Others better qualified for other disciplines  • It may not take me long … • Send by email • LaTeX or Word documents are best • I can edit quickly and directly! • pdf or paper is less efficient