A Predatory Primer: What Every Librarian Should Know about Problem Publishers
Free Online Presentation
Monday, May 24th, 2021
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Central)
Presented via Zoom
Registration Link
Researchers and faculty are talking about predatory publishers within the academic literature. In fact, many disciplines devote considerably more ink to this issue and the pitfalls of illegitimate journals than the library community does. Small pockets of the greater scholarly community further whisper about the benefits of journals with lax standards for faculty who are under extreme pressure to publish or pad their record. How scholars come to know about and interact with deceptive publishers has evolved and matured since they first garnered attention a little over a decade ago, and thus, how we as information professionals approach this topic must adapt and mature.
The issue of “predatory journals” is deceptively simplistic, but its underlying complexities extend the conversation into a variety of topical concerns in librarianship. Such conversations include questions about the consequences of journal labeling and categorization, the use of pejorative or racially-charged terminology in such labeling, the new challenges for open access and start-up publishers, the relationships between journal reputation and diversity, the unidentified consequences of publishing in low-quality journals, and the overall academic publication system. These aspects begin to move away from the typical confines of how scholars conceptualize predatory publishing, but they lend important perspectives and considerations to what has been, and will continue to be, the complicated landscape of academic publishing.
Join us for a primer on the basics and complexities of predatory publishing in order to more effectively discuss and assist researchers with questions of journal and publisher quality.
This free presentation is sponsored by the ACRL University Libraries Section Professional Development Committee.
Presenter Bios
Nicole Webber is an Assistant Professor at the University Libraries of the University of Northern Colorado. In her role as part of the Library Research Services team, she assists faculty and students with scholarly communication efforts and is the liaison librarian for the Monfort College of Business and the departments of Communication Studies and Journalism & Media Studies. Her ORCiD profile can be found at https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4622-3237
Stephanie Wiegand is the Online Learning Librarian and an Associate Professor with the University of Northern Colorado Libraries. She is a member of the Library Research Services department and works to develop accessible learning resources for students through a variety of platforms and to assist others with the same. Stephanie’s research interests are broad, but she has focused on faculty publishing and predatory journals with her research partner Professor Nicole Webber over the last few years. Her ORCiD profile can be found at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7933-2483.
Additional Information
If you can’t make this session but wish to view a recording later, please register to receive an email that includes a link to the video of the presentation.
Please direct questions and concerns to Laura Gariepy (lwgariepy@vcu.edu) or Sam Harlow (slharlow@uncg.edu), co-chairs of the ACRL ULS Professional Development Committee. A full list of the committee’s past and future programs are available here.
