Promoting Ethical Practices: Stakeholders and Publishers

Abstract

Scholarly publishing is complex and fulfils its mission of advancing scientific knowledge only if the primary stakeholders adhere to ethical principles. Scholars need to recognize forms of academic misconduct, adhere to the standards of their profession, and respond with integrity to ethical quandaries. High-quality scholarship is promoted when editors, editorial board members, and peer reviewers perform their roles competently and responsibly. Although peer review is not without its flaws, critique of faculty members’ work products by a panel of experts continues to be the most defensible route to assessing a manuscript’s accuracy, validity, originality, and quality of presentation. The contemporary publication landscape is marred by unscrupulous groups posing as scholarly publishers when they are not. These enterprises are interested in exploiting scholars and making a profit rather than contributing to scientific communication. As a result, academic authors need to be especially careful about investigating publication outlets prior to submitting their work. Learning how to make a successful match between a manuscript and a publication outlet is an important skill set for scholarly writers because failure to do so is a leading cause of rejection. When authors invest time in finding the right “home” for their scholarly work, it is far more likely to earn acceptance, reach the intended audience, and be respectfully cited by fellow scholars.

Appendices

Issue: The Vanity Press

In preparation for an accreditation visit, all faculty members in the College were required to submit a list of their scholarly work. Three faculty members without prior publications indicated that they had been successful in co-authoring a book. Their colleagues who were assembling the report did not recognize the company and, as they met, one of them searched the publisher online. This company assured authors that their manuscripts would be warmly welcomed, not have to undergo any peer review, and be promptly converted into a hard cover book. Authors could sail through the process from manuscript to book in exchange for a substantial fee.

This is what is referred to as a “vanity press”. The vanity press is so named because it soothes the bruised ego of the unpublished by delivering a physical copy of a book to their door–if they are willing to pay for it. These companies make their money from the author, rather than by selling the books. The company retains the copyright. Desperate faculty members sometimes fall prey to this scam. What the author may fail to realize is that, in the absence of any quality control process and professional editing services, the “publication” is apt to be flawed. The author will be entirely responsible for any copyediting. No one is a perfect user of the language and, unless your manuscript has been subjected to multiple layers of skillful, professional editing, it surely will contain some errors. The vanity press is a complete departure from rigorous review and quality control norms of scholarly publishing. Based on the services rendered, authors could have accomplished much the same outcome in a more affordable fashion through self-publishing. As Beall (2021) explains, these unscrupulous enterprises charge outrageously high prices for a hard-bound copy of the book while the authors get no income from the sales. Many times, these companies target young academics who have just completed their thesis with an offer of publishing their research. These inexperienced scholars may be flattered by the invitation to see all the work they have completed in book format. What is particularly sinister about vanity press agreements is that authors frequently are prohibited from publishing their research as an academic paper afterwards because they have signed a legal contract that gives the company copyright to their work (Beall, 2021). Consult Beall’s (2021) list of vanity presses here: https://beallslist.net/vanity-press/

Applications of Technology

Tech Tool: Determine if your institution is connected to Ulrich’s Web Global Serials Directory Ulrichsweb Login Page (serialssolutions.com) (http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/login).

Springer Nature Resource: Try the Transfer Desk Transfer Desk | Authors | Springer Nature (https://www.springernature.com/gp/authors/transferdesk) to identify an alternative outlet for a rejected manuscript.

Online Video: John Bond explains the impact factor in publishing and its influence on scholarly work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fP6iDq_io8