Exploring authors engagement in journals with questionable practices: a case study of OMICS

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Published: Aug 25, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22452/mjlis.vol28no2.6
Keywords:
OMICS Predatory journals Predatory publishing Predatory publishers Scholarly publishing subculture Cybercrime

Main Article Content

Cherifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri
Claude Bernard University Lyon 1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0201-6159
Lucas Pergola
Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE), FRANCE
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6895-0374
Hugo Castaneda
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, FRANCE
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-0737

Abstract

The paper aims to understand the context and drivers of researchers' decision to submit a manuscript to a journal with questionable practices. Using OMICS as a case study and asking authors for their views, the paper presents their profile, motivations and publishing experiences. The methodology is based on a questionnaire sent by e-mail to all authors of articles in journals published by OMICS (+2200). The authors were asked about (a) the factors that influenced their decision to submit their article; (b) their publishing experience with OMICS; (c) their level of satisfaction; and (d) whether or not they would repeat the experience. A total of 86 responses were collected and 18 e-mails were received. The analysis made it possible to add details to the profiles of authors already identified in the literature, but also allowed new and more nuanced profiles. This research extends our knowledge on the phenomenon of predatory publishing from the authors' feedback and provides a better understanding of the socio-economic, psychosocial and geo-political conditions that drive researchers' decisions to submit their work to a possible, potential, or probable predatory journal. At the same time, it reveals some of the strategies used by OMICS to persuade authors to submit their papers. The findings will help to inform institutional policies that seek to put in place efficient measures to combat predatory publishing.

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How to Cite
Boukacem-Zeghmouri, C., Pergola, L., & Castaneda, H. (2023). Exploring authors engagement in journals with questionable practices: a case study of OMICS. Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science, 28(2), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.22452/mjlis.vol28no2.6
Issue
Vol. 28 No. 2 (2023): Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science
Section
Articles

It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to the journal have not been published, accepted for publication, nor simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the author(s) agree that copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher, if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Author Biography

Cherifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1

Chérifa BOUKACEM ZEGHMOURI is full Professor in Information and Communication Sciences at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1. Based on the theoretical framework of cultural and creative industries, her research addresses mutations of scholarly communication to open and collaborative models. New forms of production, circulation, evaluation and legitimization of scientific research constitute her main research themes.

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