Volume 27, Issue 2

Background. Scholarly communication is an ever-evolving practice. As publishing advanced from the printed format to digital formats, new trends, practices and platforms emerged in academia. As reputable publishers adapted their business models to accommodate open access, many non-reputable publishers have emerged with questionable business models and less-than-favourable or unacceptable publishing services.
Objective. This paper discusses changing trends in scholarly publishing, the advent of and problems caused by pervasive predatory publishing practices, and possible solutions. The paper also investigates possible alternatives to Beall’s list and whether a “one-stop shop” black- or white list would serve as a comprehensive tool for scholarly authors.
Results. The paper concludes that there is no “one-stop shop” or comprehensive resource or guidelines available at this stage for scholarly authors to consult before publishing. It alerts scholars to be cautious and to do research about potential publishers, before submitting manuscripts for publication.
Contributions. It provides recommendations and some useful resources to assist authors before they publish their works.

Background. Despite their unceasing presence, predatory journals appear to no longer draw the attention of researchers. Their methods of luring authors have evolved, but they seem to lure fewer authors, with the vast majority of such authors coming from developing countries.
Objective. This article uses the invasive species and adaptive cycle concepts from ecology to analyze the trends and possible evolution of predatory journals.
Method. Calls for papers received directly or present on the Web, dedicated scientific websites, and social media posts were the primary sources of data used in the analysis.
Results. Results of the trend analysis suggest that predatory journals have exhausted the potential of past methods to lure authors and are now at a stage of reinventing themselves; for example, transforming into proofreading services. Using the ecological metaphor, predatory journals are an invasive species in the research ecosystem, originating from the “dark” side of the economic ecosystem (Internet and e-mail-based scams). As a system, they are now approaching the creative destruction stage, and as a species they seem to have occupied their niche, relying on authors from the developing countries.
Contributions. The ecological analogy provides a theoretical base for understanding and predicting the behavior of predatory journals. From a practical perspective, the findings can be used to prevent authors from being lured by the “new generation” of predatory publishers.

Background. In the modern competitive age, reading is the cornerstone for success in all academic disciplines.
Objective. The study sought to find out the literature reading habits and preferences of adolescent students, and the promotional tactics of authors to attract these students towards reading.
Method. The data was collected in the Delhi Public School, Srinagar in India, from students of 11th and 12th classes (grades), aged between 14-16 years. A questionnaire survey was administered to 150 students who were systematically sampled.
Results. The study found that adolescents of both genders like reading (69% of girls; 65% of boys) on electronic media. Adolescents have varied tastes in reading. Fiction is the most preferred genre of literature read by respondents, followed by non-fiction. However, girls have a greater preference for fiction compared to boys. Similarly boys have a greater preference for non-fiction compared to girls. Among the various genres of fiction, crime/detective is the most read genre, followed by realistic teen fiction. Romance and poetry are more popular among girls, whereas crime/detective, horror, and realistic teen fiction are more popular among boys. For non-fiction, the respondents generally read self-help/personality development books, followed by personalities and historical literature. Boys prefer to read about personalities whereas self-help/personality development is the first preference of girls. To attract adolescents, authors include aggression and violence, romantic language, explicit content (sexuality), and slang/crude language amongst other tactics in their writings (literature).

Objective. This study investigated the possibility of SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), Eigenfactor Score (ES) and H5 Index indicators as alternatives to the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in the field of water resources.
Method. The SJR, ES, H5 index and JIF scores and ranking of water resources journals were downloaded from the relevant websites. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to test hypotheses for association between the four journal quality metrics.
Results. Strong positive correlations were found between the scores and rank order based on the SJR, ES, H5 and JIF of selected journals.
Recommendation. Hence, academics and researchers in water resources can use the SJR, ES and H5 indicators as alternatives to JIF for evaluation and judgment of scientific journals in the area.