A central question concerning scientific publishing is how researchers select journals to which they submit their work, since the choice of publication channel can make or break researchers. The gold-digger mentality developed by some publishers created the so-called predatory journals that accept manuscripts for a fee with little peer review. The literature claims that mainly researchers from low-ranked universities in developing countries publish in predatory journals. We decided to challenge this claim using the University of Southern Denmark as a case. We ran the Beall's List against our research registration database and identified 31 possibly predatory publications from a set of 6,851 publications within 2015-2016. A qualitative research interview revealed that experienced researchers from the developed world publish in predatory journals mainly for the same reasons as do researchers from developing countries: lack of awareness, speed and ease of the publication process, and a chance to get elsewhere rejected work published. However, our findings indicate that the Open Access potential and a larger readership outreach were also motives for publishing in Open Access journals with quick acceptance rates.
Research Libraries, like other organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been facing difficult choices concerning which services to offer, whilst minimising risk to their staff, communities, and users. As the post COVID-19 era beckons, library leaders are urged to adapt flexible strategic plans that apply to every facet of library operation to ensure the organisations remain both safe and resilient in the future.
This paper discusses leadership skills and practical techniques that can be applied to help build resilient libraries and deliver positive new change in the post-COVID-19 recovery period.
Our findings indicate that leaders need to find ways to realign library ambitions to this uncertain new operating environment. The focus should be directed to digitisation and supporting systems, as well as on sustainability and transformative services. These are a must for the future of libraries.
The first International Staff Week for Librarians (Erasmus+Program), was held at the University Library of Southern Denmark (SDUB), Odense, from 11 - 14 June 2019. The event was hosted by the library under Internationalization Project and the aim was to exchange of ideas, knowledge and best practices.
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