Malaysian researchers opting for pay-to-publish journals, says study

 

The quality of Malaysian academic research has been called into question by a Czech study. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: A Czech study has raised questions over the quality of Malaysia’s academic research after it found that every tenth article from Malaysia indexed in a research database had been published in a journal with dodgy review processes.

One of the authors of the research paper, Martin Srholec, said the results showed that predatory publication practices “have become a systemic problem at the national level” in Malaysia.

“This calls for a detailed review of the quality of academic research in the country,” he told FMT. While not every single paper published in these predatory journals was fraudulent, they may be of lower quality.

“There is a danger that insights in these papers are questionable, if not meaningless,” he added.

Academicians should be reprimanded for publishing in predatory journals, he said.

Predatory publishing refers to publications that charge fees for academic papers to be published, often without checking them for quality and legitimacy.

Srholec said the results may indicate that many Malaysian researchers resort to paying for publication in journals with “questionable editorial practices“ rather than submitting their paper for publication in more reputable journals.

He said such “solid, scientific journals” maintain standard, difficult and sometimes tedious peer-review processes.

Malaysian researchers should be more cautious about where they publish results of their research, he said.
“In general, they should run away from journals that do not provide them with detailed peer-review comments and certainly not pay for publication in such journals.”

Research managers (such as rectors and deans at universities) should refrain from providing monetary or career development incentives simply based on the quantity of research being published.

“They need to focus on promoting the quality, not quantity of research.”

He also suggested that the government look into the research evaluation systems at the national level to ensure that there was meaningful evaluation of publications by local academics. - FMT