Assessing Academics’ Awareness of Predatory Publishing Practices Among Researchers at Ardhi University, Tanzania
Assessing Academics’ Awareness of Predatory Journals
Keywords:
Predatory publishing, Predatory journal, Open Access, Scholarly communication, Publishing ethics.Abstract
The emergence of predatory publishing practices poses a significant threat to the credibility of scholarly communication, especially in developing countries. This study evaluated the awareness and understanding of predatory publishing among the academic staff at Ardhi University in Tanzania. The study employed a descriptive research design, and using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through questionnaire from 125 randomly selected participants and 7 interviews conducted with the professors, deans and directors including the library director and the director of post graduate research and publication. The findings revealed that while 86% of academics acknowledged the existence of predatory journals, only 29.6% demonstrated a strong understanding of the practices associated with these journals. Respondents identified key characteristics of predatory publishing, including the absence of peer review, misleading editorial claims, and fake indexing. Academics primarily assessed journals based on peer review processes, the reputation of the editorial board, and indexing status. The findings underscore the need for institutional interventions to increase awareness, enhance research integrity, and promote ethical publishing practices. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on safeguarding academic quality in Tanzanian higher education by fostering informed decision-making regarding publishing.
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Data use in this study can be accessed from the correponding authour upon a genuine request
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