Predatory journals undermining PhD by publication route
Australian university limits journals accepted for doctorates amid mounting concern among academics
Academics have expressed mounting concern about the threat that predatory journals pose to doctoral students, with at least one institution tightening up its quality criteria for PhDs by publication.
Western Sydney University is congratulated for this move to safeguard the integrity of its PhD by publication. All universities should have policies, arrangements and guidance material that recognise that there are people who intentionally publish with questionable publishers to game their institution’s systems. We have linked to 9 related items.
As a “core consideration” of its doctorate policy, Western Sydney University (WSU) has narrowed the range of journals it accepts for published articles that form part of PhD theses. Its School of Nursing and Midwifery has gone a step further and insisted that papers must appear in outlets in the top 75 per cent of the SCImago Journal Rank.
The rule change came after an external examiner complained that papers submitted as a PhD thesis had been published in predatory journals. A review found that the journals did not meet WSU’s definition of predatory – publications that lacked peer review, transparency or reasonable editorial standards and solicited contributions deceptively.