The Tsetse Fly Perched on the Scrotum: Publishing Problems in Academic Journals

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2023/v26i0a15778

Keywords:

higher education institutions, South Africa, Peer review, perverse research incentives

Abstract

South Africa's research incentive system rewards faculty members and affiliates for publishing in outlets that are "accredited" by the Department of Higher Education and Training. This arguably perverse incentive makes academic research a potentially aggressive numbers game. It is compounded by factors such as undue delay in peer review, difficulty in securing expert evaluators, and poor understanding of who constitutes a "peer". Despite the "publish or perish" pressure on researchers and the prohibition of the parallel submission of manuscripts by many journals, there is negligible research on publishing problems in South African journals. Informed by a literature survey, editorial experience and conversations with colleagues, this article seeks a dialogue about these problems, which it characterises as a tsetse fly perched on the scrotum. On the one hand, the current incentive system commodifies outputs and diverts attention from building knowledge with socially responsive research to building the financial coffers of universities and authors. On the other hand, inappropriate editorial interpretations of a "peer" and the gratis nature of peer evaluation encumber the publishing process. We argue that this situation erodes academic excellence, encourages the growth of predatory journals, and potentially harms national development.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Anthony C Diala, University of the Western Cape

    Director, Centre for Legal Integration in Africa, University of the Western Cape; Fellow of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany; Visiting Professor at the University of Turin, Italy; associate editor of Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis, and former managing editor of the Journal of Comparative Law in Africa.

  • Nejat Hussein, University of the Western Cape

    Doctoral candidate, University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

References

Bibliography

Literature

Aczel B, Szaszi B and Holcombe AO "A Billion-Dollar Donation: Estimating the Cost of Researchers' Time Spent on Peer Review" 2021 Research Integrity and Peer Review 1-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-021-00118-2

Al Kawi MZ "History of Medical Records and Peer Review" 1997 Annals of Saudi Medicine 277-278 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5144/0256-4947.1997.277

Björk BC and Solomon D "The Publishing Delay in Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Journals" 2013 Journal of Informetrics 914-923 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2013.09.001

Cheah PY and Piasecki J "Should Peer Reviewers be Paid to Review Academic Papers?" 2022 The Lancet 1601 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02804-X

Council on Higher Education The State of Higher Education in South Africa (Council on Higher Education Pretoria 2009)

Farham B "Peer Review-Challenges, Pitfalls and Trust" 2020 South African Journal of Science 1-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8796

Fenn P "Rigour in Research and Peer Review" 1997 Construction Management and Economics 383-385 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/014461997372944

Gelfert A "Who is an Epistemic Peer?" 2011 Logos and Episteme 507-514 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/logos-episteme2011242

Harikumar V et al "Frequency and Patterns of Editorial Rejections (Rejections Without Peer Review) Across Medical Journals" 2022 Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 1127-1129 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2022.01.047

Hedding DW "Payouts Push Professors Towards Predatory Journals" 2019 Nature 267-268 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00120-1

Huisman J and Smits J "Duration and Quality of the Peer Review Process: The Author’s Perspective" 2017 Scientometrics 633-650 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2310-5

Kahn E "The Birth and Life of the South African Law Journal" 1983 SALJ 594-641

Kelly J, Sadeghieh T and Adeli K "Peer Review in Scientific Publications: Benefits, Critiques, and a Survival Guide" 2014 The Electronic Journal of the IFCC 227-243

Larivière V, Haustein S and Mongeon P "The Oligopoly of Academic Publishers in the Digital Era" 2015 PLoS ONE 1-15 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127502

Lawrence PA "The Politics of Publication" 2003 Nature 259-261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/422259a

Li M Desk Rejection of Submissions to Academic Journals: An Efficient Screening Process? (Doctoral dissertation Georgetown University 2022)

Malički M, Von Elm E and Marušić A "Study Design, Publication Outcome, and Funding of Research Presented at International Congresses on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication" 2014 The Journal of the American Medical Association 1065-1067 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2014.143

Mouton J and Boshoff N "A Bibliometric Profile of Law Journals in South Africa" 2008 De Jure 596-614

Mouton J and Valentine A "The Extent of South African Authored Articles in Predatory Journals" 2017 South African Journal of Science 1-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2017/20170010

Muller SM "Academics as Rent Seekers: Distorted Incentives in Higher Education, with Reference to the South African Case" 2017 International Journal of Educational Development 58-67 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.11.004

Muthama E and McKenna S "The Unintended Consequences of Using Direct Incentives to Drive the Complex Task of Research Dissemination" 2020 Education as Change 1-23 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/6688

Rice DB et al "Characteristics of 'Mega' Peer-Reviewers" 2022 Research Integrity and Peer Review 1-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-022-00121-1

Schulze WG "A Conspectus of South African Legal Periodicals: Past to Present" 2013 Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 61-105

Siems M and Mac Síthigh D "Mapping Legal Research" 2012 CLJ 651-676 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008197312000852

Smith AC et al "Assessing the Effect of Article Processing Charges on the Geographic Diversity of Authors Using Elsevier's 'Mirror Journal' System" 2022 Quantitative Science Studies 1123-1143 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00157

Spier R "The History of the Peer-Review Process" 2002 Trends in Biotechnology 357-358 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-7799(02)01985-6

Steyn AGW and De Villiers AP "Public Funding of Higher Education in South Africa by Means of Formulae" in Council on Higher Education (ed) Review of Higher Education in South Africa: Selected Themes (Council on Higher Education Pretoria 2007) 11-51

Stojanovski J et al "Peer Review in Law Journals" 2021 Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics 1-14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2021.787768

Tempelhoff J "Peer Review in Academic Journals: A Pandora's Box" 2020 South African Journal of Science 1-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8783

Tennant JP and Ross-Hellauer T "The Limitations to Our Understanding of Peer Review" 2020 Research Integrity and Peer Review 2-14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/jq623

Tomaselli KG "Perverse Incentives and the Political Economy of South African Academic Journal Publishing" 2018 South African Journal of Science 1-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2018/4341

Vaughan CL "Alternatives to the Publication Subsidy for Research Funding" 2008 South African Journal of Science 91-96

Walwyn D "An Analysis of the Performance Management of South African Higher Education Institutions" 2008 South African Journal of Higher Education 708-724 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v22i3.25812

Williams CL "Abolish the R&R" 2022 Sociologica 67-70

Willis M "Why Do Peer-Reviewers Decline to Review Manuscripts? A Study of Reviewer Invitation Responses" 2016 Learned Publishing 5-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1006

Woodiwiss AJ "Publication Subsidies: Challenges and Dilemmas Facing South African Researchers" 2012 Cardiovascular Journal of Africa 421-427

Zaharie MA and Seeber M "Are Non-Monetary Rewards Effective In Attracting Peer Reviewers? A Natural Experiment" 2018 Scientometrics 1587-1609 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2912-6

Legislation

Higher Education Act 101 of 1997

Government publications

GN R1427 in GG 25527 of 10 October 2003

GN 188 in GG 38552 of 11 March 2015

Internet sources

Altbach PG and De Wit H 2018 Too Much Academic Research is Being Published https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2018090 5095203579 accessed 5 May 2023

Academy of Science of South Africa 2006 Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa https://research.assaf.org.za/ handle/20.500.11911/49 accessed 3 March 2023

Academy of Science of South Africa 2018 Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review https://research.assaf.org.za/ bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/292/NSEF-Code-of-Best-Practice-March-2018.pdf?sequence=1 accessed 31 May 2023

Brainard J 2021 The $450 Question: Should Journals Pay Peer Reviewers? https://www.science.org/content/article/450-question-should-journals-pay-peer-reviewers accessed 3 March 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3175

Cabells Scholarly Analytics Date unknown Predatory Reports https://www2.cabells.com/about-predatory accessed 5 May 2023

Department of Education 1997 Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education https://www.gov.za/documents/ programme-transformation-higher-education-education-white-paper-3-0 accessed 5 May 2023

Department of Education 2003 Policy and Procedures for Measurement of Research Output of Public Higher Education Institutions https://www.dhet.gov.za/Policy%20and%20Development%20Support/Policy%20and%20procedures%20for%20measurement%20of%20Research%20output%20of%20Public%20Higher%20Education%20Institutions.pdf accessed 23 August 2023

Department of Higher Education and Training 2019 Report of the Independent Assessor into the Affairs of the University of Fort Hare, Appointed by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology

https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201912/42902gon1592.pdf accessed 5 May 2023

Elsevier Date unknown What is Peer Review? https://www.elsevier.com/reviewers/what-is-peer-review accessed 3 March 2023

Fazackerley A 2023 "Too Greedy": Mass Walkout at Global Science Journal over "Unethical" Fees https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/

too-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees accessed 7 May 2023

Flaherty C 2022 The Peer-Review Crisis https://www.insidehighered.com/ news/2022/06/13/peer-review-crisis-creates-problems-journals-and-scholars accessed 3 March 2023

Heathers J 2020 The 450 Movement Medium https://jamesheathers. medium.com/the-450-movement-1f86132a29bd accessed 3 March 2023

InterAcademy Partnership 2022 Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences https://www.interacademies.org/project/predatorypublishing accessed 5 May 2023

Ministry of Education 2001 National Plan for Higher Education https://www.justice.gov.za/commissions/feeshet/docs/2001-NationalPlanForHigherEducation.pdf accessed 5 May 2023

Mouton J et al 2019 The Quality of South Africa's Research Publications: Report to the Department of Higher Education and Training https://www.dhet.gov.za/Policy%20and%20Development%20Support/REPORT%20ON%20THE%20QUALITY%20OF%20SOUTH%20AFRICA%E2%80%99S%20RESEARCH%20PUBLICATIONS.pdf accessed 5 May 2023

Publons 2018 Global State of Peer Review https://publons.com/static/ Publons-Global-State-Of-Peer-Review-2018.pdf accessed 7 March 2023

Taylor and Francis Date unknown Understanding the Peer Review Process https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/peer-review/ accessed 3 March 2023

Wild S 2020 Researchers Decry "Pay to Publish" System — But Don't Want It to Stop https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03483-y accessed 19 February 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03483-y

Wiley Author Services Date unknown What is Peer Review? https://authorservices.wiley.com/Reviewers/journal-reviewers/what-is-peer-review/index.html accessed 3 March 2023

Published

23-11-2023

Issue

Section

Special Edition: Legal History

How to Cite

Diala, A. C., & Hussein, N. (2023). The Tsetse Fly Perched on the Scrotum: Publishing Problems in Academic Journals. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 26, (Published on 23 November 2023) pp 1 - 28. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2023/v26i0a15778

Similar Articles

1-10 of 1152

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.