The Academic Publishing Jungle: A Research University Grapples with The 800 Pound Elephant in the Editorial Office While Seemingly Unaware of (or Unwilling to) Confront the 800 Pound Gorilla Lurking in the Same Room

Abstract

Given the current organizational requirements of higher education, where publication in scholarly journals is more important than ever for receiving tenure, promotion, salary increases and reduced teaching loads, there has been an aggressive campaign mounted to make sure such scholarship is published in “quality” rather than “predatory” journals. Yet, at the same time this effort is being undertaken with rigor, a second academic journal publication problem is being largely unnoticed and/or ignored: a problem the authors’ have labelled “academic publishing nepotism.” Like nepotism “on the job”, where favouritism is shown to members of a person’s family, “academic publishing nepotism” occurs when an author is published based, partially or totally, on interpersonal relationships rather than the quality of his or her manuscript. How these dual problems are handled at one major research University serves as an example of what shortcomings must be overcome before individuals wishing to publish in quality journals can do so with the assurance that their submissions are being judged based on what they say…not who they know.