Senior researchers can be role models, sharing their wisdom and experience in navigating a changing publishing landscape
While Elsevier Connect is not without a perceived conflict of interest in making this point, we agree. We also believe the role of mentor and mentoree should be viewed broadly, so it isn’t just supervisor and HDR candidate it is also experienced researchers and early career researchers in a project team, co-authors working on a research output and within a research centre. It also includes the role of a collegiate network of Research Integrity Advisers and the too-often-unsung role of research librarians.
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“I get about 20 emails every day from predatory journals and organizers of questionable conferences,” says Dr. Dimiter Avtanski, Director of the Endocrine Research Laboratory at Friedman Diabetes Institute at Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health. Dr. Avtanski, a member of Elsevier’s Advisory Board, says he can tell very quickly by looking at the website whether a journal or conference is legitimate and worth considering. Red flags include spelling and grammatical errors, hyperbolic claims and false impact factors.
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But he is aware that less experienced researchers may not take this step. Propelled by the pressure to publish, he says, “some feel desperate. It’s a systemic problem. Without constantly publishing papers, staying in this field is impossible. Predatory journals take advantage of that.”
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