Scholar’s article said his colleagues were publishing in “predatory journals.” Now he’s banned from campus.
Derek Pyne, an associate professor of economics at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, says he wasn’t trying to make his colleagues look bad when he used them as his data set for research on predatory publications. Nevertheless, he found that the majority of the School of Business and Economics faculty had published in these open-access journals, which have low to nonexistent quality standards and charge authors fees.
As a result of that 2017 paper and the media attention that followed, Pyne says, he’s been effectively banned from campus since May. He may visit only for a short list of reasons, such as health care. Teaching is out and so, too, is the library. It’s unclear when, or if, Pyne will be allowed to resume his normal duties.
Canada’s Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship has appealed to Thompson Rivers on Pyne’s behalf. The Canadian Association of University Teachers, similar to American Association of University Professors, is also looking into the case.
