Assessing Scholarly Outlets

Robert A. Chin; Michael Behm

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Best Methods for NEEs
Tagged Division: New Engineering Educators
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 23.214.1 - 23.214.10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19228
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19228
Download Count: 372

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Paper Authors

biography

Robert A. Chin East Carolina University

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Robert A. ”Bob” Chin is a Full Professor in the Department of Technology Systems, East Carolina University, where he has taught since 1986. He is the current Director of Publications for the Engineering Design Graphics Division and Editor for the Engineering Design Graphics Journal. Chin has served as the Engineering Design Graphics Division’s annual and mid-year conference Program Chair, and he has served as a review board member for several journals including the EDGJ. He has been a program chair for the ASEE Southeastern Section and has served as the Engineering Graphics Division's vice-chair and chair and as the Instructional Unit's secretary, vice-chair, and chair. He just completed another term as the Engineering Graphics Division's vice-chair and is currently the Division’s chair.

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Michael Behm East Carolina University

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Michael Behm is an Associate Professor in the Occupational Safety Program at East Carolina University. Behm holds a Ph.D. from Oregon State University, and is a Certified Safety Professional. He is an active member of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) NORA Construction Sector and Prevention through Design Councils. In 2011, he was awarded a Research Fellowship with the Singapore National Parks Board and Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology to study safe design aspects of rooftop and vertical greenery systems. Behm serves as editor of the Journal of Safety Health and Environmental Research, the academic practice journal of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

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Abstract

Assessing Scholarly OutletsMore recently researchers, scholars, and authors have experienced a proliferation of outlets fordisseminating the results of their scholarly undertakings. Moreover, many of the aforementionedhave received solicitations for disseminating the results of their scholarly undertakings. Thisproliferation is due in great part to the improved time-to-market strategies aided by the Internetto disseminate new knowledge and the entrepreneurial spirit of publishers. Improving time-to-market serves the research community well in that once integrated into the knowledge base thesescholarly outputs serve as a foundation for spawning additional knowledge, faster. However, theentrepreneurial spirit of some publishers threatens the progress in the pursuit of new knowledgeby, as an example, flooding disciplines with findings based on pseudoscience. Researchers,scholars, and authors are receiving solicitations from a brood of questionable industries,commercial endeavors, and partnerships whose goal is to maximize revenue. They help tofacilitate presenting at conferences and publishing in conference proceedings and junk journalsthat publish low quality or pseudoscience science (vs sound science), and they help in theproliferation of vanity publishers (vs mainstream or commercial publishers).An endeavor was initiated by a technology, management, and applied engineering faculty toexamine some of the aforementioned concerns and to develop strategies for addressing thoseconcerns. Among the strategies discussed, pursued, or developed, were the following:As an individual faculty member:• Modify, if appropriate, any contract you sign with a commercial publisher to ensure your right to use your work, including posting on a public archive.• Examine the pricing, copyright, and licensing agreements of any commercially published journal you contribute to as an author, reviewer, or editor.• Consider using your influence by the choices you make about where to publish, and about service as a reviewer or member of an editorial board, and by influencing your colleagues to do the same.• Support your library's efforts to take cost into consideration in making decisions about journal subscriptions.• Investigate your campus intellectual property policies and participate actively in their development.• Support your library's participation in projects that seek to transform scholarly publishing in accord with academic values, such as SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition.As a member of the campus community:• Encourage discussion of scholarly communication issues and proposals for change in your department and school.• Invite library participation in faculty departmental meetings and graduate seminars to discuss these issues.• Include electronic publications that meet standards of quality in promotion and tenure discussions.• Critically assess journals and publishers for quality using established criteria.As a member of professional societies:• Encourage your professional society to consider creating alternatives to expensive commercial titles.• Support actively your society's electronic publishing program by submitting papers, reviewing, and serving on editorial boards.• Encourage your society to explore alternatives to contracting or selling publications to a commercial publisher.• Encourage your society to maintain reasonable prices, and faculty and user friendly access terms.

Citation
Format

Chin, R. A., & Behm, M. (2013, June), Assessing Scholarly Outlets Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19228

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                                 Assessing Scholarly OutletsMore recently researchers, scholars, and authors have experienced a proliferation of outlets fordisseminating the results of their scholarly undertakings. Moreover, many of the aforementionedhave received solicitations for disseminating the results of their scholarly undertakings. Thisproliferation is due in great part to the improved time-to-market strategies aided by the Internetto disseminate new knowledge and the entrepreneurial spirit of publishers. Improving time-to-market serves the research community well in that once integrated into the knowledge base thesescholarly outputs serve as a foundation for spawning additional knowledge, faster. However, theentrepreneurial spirit of some publishers threatens the progress in the pursuit of new knowledgeby, as an example, flooding disciplines with findings based on pseudoscience. Researchers,scholars, and authors are receiving solicitations from a brood of questionable industries,commercial endeavors, and partnerships whose goal is to maximize revenue. They help tofacilitate presenting at conferences and publishing in conference proceedings and junk journalsthat publish low quality or pseudoscience science (vs sound science), and they help in theproliferation of vanity publishers (vs mainstream or commercial publishers).An endeavor was initiated by a technology, management, and applied engineering faculty toexamine some of the aforementioned concerns and to develop strategies for addressing thoseconcerns. Among the strategies discussed, pursued, or developed, were the following:As an individual faculty member:• Modify, if appropriate, any contract you sign with a commercial publisher to ensure your   right to use your work, including posting on a public archive.• Examine the pricing, copyright, and licensing agreements of any commercially published   journal you contribute to as an author, reviewer, or editor.• Consider using your influence by the choices you make about where to publish, and about   service as a reviewer or member of an editorial board, and by influencing your colleagues to   do the same.• Support your library&#39;s efforts to take cost into consideration in making decisions about   journal subscriptions.• Investigate your campus intellectual property policies and participate actively in their   development.• Support your library&#39;s participation in projects that seek to transform scholarly publishing in   accord with academic values, such as SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing &amp; Academic   Resources Coalition.As a member of the campus community:• Encourage discussion of scholarly communication issues and proposals for change in your   department and school.• Invite library participation in faculty departmental meetings and graduate seminars to discuss   these issues.• Include electronic publications that meet standards of quality in promotion and tenure   discussions.• Critically assess journals and publishers for quality using established criteria.As a member of professional societies:•   Encourage your professional society to consider creating alternatives to expensive    commercial titles.•   Support actively your society&#39;s electronic publishing program by submitting papers,    reviewing, and serving on editorial boards.•   Encourage your society to explore alternatives to contracting or selling publications to a    commercial publisher.•   Encourage your society to maintain reasonable prices, and faculty and user friendly access    terms.
AU  - Robert A. Chin
AU  - Michael Behm
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Assessing Scholarly Outlets
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/19228
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--19228
ER  -