Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitude Towards Predatory Journals Among Early Career Lecturers (ECLS) in Tai Solarin Federal University Of Education

Résumé

Along with the growth and increasing scale of open access publishing has come an alarming rise in predatory journals that take advantage of the author-pays model and often fail to offer legitimate editorial or peer-review service. However, early career lecturers (ECLs) face enormous ‘publish or perish' pressures and they become victims of the deception of these outlets for publication. This study therefore investigated awareness, knowledge, perception and attitude of early career lecturers in Tai Solarin Federal University of Education, (TASFUED) Ijagun towards predatory journals. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of all 134 ECLs in TASFUED. Due to the manageable population size, a total enumeration method was adopted. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire with .78 reliability coefficient. Descriptive statistics were used to answer research questions. The findings revealed that the ECLs were aware of predatory journals (x̅ = 2.44), the ECLs knowledgeable of predatory journals (x̅ = 2.30), ECLs perception ((x̅ = 3.03) and attitude (x̅ = 3.03) were moderate, while potential interventions mentioned to improve awareness, knowledge, perception and attitude of ECLs included regular seminars, publication ethics workshops and mentoring. The study concludes that raising awareness, knowledge, perception and attitude of early career lectures in TASFUED regarding predatory journals will go a long way in shielding ECLs from falling prey to predatory journals. Continuous awareness campaign, seminars and workshops on publication ethics, journal evaluation frameworks, peer review training and institutional policies should be in place by the management of the university.