Distance education as a tool to improve researchers’ knowledge on predatory journals in countries with limited resources: the Moroccan experience

International Journal for Educational Integrity

Original Article

Khalid El Bairi¹  Rachid El Fatimy²  Maryam Fourtassi³  Nadia El Kadmiri⁴ 

[1]Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Mohammed Ist University, Oujda, Morocco

[2]Institute of Biological Sciences (ISSB), UM6P Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco

[3]Laboratory of Life and Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetouan, Morocco

[4]Molecular Engineering, Biotechnology and Innovation Team, Geo-Bio-Environment Engineering and Innovation Laboratory, Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taroudant, IBN ZOHR University, Taroudannt City, Morocco

关键词: Webinars;    Distance education;    Predatory journals;    Survey;    Morocco;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s40979-023-00122-7

 received in 2022-06-27, accepted in 2023-01-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

The emergence of predatory journals is a global threat for scientific integrity, particularly in under-resourced settings such as low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A bilingual course on predatory publishing using a distance education approach was developed for Moroccan researchers as a response to the imperative need for training on research ethics to implement good scientific practices. A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted to evaluate outcomes after delivering two education sessions in both French and English. Before this course, 40% of participants indicated that they don’t verify journal quality before manuscript submission and most of them consider Scopus indexing and the impact factor as the best criteria for journal publication. Approximately 50% of surveyees did not have previous information on predatory journals before the webinar. Pressure to publish by supervisors, institutions of affiliation, or funding agencies, was noticed in 43.4% of participants. After the webinar course was delivered, remarkably, the proportion of participants with knowledge on predatory publishing was meaningfully increased from 48.9% to 81%. Importantly, 83.7% of participants indicated that they are motivated to share their new knowledge on predatory publishing with their colleagues. Moreover, the majority of respondents (73.8%) reported that publishing their research in predatory journals may damage their career and professional future. Promisingly, nearly a half or more of participants recommended the use of training based on distance education, surveillance of researchers by their mentors and affiliations, and social networks to increase awareness on predatory publishing. Almost all participants were satisfied with the content of the webinar. Trainers and research institutions in LMICs should benefit from the advent of distance education using webinar platforms to increase awareness on the issue of predatory publishing in their settings.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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