Predators?!

Tonight's readings caught me off-guard; I had no idea that predatory publishers existed! I have to admit that at first, I figured that the simple folk being duped by these (likely obvious) fraudulent journals weren't the brightest. I was obviously surprised to find out that many of these authors were esteemed publishers at nationally-acclaimed universities. I still felt that this could not apply to me; I'm extremely familiar with the prominent periodicals in music education. I've been receiving The Instrumentalist since I was 14 and I've been following MEJ and JRME since I matriculated at IC. Surely I wouldn't be duped.

After being held captive by two articles on predatory publishers, I became slightly more fearful. It's horrifying that this could be going on in a field as scrutinizing as academia. The lessons I took away from the readings were to triple-check every opportunity I might receive and to thoroughly investigate my sources; an extra punctuation mark could be the difference between an esteemed article and complete rubbish.

Then I really got thinking. These predators wouldn't be successful if they weren't using a larger issue to lure even the finest researchers into their traps. People want open source periodicals for a reason. Pockets of academia must feel that the process is unfair and want the playing-field to be leveled. I'm not really sure why at first glance; we discussed in class today that submissions are peer-reviewed to ensure quality. Why would this not be a fair process that everyone feels provides equal opportunity?

I was wondering why those who are caught up in this mess have such a tough time fighting back agains the predatory publishers. I'm sure a law suit could take care of things. I did a search on the topic and came up with this. http://www.aejmc.org/home/2013/04/pac-041513/

This is a brief article about protecting those who are sued for upholding academic integrity through the peer-review process. There was another article further down the search results about Mr. Beall being sued by an alleged predatory publisher. http://chronicle.com/article/Publisher-Threatens-to-Sue/139243/

I'd love to follow this topic and see if anyone is successful in suing the predatory publishers. If they are not acting with the best of intentions, they should be held accountable for their actions.