‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing
The concept of the ‘predatory’ publisher has today become a standard way of characterizing a new breed of open access journals that seem to be more concerned with making a profit than disseminating academic knowledge. This essay presents an alternative view of such publishers, arguing that if we tr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
2017-07-01
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| Series: | tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique |
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| Online Access: | https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/870 |
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| author | Kirsten Bell |
| author_facet | Kirsten Bell |
| author_sort | Kirsten Bell |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The concept of the ‘predatory’ publisher has today become a standard way of characterizing a new breed of open access journals that seem to be more concerned with making a profit than disseminating academic knowledge. This essay presents an alternative view of such publishers, arguing that if we treat them as parody instead of predator, a far more nuanced reading emerges. Viewed in this light, such journals destabilize the prevailing discourse on what constitutes a ‘legitimate’ journal, and, indeed, the nature of scholarly knowledge production itself. Instead of condemning them outright, their growth should therefore encourage us to ask difficult but necessary questions about the commercial context of knowledge production, prevailing conceptions of quality and value, and the ways in which they privilege scholarship from the ‘centre’ and exclude that from the ‘periphery’.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-17aa8d29a3d94e20b32661d26b9a4b60 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1726-670X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique |
| spelling | doaj-art-17aa8d29a3d94e20b32661d26b9a4b602025-08-20T03:36:18ZengPaderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research GrouptripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique1726-670X2017-07-0115210.31269/triplec.v15i2.870870‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic PublishingKirsten Bell The concept of the ‘predatory’ publisher has today become a standard way of characterizing a new breed of open access journals that seem to be more concerned with making a profit than disseminating academic knowledge. This essay presents an alternative view of such publishers, arguing that if we treat them as parody instead of predator, a far more nuanced reading emerges. Viewed in this light, such journals destabilize the prevailing discourse on what constitutes a ‘legitimate’ journal, and, indeed, the nature of scholarly knowledge production itself. Instead of condemning them outright, their growth should therefore encourage us to ask difficult but necessary questions about the commercial context of knowledge production, prevailing conceptions of quality and value, and the ways in which they privilege scholarship from the ‘centre’ and exclude that from the ‘periphery’. https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/870open access publisherspredatory journalsacademic publishingparodymimicry |
| spellingShingle | Kirsten Bell ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique open access publishers predatory journals academic publishing parody mimicry |
| title | ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing |
| title_full | ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing |
| title_fullStr | ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing |
| title_short | ‘Predatory’ Open Access Journals as Parody: Exposing the Limitations of ‘Legitimate’ Academic Publishing |
| title_sort | predatory open access journals as parody exposing the limitations of legitimate academic publishing |
| topic | open access publishers predatory journals academic publishing parody mimicry |
| url | https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/870 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kirstenbell predatoryopenaccessjournalsasparodyexposingthelimitationsoflegitimateacademicpublishing |