Awareness and Addressing of Predatory Journals: A Study on the Knowledge of Strictu Sensu Students at UDESC

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate students' knowledge of predatory journals in the strict sense of the word, to evaluate whether the awareness-raising activities promoted by the university library reached this public, and to reflect on the role of librarians in the confrontation with predatory journals. This is an exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study. Data were collected by applying a survey sent by email to all graduate programmes at the State University of Santa Catarina that offer Master's and Doctoral courses. The sample consisted of 357 respondents, of whom 244 declared to know what the subject of predatory journals is, 60 were not sure and 53 did not know. Of the 357 respondents, only 15 reported having invited to publish. Although there is a significant number of researchers who are aware of the issue, it is appropriate that university librarians, together with teachers, act to strengthen the competence of identifying legitimate and predatory journals. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, but given the dynamic growth of the scientific dissemination environment, studies of this kind are important in order to open up the issue to critical and preventive debate.