September 2015

At lunch with a bunch of academics the other day, I heard about a very startling idea relating to publications. In the academia, publications are a very important and essential part of the academic life. People work really hard to create a journal or conference paper. At the beginning and in the end, he or she is working to build a name, a legacy. The name and legacy being built must be an authentic name, by showcasing a lot of hard work and effort.

The problem is, there is a rise to predatory journals. Predatory journals, who are out there to make money. One of my colleagues had mentioned that after a lot of hard work, she submitted a paper to a journal. She got a letter back from the journal (after waiting of course), stating how great of a job she did. They offered to publish the paper for $800. The sad part is, the editor of that journal was a very esteemed editor. However, after checking with the VT Library, she was told that it would be better *not* to publish the paper there. This was when she was introduced to the idea of predatory journals.

The sad part is, a lot of time, effort, and money is invested in the paper that’s submitted to a predatory journal. Just waiting until you hear a yes or no response takes time, and isn’t too great.

According to this reference, the problem is becoming a lot worst now. The numbers of predatory publishers and journals are exponentially rising. They are calling themselves open source journals, but however, they are indeed predatory. There is a long list of predatory journals, and other useful information at the bottom of the first link useful for the academic aspiring to publish. Just thought it would be good to share.

I’ve examined and studied both the Virginia Tech (here) and MIT (here) mission statements. Virginia Tech, of course, is located in Blacksburg, VA, USA. It is a public university, that’s in the top 25 in engineering. It is a research institute. MIT is located in Cambridge, MA, USA. It is a private university, that is also a research institute. It has ranked in the top 5 in engineering for the past few years.

What stood out to me is that both mission statements are short, and sweet. Also, I looked at several university mission statements, other than Virginia Tech’s and MIT’s. What stood out to me is the similarity amongst all of these mission statements. Their similarities have been great! All of them address the importance of spreading knowledge, and making it available.

The Virginia Tech mission statement begins with addressing it’s obligation to Virginia. Being that it’s a public school, it is addressing the obligation to the USA and Virginia.  Then it dives into the knowledge part, that’s essentially the necessary part. At the same time, the MIT mission statement begins with the importance of spreading knowledge.

Virginia Tech highlights the importance of teaching and learning in the mission statement. It mentions it on a list with research and discovery, but mentions it prior to research and discovery. The MIT mission statement mentions education, but doesn’t prioritize it over research. The nice part about both, is that they mention about the growth and development of the entire university community.

Last but not least, it is wonderful realizing that, as expected the mission statements for institutes are similar. They are in sync, and are wonderful. The importance of education in both is greatly appreciated, and are important. Research and education are both important.