A thriving black-market economy of scam scholarly publishing, typically referred to as ‘predatory publishing,’ threatens the quality of scientific literature globally. The scammers publish research with minimal or no peer review and are motivated by article processing charges and not the advancement of scholarship. Authors involved in this scam are either duped or willingly taking advantage of the low rejection rates and quick publication process. Geographic analysis of the origin of predatory journal articles indicates that they predominantly come from developing countries. Consequently, most universities in developing countries operate blacklists of deceptive journals to deter faculty from submitting to predatory publishers. The present article discusses blacklisting and, conversely, whitelisting of legitimate journals as options of deterrence. Specifically, the article provides a critical evaluation of the two approaches by explaining how they work and comparing their pros and cons to inform a decision about which is the better deterrent.
An analysis of state-labour relations in Malawi over a period of four decades reveals, like in other countries in Southern Africa, tendencies towards continuities and discontinuities in labour controls. While Malawi's political system has undergone a major transformation to democracy in the 1990s after three decades of dictatorship which was hostile to trade unions through administrative, political and legal apparatuses, the democratic state has been marked by 'diplomatic' hostility through divide-and-rule and hide-and-seek tactics. Using different means the state has succeeded in curtailing freedom of association in varying degrees during the one-party and multiparty periods. Thus, while labour control as an objective of the state has not changed, the means have changed dramatically. The desire to achieve political stability and economic development, against a changed international political order demanding human rights and good governance in the 1990s, explains the current 'diplomatic' hostility in Malawi's industrial relations. The role of the international donor community in exporting democratic structures and values to societies that do not have an inbuilt culture of democracy similar to western societies is viewed as a further explanation for the creation of significant degrees of discrepancies between labour policy and practice in Malawi. Résumé En examinant de près les relations entre l'État et le monde du travail au Malawi, sur quatre décennies, l'on observe, comme dans bon nombre d'autres pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, diverses continuités et discontinuités au niveau du contrôle du milieu du travail. Si le système politique du Malawi a connu des 3.Dzimbiri.p65 05/01/2006, 15:56 53
For organizations to measure the performance of its employees there is a need to have key performance indicators and performance standards set. The current study at Gweru and Kwekwe City Councils in Zimbabwe assessed eight (8) performance aspects, which are quality work, employee output, communication and dependability (customer), controlling of costs (financial), planning, team working, problem solving and technical understanding (internal methods/organization procedure) and leadership management (learning and growth potential). The study was a quantitative descriptive survey that allowed managers to appraise employee performance. All 32 line managers participated in the research, and 400 employees were selected using stratified random sampling by departments, as employees reported to the same managers. The constructs that measured employee performance were reliable with Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficients ranging from problem analysis and resolution (0.734), employee controlling costs (0.794), planning and organizing (0.796), employee output (0.778), employee communication (0.823), employee leadership (0.8333) and employee dependability (0.861). Generally, employee performance with regard to quality service for customer needs, financials, internal procedures and learning and growth was low. The technical understanding attribute of performance among employees as determined by managers had the least mean score (12.4%), indicating that public sector organizations like city councils in Zimbabwe, may still engage 'Rocks' kind of employees. Rocks are the kind of employees who are incompetent because they do not have the technical understanding to do the job and they seem not to care. It is recommended that managers in Gweru and Kwekwe city councils should come up with rigorous training and development policies and practices that help employees acquire relevant skills. Performance indicators should be clearly communicated to all employees. The Gweru and Kwekwe city councils should develop a performance management system that is linked to their performance goals. Constant performance feedback should be given to both managers and employees.
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