All-pervading insider bias alters review time in Turkish university journals

Tütüncü, Lokman

doi:10.1007/s11192-023-04724-3

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Data covers 219 journals indexed in the Social Sciences category of the national TR DIZIN index. The sample originates from Tutuncu (2023), who studies insider bias in 258 journals. None of the journals voluntarily disclosed their acceptance rate but a policy change led to disclosure in February 2023.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Local journals suffer from misfortunes that reputable mainstream journals do not face. Insufficient technical resources, low-quality of submitted manuscripts, lack of international recognition, narrow editor and reviewer pool, and consequently lowquality reviewer feedback (Marusic & Marusic, 1999;Salager-Meyer, 2008;Tutuncu, 2023) hamstring their development and visibility to count a few. Many small journals receive an insufficient number of submissions (Donovan, 2009; and may adopt a less rigorous review process to fill their issues in a struggle for survival.…”

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this environment, editors assume an even greater role to review and filter out submissions before sending out for peer review, as local reviewers cannot be relied on to provide detailed and robust commentary. Editorial policies are also important to prevent external influences on editorial decisions as acquaintances and colleagues may attempt to gain editors' favor to publish substandard articles (Tutuncu, 2023). Rejection is not a popular form of editorial decision in small local scientific communities as collegiality concerns often take precedence and editors may face backlash for rejecting submissions.…”

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior evidence suggests that academics associate inside publications with lower qualification (Koys, 2008). Insider practice is widespread in Turkey and nearly 30% of all articles in national journals are published by means of inside connections (Tutuncu, 2023). The inside publication route is facilitated by the fact that most universities appoint editors from a limited pool of their own academic staff.…”

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Editorial board publication strategy and acceptance rates in Turkish national journals

Tutuncu

2023

Journal of Data and Information Science

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Purpose This study takes advantage of newly released journal metrics to investigate whether local journals with more qualified boards have lower acceptance rates, based on data from 219 Turkish national journals and 2,367 editorial board members. Design/methodology/approach This study argues that journal editors can signal their scholarly quality by publishing in reputable journals. Conversely, editors publishing inside articles in affiliated national journals would send negative signals. The research predicts that high (low) quality editorial boards will conduct more (less) selective evaluation and their journals will have lower (higher) acceptance rates. Based on the publication strategy of editors, four measures of board quality are defined: Number of board inside publications per editor (INSIDER), number of board Social Sciences Citation Index publications per editor (SSCI), inside-to-SSCI article ratio (ISRA), and board citation per editor (CITATION). Predictions are tested by correlation and regression analysis. Findings Low-quality board proxies (INSIDER, ISRA) are positively, and high-quality board proxies (SSCI, CITATION) are negatively associated with acceptance rates. Further, we find that receiving a larger number of submissions, greater women representation on boards, and Web of Science and Scopus (WOSS) coverage are associated with lower acceptance rates. Acceptance rates for journals range from 12% to 91%, with an average of 54% and a median of 53%. Law journals have significantly higher average acceptance rate (68%) than other journals, while WOSS journals have the lowest (43%). Findings indicate some of the highest acceptance rates in Social Sciences literature, including competitive Business and Economics journals that traditionally have low acceptance rates. Limitations Research relies on local context to define publication strategy of editors. Findings may not be generalizable to mainstream journals and core science countries where emphasis on research quality is stronger and editorial selection is based on scientific merit. Practical implications Results offer useful insights into editorial management of national journals and allow us to make sense of local editorial practices. The importance of scientific merit for selection to national journal editorial boards is particularly highlighted for sound editorial evaluation of submitted manuscripts. Originality/value This is the first attempt to document a significant relation between acceptance rates and editorial board publication behavior.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Journal Of Data and Information Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Editorial board publication strategy and acceptance rates in Turkish national journals

Tutuncu

2023

Journal of Data and Information Science

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Rejected papers in academic publishing: Turning negatives into positives to maximize paper acceptance

Teixeira da Silva,

Nazarovets

2024

Learned Publishing

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There are ample reasons why papers might get rejected by peer‐reviewed journals, and the experience can be, especially for those who have had little experience, sobering. When papers get rejected a number of times, that may signal that there are problems with the paper (e.g., weak methodology or lack of robust analyses), that it is insufficiently developed, is poorly written, or that it is too topic‐specific and needs to find an appropriate niche journal. In the case of a single or multiple rejections, whenever there is feedback from a journal, as well as reasons for rejection, this provides a useful signal for improving the paper before it is resubmitted to another journal. This article examines literature related to the rejection of papers in academic journals, encompassing the opinions and experiences offered by authors, as well as advice suggested by editors, allowing readers and authors who experience rejections to reflect on the possible reasons that may have led to that outcome. Many papers related to this topic were published as editorials or opinions, offering advice on how to improve aspects of a submitted paper in order to increase its chances of acceptance.

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Gatekeepers or gatecrashers? The inside connection in editorial board publications of Turkish national journals

Tutuncu

2024

Scientometrics

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This study investigates publication portfolio of 2684 editors in 255 Turkish university journals in Social Sciences. It argues that semi-closed structures of university journals are places fostering insider culture and editors engaging in inside publication practice are likely to publish inside articles of their colleagues from the same institution. The research relies on the contrast between inside articles and international articles to quantify editors’ publication behaviour. Results show that editors demonstrate widespread insider behaviour and rarely publish international articles. Editors’ inside articles correspond to nearly one third of their national research output and outnumber Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) publications by 3.5 to 1. Two measures, board inside articles and inside-to-SSCI article ratio are used to test the association between editor and journal inside publications and show that editors publishing through inside connections facilitate publication of inside papers. At the individual level, editorial seniority, academic seniority and academic experience are related to insider behaviour, while female editors and editors with overseas PhD degrees are negatively associated. Education journal editors are the most prolific SSCI publishers (2 papers per editor) while Faculty of Science and Literature journal editors are the most prolific insiders (6.6 inside papers per editor). Results indicate an underqualification problem and highlight the importance of meritocratic editor selection to mitigate insider bias.

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All-pervading insider bias alters review time in Turkish university journals

Cited by 7 publications

References 62 publications

Editorial board publication strategy and acceptance rates in Turkish national journals

Editorial board publication strategy and acceptance rates in Turkish national journals

Rejected papers in academic publishing: Turning negatives into positives to maximize paper acceptance

Gatekeepers or gatecrashers? The inside connection in editorial board publications of Turkish national journals

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