Local Journals and Misleading Metrics: A Quantitative Analysis of Publication Activity of LIS PhD Students in Ukraine

Abstract

The Ukrainian library and information science/studies (LIS) accumulated many problems that impede the quality training of library staff. In the process of reforming education and science in Ukraine, several initiatives have been implemented at the legislative level for improving quality of research and its presentation by Ukrainian scientists, including research in the library science. In particular, in order to obtain a PhD in Ukraine, the applicant must publish an article in a foreign journal, which, in the opinion of the promoters of the government initiative, should improve the presentation of scientific achievements of Ukrainian scientists in the world. The paper presents the results of the study of the publishing activity of PhD students in the Ukrainian library science (2015- 2017). Data on articles in non-Ukrainian journals are received from the synopses of the theses that were in open access. The journals in which these articles were published were analyzed by country of origin, languages of publications, indexing in the leading abstracts and citation databases and the “misleading metrics”, information about the peer review process. The results indicate that Ukrainian LIS PhD students published their papers in the journals with a limited reader audience, mainly in Ukrainian journals and regional journals of the countries bordering with Ukraine. In some journals are noticeable the dubious editorial policy. In the article, the reasons for it are discussed, and some recommendations for overcoming the undesirable practice are provided.