## **E08: Evaluating Open Access Journals: Moving from Provocative to Practical in Characterizing Journal Practices** In today’s scholarly publishing ecosystem, researchers, librarians, academic institutions, funders, and even publishers have difficulty in identifying and tracking journals that engage in practices ranging from fraudulent and deceptive to questionable and unethical. In this course, we will define these specious practices, avoiding the binary “predatory” and “legitimate” classification by exploring the nuances of journal practices and how these practices developed as unintended consequences of the current academic publishing model. We will investigate tools for evaluating journal quality and discuss relevant case studies that will provide helpful context. Finally, we will review recommendations for raising awareness and promoting good practices in scholarly communications. This course aims to prepare librarians and other support personnel to offer training and support for researchers in how to understand the norms in open access publishing and how to avoid deceptive or low-quality journals. We will cover useful tools for mitigating the likelihood of publishing in these journals and discuss steps to take to assist researchers who believe they may have published in such a journal. This course will take place over three hours with each hour containing a mixture of lecture and discussion based on a case study or investigation of a tool for evaluating journal quality. We encourage students to engage in discussions and share their own experiences. ---------- #### **Level:** Beginner ---------- #### **Course Schedule:** LIVE ZOOM SESSION SCHEDULE (All times Pacific UTC-7) - Tuesday, July 26: 9:00 - 10:00 AM - Wednesday, July 27: 9:00 - 10:00 AM - Thursday, July 28” 9:00 - 10:00 AM ---------- #### **Instructors:** - Karen Gutzman, Head of Research Assessment and Communications, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6331-4451 - Annie Wescott, Research Librarian, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7458-3251