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I want to be admitted to PhD studies at a foreign university with a scholarship.

I was in a team of four members authoring a paper, whose senior member (who is a professor) corresponded the publication himself from initial to final stage without letting us know the journal name. After the acceptance, he told us the journal’s name and we found that it is not listed in Thomson Reuters / ISI and its claim of an impact factor is fake. It is not even showing a DOI of the paper. Now we are thinking as if our whole struggle was useless.

Please advise whether I should mention the paper on my resumé for PhD scholarships admissions or not.

zibadawa timmy
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m.s87
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    Just FYI, this journal is also included in Beall's list of standalone "potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access journals". – Luigi Nov 22 '16 at 14:07
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    You may also want to take a look at: How can I withdraw a publication from a fake journal and resubmit to a legitimate journal? – Wrzlprmft Nov 22 '16 at 14:31
  • @Wrzlprmft: Actually if I'm reading it correctly the top answer in your linked meta answer in your edit supports putting the name of the publisher. But anyway, it's still in the edit history for this case. – justhalf Nov 22 '16 at 15:17
  • Imo the key sentence from the linked answer, for this question is "Keep in mind that the venue of publication does not affect the quality of your paper, but only (potentially) how it is perceived by others.", and, regarding the lack of a DOI: "If the journal is not very visible or accessible, post it to an eprint repository if it is possible" – T. Verron Nov 22 '16 at 16:35
  • Thanks for the answers. However one of my question is still not well responded i.e. should I mention that paper on my resume for taking PhD admissions since most of the PhD admissions open during Nov to Dec. Withdrawing a published paper is a risky and time consuming option. Due to shortage of time, should I mention that paper in resume or not? Also please advise the significance of having or not having DOI. Thanks! – m.s87 Nov 24 '16 at 12:46
  • @m.s87 I would not mention it. – Coder Nov 25 '16 at 19:48
  • Personally, I would consider a reference to a "fake" journal in an application the same as writing false information in a job application. You wouldn't claim you had insert position here in a non-existent corporation when applying to work somewhere would you? – NZKshatriya Nov 27 '16 at 07:29
  • @NZKshatriya I think perhaps you have read the question title without reading the question body. This is not a question of "the OP invented something to pretend like he actually did something", it's "he honestly did something, then it appeared in a disreputable journal." The journal exists, it just happens to fall well short of the usual standards. – zibadawa timmy Nov 28 '16 at 20:54
  • @zibadawatimmy No i read the post in full. And I still say that citing a reference in a fake/discredited journal, would be the same as including a falsehood in a resume. – NZKshatriya Nov 28 '16 at 21:41

1 Answers1

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I understand your conflict. On the one hand, you have produced a manuscript detailing your hard work. On the other hand, you don't want to appear associated with a fake/predatory/otherwise questionable journal.

My suggestion is that you do include this work in some form in your CV. For example, you might have a few sections:

1) Peer-reviewed publications

2) Publications in-press

3) Other work / manuscripts / manuscripts in progress, etc.

If it were me, I might consider including this paper under #3, potentially withholding the journal name if I felt so strongly as to question whether it might even be called a journal. Alternatively, you might include a note underneath that line item stating "submitted to non-peer reviewed journal without author's knowledge". While this would be fairly strange to see, it would at least offer a discussion point, while giving you credit for work performed.

HEITZ
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