Faculty Services
The MCOB Library offers many services for the faculty and staff of the Mitchell College of Business.
Amia Baker, Director and Business Librarian, is available to consult with faculty on any of their research needs. Contact her at amiabaker@southalabama.edu or (251) 460-7998. Consultation services available include:
- Suggesting potential sources of information (both print and electronic)
- Identifying obscure or incorrect bibliographic citations
- Determining the best course of investigation
- Assisting in search strategy development for electronic resources
- Avoiding predatory journals/conferences
- Suggesting and reviewing, as needed, additional relevant library services, such as Interlibrary Loan.
Contact Amia Baker at amiabaker@southalabama.edu or (251) 460-7998 to schedule an instruction session. The Library Instruction page offers further details about topics and instruction options.
You can request that materials be evaluated for addition to the collection by contacting Amia Baker at amiabaker@southalabama.edu or (251) 460-7998.
The staff of the MCOB Library are happy to provide the pick-up or return of items to the Marx Library. Just bring items that need to be returned to the front desk in the MCOB Library. To request that we pick-up items from the Inter-Library Loan office or from the Marx Library collection, contact us at buscirc@southalabama.edu or (251) 414-8067.
Concurrent to the increase in open access publishing is a proliferation of predatory publishers and conferences. The journals and conferences sound legitimate; however, the claimed peer-review process is a sham. Common hallmarks of predatory publishers may include a required fee to publish or present (though fees for publication in respected open access publications legitimately support publishing overhead), a short period between submissions and acceptance, a high acceptance rate, and fraudulent listings of editorial board members and impact measures.
Legitimate scholarship outlets are often differentiated from predatory publishers by the following:
| LEGITIMATE JOURNALS/CONFERENCES | PREDATORY JOURNALS/CONFERENCES |
|---|---|
| Full contact information including a physical mailing address | Web contact information only |
| Editorial Board members are recognized with full affiliation information | Few members, often regionally located May use names of respected scholars without their permission |
| Solicitations rare, individualized, and most-often associated with special subject matter editions | Mass e-mail solicitations |
| Established publication record with many issues | Few volumes and issues; more common in developing nations |
| Clearly-described peer-review process | Vague process with short submission/acceptance interval |
| Legitimate, confirmable impact factor* | Low or lacking impact factor in disciplines where impact factor can be properly gauged |
| Submission/acceptance process should be rigorous | Easy submission/acceptance process; if it looks too good to be true, it most likely is |
* Journal Citation Reports (https://clarivate.com/products/journal-citation-reports/) provide confirmation of journal Impact Factor.
If there is doubt of the legitimacy of the journal or conference, discuss the outlet with departmental colleagues and other discipline peers.
The University Libraries have developed the following LibGuides which include links to Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and other resources:
Predators, Prey, and OA: Evaluating Open Access Publications
https://libguides.southalabama.edu/MCOBPredatoryJournals
Scholarly Communications: Home
https://libguides.southalabama.edu/scholcommun