Call for Papers: 2014 Fall Global Mindset Development in Leadership and Management Conference

September 12-13, 2014
Los Angeles, United States of America

Call for Papers:
- Submission of an abstract, topic of interest or proposal will be accepted for the purpose of registration.
- Time schedule to be determined later after all the papers have been received
- 30 minute presentation per paper
- Approved and Peer Reviewed papers will be published in on-line proceedings.

Topics:
Abstracts of research papers in 150-200 words are invited from Managers, Leaders, faculty, academics, administrators and Ph.D. scholars/Post Graduate students on contemporary issues in Leadership and Management befitting any of the conference tracks mentioned as under. Topics of interest for submissions include, but are not limited to:

- Forensic Accounting
- Global Business Law and Ethics
- Global Business Policy and Strategy
- Global Entrepreneurship and New Ventures
- Reengineering Financing
- Global Business Perspective
- Global Innovative Education & Academic Administration
- The Global Village of Internet, E-Commerce and Technology Management
- Orientation of Management and Organizational Behavior
- Global Information Systems
- Competitiveness on Managerial Global Terrain
- Relationship Marketing Management
- Managers Line of Production and Operations Management
- Service Management (including Healthcare and Hospitality Management)
- Meaning of Small Business
- Recessions, Contractions, and Recoveries in 2010-2011
- Various Research Methods
- Health Care Administration
- Criminal Justice Administration
- Educational Leadership
- Public Policy
- Global Leadership
- Online Education
- Nursing Leadership

Website: http://www.uofriverside.com/conferences/globalmanagementconference/

Call for Papers: The IAFOR North American Conference on Business and Public Policy

October 2nd to 5^th, 2014
Providence, United States of America

The International Academic Forum in conjunction with its global university and institutional partners is proud to announce the North American Conference on Business and Public Policy, October 2-5, 2014. At The Marriott, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Abstract Submission Deadline: June 1, 2014

Please submit your abstract through the online submission system found on the "Call for Papers" page of the conference website.

Web address:
http://iafor.org/iafor/conferences/the-iafor-north-american-conference-on-business-and-public-policy-2014/

Call for papers: 11th International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society.

University of California at Berkeley
Clark Kerr Conference Center
Berkeley, California, USA 23-24 February 2015

Deadline: November 11^th, 2014

Proposals for paper presentations, workshops, posters, or colloquia are invited for the Eleventh International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society at the University of California at Berkeley, in Berkeley, California, USA, from 23-24 February 2015. We welcome proposals from a variety of disciplines and perspectives that will contribute to the conference discourse. We also encourage faculty and research students to submit joint proposals for paper presentations or colloquia.

SPECIAL CONFERENCE FOCUS:

"Big Data and the Politics of Participation in a Digital Age"

CONFERENCE THEMES:

Proposals are invited that address technology through one of the following categories:

Theme 1: Technologies for Human Use
Theme 2: Technologies for Learning
Theme 3: Technologies in Community
Theme 4: Technologies for Common Knowledge

Website: www.techandsoc.com/2015-Berkeley

Spam Papers Make their Way into Academic Journals

Great research and strong academic papers often get rejected from journals because they do not fit the editor’s interests or are not from the right credentials in terms of university affiliation or brand of degree. When good papers are rejected and gibberish papers make their way through the system into public consumption that is even more concerning. A computer scientist by the name of Cyril Labbé ran a program to detect spam SCIgen papers in academic journals and found 100 published between 2008 and 2013 by the Electrical and Electronic Engineers and Springer(1). 

The purpose of SCIgen is to publish spam papers and send them to conferences to determine whether they are bogus (2). In this case their papers were in many different locations indicating that some of the conferences and publications were accepting papers that they were not readable and had no contribution. The editor process was lacking and papers were accepted wholesale without a review. 

Journals should be selective in what they accept but should also accept papers with important content regardless of university affiliation. They should not accept gibberish papers that were not vetted, edited, or reviewed. This diminishes the quality of the journal, its scientific contribution to society, and damages the institution of scientific publication. 

In traditional journals candidates submit scientific papers for inclusion. The cost is shouldered by the publisher because they have a significant readership and advertisement base to cover the expenditures. They are highly selective and follow a model that you may find similar to the book publishing industry. Only the best papers make their way into the journals. 

A problem is the definition of what the best papers are. Are these the ones with the most scientific impact or greatest societal benefit? In some cases yes and in others no. Often these publishers only accept papers from heavy research institutes that have a history of research. New ideas outside of those institutions are discounted and often rejected based on perception and not necessarily quality. This leaves them as gatekeepers to public knowledge. 

An alternative way to publish is through journals that require authors to pay a few hundred dollars for inclusion. This may exist because the publication is not widely read, it is part of their business model, and/or it provides those from less esteemed universities to publish works. However, when such journals don’t check the publication at all they are simply working on their business model for the money and add little scientific value. 

Whether a journal is traditional or non-traditional the quality should be maintained. That quality should depend on the objectives of the journal and their approaches to obtaining readership. The quality of the journal is based on the quality of the papers they accept. That doesn’t mean they should be exclusive to certain universities but should be open to high quality papers from a variety of backgrounds. Both traditional and non-traditional journals will need review their editorial process to focus on readership growth through quality work.