Professor D. Pyne of Thompson Rivers University has garnered a lot of attention for his recent work on exposing predatory journals and the use of them by his fellow faculty members and administrators.

After Pyne published a controversial paper on the topic back in April of 2017, it's reported that he had consequently been suspended from his work without any pay. It's also noted that he had allegedly been banned from the campus.

As a result of his work, Pyne alleges that he was targeted by the administration which he sees as a violation to his free speech.

Pyne has now returned to his teaching post though and has mentioned that he believes that it is a result of the growing media attention that his case has been given. He also still allegedly believes that they are working to limit his freedom, by asking him to refrain from posting on social media—any posts that might qualify as being defamatory, disruptive, or threatening. Ultimately, he thinks that they are trying to silence him from speaking about his research on predatory journals.

What Are Predatory Journals?

Predatory journals are considered to be publications that provide publishing opportunities for significant fees, but the work being published isn't put through a rigorous screening process involving peer review by fellow experts.

Its estimated that there are at least 800+ or more predatory journals now in operation, some estimates place it as high as 10,000.

Authorities have vowed that they are dedicated to a crackdown on predatory journals now that there is growing awareness around this issue. It's estimated that 400,000 scientists or more have been published in predatory journals.

For Payne's case, there is still an ongoing investigation which is looking to determine whether or not the school did violate his academic freedom. However, the school has already reportedly admitted that the discipline wasn't linked to his research.

In his research, though he reportedly didn't name the school directly, Payne had allegedly discovered that many faculty and administrators from his school had their own articles published in some of the controversial journals. Those who published would then reportedly be awarded with various promotions or research grants.

Critics of predatory journals have suggested that the pressure for academics to publish today is too much and if it were reduced, we might see less of this problem.

These predatory journals continue to be criticized by the scientific community more aggressively because it's believed that they directly undermine the quality of science and that they deteriorate the reputation of scientists who are trying to do honest work.

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