Academic Exchange Quarterly’s Publishing Scam

February 27, 2009

I received the quoted email below (posted with permission) from Professor Masood Raja, someone I consider a trusted friend and advisor at Kent State, regarding the very questionable practices of Academic Exchange Quarterly.  If you’ve experienced anything like this, please let me know or contact Professor Raja through his website linked below.  

I just want to share this with you and see if any of you have had any such experiences with this journal that sells itself as a representative journal of people like us.

A few months ago I sent an article to the Academic Exchange Quarterly (AEQ). Last week I got my reviewer’s reports asking for revisions, a normal practice for all refereed journals. I revised the essay as per the reviewers remarks and sent it back. Today I got another message from them. The message stated that my essay needed further revisions, which is also usually an accepted practice with academic journals. The message said that my essay will be accepetd for their summer issue after I had revised it AND after I have paid $132.00 redactory fee!

So here is how I read this message: Your essay is good enough to be accepted after further revisions, but we need $132.00 dollars to do that. Now, I understand that sometimes when we make changes after the final proofs have been approved, it costs more to the publishers to make any changes. My book contract with Oxford clearly states that if I ask to make changes in approved proofs, I will have to bear the costs. But in this case, the essay is still in consideration stage. Furthermore, the journal does not provide any complementary copies to the authors, but expects them to buy their copies. This really sounds like a scam to me.

Does anyone of you find this exceptionally mercenary and unfair? Of, course I decided to withdraw my essay: why publish with a journal that wants money to publish your article anyway. But my fear is that this journal sells itself as a premium academic journal, and does it in our name. Has anyone else experienced this at their hands, and if so is there anything we can do about it?

Thanks for a patient reading.

Masood A. Raja, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Postcolonial Literature and Theory
Department of English
Kent State University
Editor, Pakistaniaat: http://pakistaniaat.org
Personal Webpage: http://masoodraja.com

UPDATE:

After what I believe to be a lengthy deliberation on the part of AEQ, at least according to the traffic logs on this particular post, the publisher of AEQ, Steve Pec, asked me to post the following end-run around email (sent to myself, Professor Raja, English Department Chair Ron Corthell, and Graduate Studies Coordinator Raymond Craig) in rebuttal to Professor Raja’s email of concern about practices at AEQ.  N.B.:  my response to Mr. Pec’s email is available here.

Jason W. Ellis,  PhD Student, English Literature
Kent State University
Owner of http://dynamicsubspace.net/
&
Masood A. Raja, Ph.D.,   Assistant Professor,  Department of English
Kent State University
Editor, Pakistaniaat: http://pakistaniaat.org

Dear  Mr. Ellis  &  Dr. Raja:
This is in reference to your  blog “Academic Exchange Quarterly’s
Publishing Scam”
You could have avoided posting false information made by  Dr. Raja  if
you would  verify facts.
http://dynamicsubspace.net/2009/02/27/academic-exchange-quarterlys-publishing-scam/
AEQ attempted  to post   clarification  but it was  rejected by your
blog.   Hence the following:

Dr. Raja chose  not to mention that he has failed to revise properly
(submission  #4302-9l  Teaching
Salman Rushdie’s Shame) even after   multiple assistance from  the
journal…   Redactory fee option
is clearly  stated on   journal’s submission page, entry #7 When
reviews are completed….
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm     Said fee is due
“after AEQ positive review and
your decision to revise…” http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/karte9.htm
Dr. Raja was never able to revise properly hence  his submission was
rejected.   Regarding
“ the journal does not provide any complementary copies to the
authors, but expects them to buy their copies. This really sounds like
a scam to me.”  Please read entry #13 This journal does not offer page
proofs         http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm
Plus, you may want to read   Why  fees?
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/redfee.htm

Requesting  that you share with  your  blog readers   AEQ  response
(exactly as it is written),
 we wish you the best in your search for  publishing scams…  and  in
your  attempt to please your professor.

A note to  Dr. Raja,  after reading your  text on   your student’s
blog,  we at AEQ  understand your  difficulties in  comprehending
reviewers’  comments.    However, we are not sure whether it  is
academically proper and  ethical for you to use your student to vent
dissatisfaction with AEQ negative evaluation of your submission.
Your apology to AEQ  (posted to aforementioned   student’s blog)
will put said matter to rest…

BTW  over  a dozen of Kent State University professors have  published in AEQ
without any difficulties.  See listing under  Ohio  - Kent State University
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AE/8indekg.htm

Sincerely,
Steve Pec, Publisher
Academic Exchange Quarterly (AEQ)
Email:  aequarterly@gmail.com
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/
COPY
Ron Corthell, Chair
Ray Craig, Graduate Coordinator

6 Comments | Kent State | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

I Realized Today That I’m Getting Old

February 26, 2009

My buddy at the University of Liverpool, Aidan-Paul, turned 30 today.  I know this thanks to the power of the almighty Facebook.  A.P.’s birthday prompted me to check out how old I am, because I couldn’t remember if I was still 30, or 31.  Thanks to the power of advertising revenue aggregating sites such as Easy Calculation, I discovered that I will be 32 far sooner than I would like:

Your Age is 31 years, 7 months, and 14 days

Your Age in Days 11549 days since your birth

Your Age in Hours 277176 hours since your birth

Your Age in Minutes 16630560 minutes since your birth

2 Comments | Personal | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

Unacceptably Loud Office Folk

February 25, 2009

There is one thing that I learned very early on after beginning my teaching assistantship at Kent State, and that is some folks in Satterfield Hall are unacceptably loud.  What do I mean by “unacceptably loud?”  Well, if you are in another part of the building, and I can hear you shouting about how much you hate men at an alarmingly recurring rate of several times a day, then you are unacceptably loud.  If you are two offices away from mine and you need to shout into your cell phone, and I can hear you better than the Verizon guy, then you are unacceptably loud.  If you are down the hall and my office door is closed, and I can hear your booming laughter like so many jet fighters breaking the sound barrier, then you are unacceptably loud.  

Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with this behavior, because I could relocate myself.  However, I am a teacher, and it is advantageous to my students and my pedagogical mission to utilize my office as much as possible.  Additionally, I do try my best to endeavor at academic work that is part of my duty to my university and my continuing professionalization.  If these things were not that important, I would encourage each and every person in Satterfield to put their hair down and let loose.  Unfortunately, we do have some things to do here that require a modicum of attention and unadulterated focus.  Please continue talking and collaborating, but do it in a rational and conscientious manner that doesn’t disturb others behind solid walls and heavy wooden doors.  And above all, please make your work fun, but not at the cost of others’ peace of mind.

5 Comments | Kent State, Personal | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

Carol Swain’s Presentation on Immigration at Kent State

February 19, 2009

Dr. Carol Swain, professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University, gave a talk this afternoon at the Kent State University library on, “Immigration, Identity Politics, and the Decline of America: A Challenge for President Obama.”  I was interested in hearing Dr. Swain speak, because I thought her ideas, which are in large part diametrically opposed to my own, might instigate some new ideas of my own regarding immigrants and their Othered status in the United States.

At the beginning of her talk, she described herself as “an accidental college professor.”  Consider some of Dr. Swain’s bits of personal information:  one of 12 children, didn’t graduate from high school (completed her GED), married by age 16, had 2 children while she was in community college, an African immigrant from Sierra Leone encouraged her to go to community college, she chose to pursue criminal justice because it had the most lax math requirement, she was told by her professors that she had a moral duty to teach in the university due to a “critical shortage of role models,” and she said that she “had come so far from where I started, I didn’t consider failure a possibility.”

She began her presentation by saying that “she doesn’t want to start trouble.”  However, she adds, “but if someone doesn’t say something, then I feel I have to.”  The trouble that she doesn’t want to start has to do with what she terms “the immigration problem.”  In her largely impromptu and very lucid presentation, she aligned a more open borders approach to immigration to an “elite” position (elite in her sense has to do with business and I think the academic left as well), and a “rank and file” position (the average American voter divorced from race).  She went on to argue that the average American citizen, especially low wage earners without a high school diploma, are hurt by legal and illegal immigration wage depression.  Furthermore, she argues that voting initiatives, such as the English-only amendment in Nashville, reveal that people are threatened by immigration and want to take action.  However, the real problem for Dr. Swain lies in the federal government’s lack of enforcement of existing laws, and the creation of new law to deal with immigrants.  

As if that weren’t provocative enough, she rounded out her presentation with a brief critique of identity politics and the decline of America.  As Dr. Swain sees it, there is growing tension between white identity, and racial and ethnic diversity.  She noted that the founding fathers lost the battle for an Anglo-America, and now there is a growing fear among whites about the expanding minority demographics.

For Dr. Swain, the solution is assimilation, which she considers a good word.  She believes that we (US citizens) should see ourselves as Americans and nothing else. Instead of separate identity groups vying for a small piece of the pie (power?), we should give up some of that identity and have a single, unified American identity.  Denouncing cultural relativism, she invoked a few anecdotal examples of immigrants breaking US laws (violently).  Sure, these things may happen among a few, but to classify all immigrants as law breaking cultural snobs is a logical fallacy.  Furthermore, her saying “they have to come up to our level” implies a cultural superiority over other peoples, which is not something that I can do except in the most extreme circumstances of crimes against the person (e.g., female circumcision).  Even in those cases, I do not consider it an American standard, but a rational argument against the harming of the minds and bodies of others.  

Her conservative provocativeness reminds me of the right wing academic Monty Kipps from Zadie Smith’s On Beauty.  However, I don’t think Kipps would have ended his presentation in the same way as Dr. Swain when she said, “And as Forrest Gump would say, ‘That’s all I have to say about that.’”

An afterthought:  As Professor Babacar M’Baye and I were talking about after class, we must talk about race without fear.  It is only through talking about race and the other things that we can move forward.  To be fair to Dr. Swain, I do heartily agree with her about the necessity and importance of talking about immigration, race, and identity in the open.  Also, it is vital that a variety of opinions be invited to share in the conversation.  Ignoring these issues and what these things mean to people will not some how make them go away.

6 Comments | Kent State | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

CFP: The Postnational Fantasy: Nationalism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction

February 11, 2009

Call for Papers:

The Postnational Fantasy: Nationalism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction

We seek chapter proposals for our forthcoming anthology to be published in Spring 2010.  The Postnational Fantasy: Nationalism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction places itself at the nexus of current debates about nationalism, postnational capitalism, the reassertion of third world nationalism and its cosmopolitical counterparts, and the role of contemporary Science Fiction (SF) and fantasy in challenging, normalizing, or contesting these major conceptual currents of our times.  This new collection of essays, thus, brings together, in one volume, the interplay of critical and theoretical insights both from Postcolonial and Science Fiction studies.

In a way SF and Postcolonial Literature both have traditionally dealt with the question of the other.  Thus, while SF has been traditionally concerned with the issues of the alien and the ontological other, the leading postcolonial works have usually focused on giving voice to the silenced colonized others.  Just as the SF writer must ‘train’ the reader in his or her imagined setting, so does the postcolonial author feel the need to inform the reader while attempting to represent the postcolonial subjects. This combination of representation and didactics, crucial to SF and postcolonial writing, can therefore be an interesting starting point for bringing the two overlapping fields of artistic endeavor together, as both have a lot to offer in theorizing and debating the national, the postcolonial, and the cosmopolitan in the era of high capital. As of now, not many critical texts attempt to rewrite postcoloniality through a textual and theoretical reading of contemporary SF nor has there been a worthwhile attempt in postcolonial studies to incorporate the contemporary SF in the cultural and political debates. It is, therefore, one of the goals of this volume to enrich both Postcolonial Studies and SF studies with a nuanced borrowing and intermixing of their primary texts and modes of interpretation, which would, we hope, enrich both fields of study by sharing their common and particular modes of reading and responding to the texts. Important also in our study would be the nature of representation itself, but especially the affective value of the texts in generating and foregrounding the questions of feelings invoked by the SF and the postcolonial text, and the impact of this emotive state on the issues of national, postnational, and cosmopolitan identity formation.

We invite essays of 5,000-6,000 words in length exploring the following themes, or any other themes that might fall within the purview of our stipulated vision of the anthology: 

·      Issues of nationalism and national identity in SF and fantasy.

·      The idea of the other in the context of geopolitical identities.

·      The setting/background of the fantastical in the context of contemporary debates of the cosmopolitical.

·      The postcolonial imagination of SF and fantasy from the Third World.

·      The affective value of SF and its connotation in the context of global politics.

·      SF as an additive of resistance or postnational alternative.

·      The questioning of gender and heteronormativity in SF in an age of cosmopolitanism.

We strongly encourage young scholars and advanced graduate students to contribute to the anthology. Please send your proposals, not more than 200 words, along with a brief bio by April 30, 2009. Send your proposals to the editors at pnfantasy@gmail.com. Include your proposal and bio in the body of your email and also as a Microsoft Word attachment. Essays selected for inclusion in the final volume will be peer-reviewed by specialists in the field.

About the Editors:

Dr. Masood Raja, Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature and Theory
Department of English, Kent State University

Swaralipi Nandi, PhD Scholar
Department of English, Kent State University

Jason W. Ellis, PhD Scholar
Department of English, Kent State University

3 Comments | Personal, Projects, Science Fiction | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

Open Source Software

February 8, 2009

I’m really trying to make a go at using more open source software in my daily practices as a professional academic and as a savvy computer hobbyist.  You may call this a late New Year’s resolution, but it was originally intended as a carefully thought-out reboot of the software that I use on my PC and Mac.  

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or energy at this moment to transition to only open source for my operating system and applications.  So, for simplicity’s sake, I am keeping my closed source operating systems (Windows Vista 64-bit and Mac OS X 10.5.6) and incorporating as much open source software as I can in my daily practices.  

My efforts thus far are focused on my MacBook, because I haven’t used my PC much at all lately (though, Yufang has enjoyed watching The Office through hulu.com and Netflix on it when she breaks from comps reading).  About a week ago, I reinstalled Mac OS X with Xcode Tools.  I followed that up with installing OpenOffice.org 3 for word processing and spreadsheet work.  Next, I installed MacPorts and Porticus (a GUI frontend for MacPorts).  MacPorts is a wonderful distribution system for open source software that has been ported to work on Macs.  So far, I’ve installed GIMP 2 for image editing.  Unfortunately, I haven’t installed anything else, because it took me all week to get the GIMP installed successfully.  It seems that there was a problem with one updated dependency that would cause the install to fail.  Having gotten that sorted out, I now have a fully armed and operational, er, image manipulation program.  

So far, I’ve used OpenOffice during a collaborative session at Angel Falls Coffee Co. with Professor Masood Raja and my colleague, Swaralipi Nandi while we were writing the abstract for our book proposal (more on this in the near future).  This was interesting, because it was the first time that I had used OpenOffice, and I discovered that OpenOffice was designed to increase the volume on every annoying feature of Microsoft Office and then some.  The auto word complete was distracting, and the autocorrect light bulb icon in the lower right corner was equally irritating.  Tonight, I’ve been working on some assignments for my African American Literature course, and I’ve disabled some of these amazing features.  However, I’m still looking for the tick box to turn off the light bulb from the abyss.

I will post more updates in the future on my use of this software in my professional work.

1 Comment | Technology | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

Preparing for Comprehensive Exams

February 6, 2009

Yesterday, Professor Babacar M’Baye [and check out his new blog here] was kind enough to let Seth and I miss half of class to attend Kent State’s Faculty Professional Development Center’s presentation on “Preparing for Qualifying Exams.”  When Seth and I arrived at Moulton Hall, I learned that Jillian Hill, AGES President and all-around awesome individual, was leading the presentation.  She did a terrific job giving us some ideas and strategies for getting ready for comps.  

I looked around online for comp preparation strategies when Yufang began reading for her comps over the Summer.  However, I didn’t find much information on the Internet for comps preparation.  So, I figured I would post some of the things that I learned from Jill’s presentation yesterday for others taking the penultimate step prior to the PhD dissertation.

  • Write a project description first, and then tease out three contents areas based on your project/dissertation abstract.  It’s important to consider asking faculty that are recognized in your content areas rather than just working with faculty members you like personally.
  • After forming your committee, compile your content area reading lists.  Use “forward searches” on Google Scholar and database searches to find relevant material that is well cited in the body of work in that content area.
  • As you circulate your reading lists with your committee members for final approval, include your project description, a brief contextualization and justification for those readings, and a number of questions to guide your reading.  This front matter will eliminate the need of your committee members to refer back to older emails with that information, and it will facilitate your lists staying on track.  
  • Email your lists to committee members prior to meetings so that they can read over them before you show up, and leave more meeting time for more important discussion time.
  • Create a reading schedule that breaks down your book and article reading lists on a week-by-week basis.  This will help keep you on track as you work through your lists.
  • Maintain an annotated bibliography on each of your reading list sources.  Also, scan pages with significant passages, charts, or graphs.  
  • If you are a visual learner, you should map out your sources’ arguments.
  • Assemble a binder will all of your notes and review material.
  • Leave yourself time prior to your exams to review all of your notes.  During this review time, write a literature review to help synthesize the material that you’ve read and to make it fresh in your mind.
  • Remember that you’ll be locked in a room for several hours to take your exam, so you may consider replicating the environment at home or in your office.  Prepare for the experience–shut the door and write down everything that you remember.
  • Some faculty may ask us to write sample questions.  Give this some thought.
  • If you show your committee members that you put a lot of effort into your studies and reading, they will probably be more willing to guide you in preparing for the exams.
  • Remember that selecting your committee and reading lists are organic processes that involve negotiation on all sides.  
  • If your program or committee requires an oral defense following the exam, then you will want to carefully review what you wrote on your exam.  At the beginning, you may be asked to speak for about 15 minutes providing justification for your answers and a self-assessment of your work.  Each committee member will take turns asking you questions about your responses on the exam, and there will be some back-and-forth between them as the defense goes forward.  Additionally, the defense is supposed to be about your exam, but your committee may turn their questions toward your dissertation prospectus.

If you have advice or pointers from your own experience, please share them in the comments.

Good luck to everyone on your exams whenever you take them!

3 Comments | Kent State, Pedagogy | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis

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