Is Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies a predatory journal?

8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles Obadele Bakari Kambon <obkambon@staff.ug.edu.gh> Immediate withdrawal of two articles 7 messages Dr. Obadele Kambon <obkambon@staff.ug.edu.gh> Sat, Jul 10, 2021 at 8:47 AM To: Kate Snow <info@ajol.info>, Roza Carvalho <roza@ajol.info>, aketema joseph <aketema@yahoo.com>, JOSEPH AKETEMA <jaketema@st.ug.edu.gh>, lwanga songsore <sungsongsore@gmail.com> Greetings Kate and Roza, I am writing to you to request the immediate withdrawal of two articles from Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies. I wrote to Professor Okechukwu Nwafor on June 25th to that effect. My co-authors confirmed withdrawal of both papers on the next day, June 26th, 2021 as evinced below: However, to date both papers are still on Mgbakoigba's page on AJOL filled with formatting errors, an author omission and typos: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 1/11 8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles The errors contained therein, however, are not the primary reason for our withdrawal, but rather Mgbakoigba's predatory practices. While there is no consensus in terms of what a predatory journal, I researched to find a typology of how they operate and came to find that Mgbakoigba fits 4 out of the 5 criteria laid out: 2021-06-21_7-26-24.png Source: https://instr.iastate.libguides.com/predatory As you will notice, there is no mention of fees on Mgbakoigba's AJOL page https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas/about, however, when both of my students and co-authors submitted articles there, they received emails indicating that there would be fees for peer reviews (which were never done), publication and that, additionally, there would be fees to even withdraw the paper. What raised a red flag apart from there being no mention of any of this on the website is that the fees were to be paid directly into the personal account of the Editor with whom we were corresponding as evinced below: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 2/11 8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles When confronted with the above screenshots showing evidence of him requesting payment to his personal bank account, Professor Okechukwu Nwafor's response was that "All your listed allegations of payments to my personal bank account are false," however the evidence does not lie. His denial of what was obviously documented let me know that he is aware that he should not be engaging in that practice. Further, according to both of my co-authors, neither one ever received a peer review report: Additionally, there was no copyediting stage so, as alluded to previously, there are all types of formatting and other errors in the version of the papers that have been published online: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 3/11 8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles Thus, from our typology of predatory journals we have confirmation of the following: 1) Their primary goal is to make money (i.e. there will be fees). In the case of Mgbakoigba, there were fees that are mentioned not on its official website but in private emails requesting payment directly into Professor Okechukwu Nwafor's personal account. A fact which he later denied despite clear evidence showing that he was engaging in this practice with the caveat that even withdrawing the paper would attract a fee. No matter what, he intended to get paid to the tune of ₦20,000 per paper (the equivalent of close to $50 per paper!). The only way we were able not to "pay to publish" is when I intimated to Professor Okechukwu Nwafor that such a practice smacks of predatory publishers: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 4/11 8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles 2) They do not care about the quality of the work published (i.e. no or little editing or peer-review). In this instance, there were all types of formatting errors in the final paper as published. Additionally, there was no peer review despite the fact that the Mgbakoigba page states categorically that peer review would be done and sent to even papers that have been accepted. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas/about 3) They engage in unethical business practices (i.e. not as advertised). The "not as advertised" aspect can be found in the aforementioned concerns whereby they say they will do peer review, but they do no such thing. There is no mention of any payment whatsoever on the Mgbakoigba site but in emails we were told we must pay into the good professor's personal bank account. Further, there is no copyediting stage whereby formatting and any other errors could be caught. We simply received an email that the papers were published. When we pointed out the errors in the papers, we were told the following: Again, lining the good professor's pockets. 4) They fail to follow accepted standards or best practices of scholarly publishing (various). As Editor-in-Chief of Ghana Journal of Linguistics, also hosted on AJOL I am aware that best practices include having a peer review process, which is missing from Mgbakoigba's process in the case of two independently submitted papers. Best practices also include having a copyediting stage, again missing from Mgbakoigba's processes. It would also be expected that if there are any legitimate fees, these would be evident and clearly articulated in the public domain, not under the table nor into someone's private bank account. Even in the case of legitimate journals that charge fees, to charge for peer review, for publishing, for withdrawal and for correcting errors introduced by the journal leaves us with no other conclusion than that Mgbakoigba fits the mold of a predatory journal. We were told on June 27th, 2021 that AJOL would be contacted for the papers to be withdrawn: However, here we are on July 10th with both papers still there, rife with errors and available for download. This is an embarrassment to me and my co-authors and it makes me embarrassed for AJOL. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 5/11 8/6/2021 University of Ghana Mail - Immediate withdrawal of two articles In my humble opinion Mgbakoigba is a sinking ship and I do not wish to go down with it nor would I like to see AJOL go down with it when their dubious practices are exposed with clear cut evidence. The reasons outlined in brief above constitute our rationale for withdrawal of both papers. We wish that the two papers be removed entirely from AJOLs website as well as having the PDFs in their current state be taken down so that we may submit them to a legitimate journal. I greatly appreciate your consideration and understanding with regard to this important matter. Best, (PS - I have copied both of my co-authors on this email so that they may be apprised of any developments with regard to this matter) __________ Ọbádélé Kambon, PhD Nana Kwame Pɛbi Date I, Ban mu Kyidɔmhene, Akuapem Mampɔn Senior Research Fellow & Research Coordinator - Language, Literature and Drama Section Institute of African Studies - College of Humanities Editor-in-Chief - Ghana Journal of Linguistics Secretary (2015-2020) - African Studies Association of Africa +233249195150 / +19192836824 | me@obadelekambon.com www.obadelekambon.com | www.abibitumi.com Room 115 IAS Kwame Nkrumah Complex University of Ghana - Legon Alternate Email: obkambon@staff.ug.edu.gh Ọbádélé Kambon App Abibitumi.com App Dr. Obadele Kambon <obkambon@staff.ug.edu.gh> Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 6:23 AM To: stop@predatoryjournals.com Cc: lwanga songsore <sungsongsore@gmail.com>, aketema joseph <aketema@yahoo.com>, JOSEPH AKETEMA <jaketema@st.ug.edu.gh> The name of the journal or publisher.: Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies A URL for the website of the journal or publisher.: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas Any information that you have that leads you to believe that this journal or publisher is acting in a predatory manner: See below. This was submitted to African Journals Online for their kind attention and action. ---------- Forwarded message --------From: Dr. Obadele Kambon <obkambon@staff.ug.edu.gh> Date: Sat, Jul 10, 2021 at 8:47 AM Subject: Immediate withdrawal of two articles To: Kate Snow <info@ajol.info>, Roza Carvalho <roza@ajol.info>, aketema joseph <aketema@yahoo.com>, JOSEPH AKETEMA <jaketema@st.ug.edu.gh>, lwanga songsore <sungsongsore@gmail.com> https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4?ik=fb8c48de38&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar-4544755949041505999&simpl=msg-a%3Ar-4110152… 6/11