A common forum for discussing and exploring research findings is a scholarly conference, and consequently organizing and hosting conferences is an important and rapidly growing activity that aims to gather researchers and interested parties for networking, exchanging ideas and presenting research findings. Indeed, conference organising has grown into a lucrative business and along with it come a broad range of organisers ranging from those providing high-quality established conferences to those that, knowingly or not, mislead academics into presenting their papers at events that lack the expected academic rigour or editorial control and fall short of common ethical practices. Therefore, the need for a guide to distinguish the trusted from the misleading event has become imperative.
We are advising the researchers to go through these simple questions then they can decide whether to attend the conference or not:
- Are you aware of the society or the association organizing this conference?
- Can you easily identify the venue of the conference?
- Is it clear what fees will be charged (conference fee, registration fees, …, etc.) and would these be waived if you are accepted as a speaker?
- Did you check the conference website? Is all the information (such as the attendance fees, submission date, conference date, editorial committee, program details and venue) presented in a proper way?
- Have you or your colleagues attended this conference before?
- Is the Editorial Committee listed on the website? Have you heard of the Editorial Committee members before?
- Is the Committee clear about the editorial control over presentations and the type of peer-review it uses?
- Is there a clear information about the timeline and the agenda for the conference?
- Is the Organizing Committee clear about where the proceedings will be published?
- Is the publisher of the proceedings a member of a recognized industry initiative such as COPE, DOAJ, OASPA?
For further information about how to choose the conference to attend, please visit Think. Check. Attend. website at https://thinkcheckattend.org/.
