
Dr. Teves Lectures On Predatory Journals
by Venus R. Parmisana
In a concrete response to recurring concerns of faculty researchers on how to determine predatory journals, the Office of the Graduate Studies, through its Director Dr. Alita T. Roxas, conducted the Information and Education Forum on Predatory Journals on October 3, 2018 at the Boardroom of the MSU-IIT.

Serving as an echo seminar, the forum had Dr. Franco G. Teves, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, for a Resource Speaker. In an opening statement, Teves remarked that the term “predatory journal” was first coined by University of Colorado Librarian Jeffrey Beall.
“Journals and publishers that have not authentically performed peer-review process, especially after receiving a hefty amount for the publication charges, are meted with label in the widely-followed “Beall’s List”, said Teves.

Highlighting Teves’ lecture were the four ways to identify a “probable predatory” body.
(1) The journal or publisher is just a money-making scam. It is believed that articles with glaring grammar errors and goobledygook (unintelligible jargon) content, would go unnoticed and yet were given acceptance letters after the journal had allegedly siphoned huge fees, at times for both submission and publication, that could go as high as thousand dollars;
(2) With proliferating journals from any parts of the globe, authors would fall easy prey to these dubious journals as they entice authors with their aesthetically designed websites, multi-racial board members or peer reviewers, and the much-publicized tourism packages. Meanwhile, some reviewers have unverifiable identities and these websites have missing address or mixed up location details of publishers; everything fell short of professionalism.
(3) Further hint goes to the almost zero percentage of unaccepted papers whereby abstracts or papers in the sciences and engineering nevertheless end up in the arts, humanities, and social sciences-themed publications; and
(4) Finally, one can investigate on the publication frequency which reveals either having lagged issues or having multiple and simultaneous production of different journals under the same publishing company.
Dr. Teves, together with Dr Roxas, addressed the participants’ questions and concerns during the open forum and assured them of another round of in-depth discussion on the subject matter very soon.

Capping the lecture, Teves encouraged the participants to not rely solely on the Beall’s List but also use Web of Science or Clarivate Analytics (https://clarivate.com) and the Directory of Open Access Journal (https://doaj.org/). Also, Teves briefly mentioned the International Conference on Environment and Forest Conservation (http://icefc2018.msu.edu.ph) on November 18-20, 2018 as one commendable conference that MSU-IIT researchers can possibly attend.
In her closing remarks, Institute Academic Promotion Vice Chairperson , Dr. Rohane Derogongan, stressed on the merit of publishing research outputs in reputable journals and publishing companies as stringent policies on re-ranking and promotion are ensured in the IAPP.

GAD Center organizes series of lectures on health issues and sexual harassment
by Rex Godinez Ortega
The Gender and Development (GAD) Center of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) is holding a series of lectures on health issues and sexual harassment this October and November at the OVCRE conference room to promote awareness among IIT constituents.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension and GAD focal person Dr. Jinky B. Bornales said that the lecture series was in line with the Institute’s mandate to implement GAD programs, activities, or projects.
She said that the activity would also “enhance the level of gender awareness, gender issues and concerns among students in the campus”.

The GAD Center is asking Dr. Muhammad M. Puting and Atty. Felicidad Gadiano to handle the lectures on health issues and sexual harassment, respectively.
Puting is the head of the Institute’s Medical and Dental Health Services while Gadiano is a faculty member of the Political Science Department.
The three lectures are scheduled on October 5 and November 9 and 16, 2016.

CON, SCS, COE host 1st BALIK-SCIENTIST LECTURE SERIES
by Elizalde D. Bana, College of Nursing
In the hope of hosting more forums in the future that could change the country’s health care system, the College of Nursing (CON) along with the College of Engineering (COE) and the School of Computer Studies (SCS) held its first Balik-Scientist Lecture series on November 5-6 at the COE Amphitheater.
The two-day Balik-Scientist Lecture series attracted 350 participants had for its theme “Exploring New Frontiers and Breaking Grounds in Bioinformatics”, a theme reflective of the MSU- IIT’s vision and encouragement for innovations in the forging of the intersection between health science and technology.
The lecture series speaker was Dr. Romulo J. De Castro, a researcher in Neuroscience, Immunology and Bioinformatics.
He presented a balanced overview of the electronic health record (EHR) – the motivation for adoption, potential benefits in health and research, challenges in practice and utilization, and concerns over encounters between doctors and patients.
In addition to his lectures, the forum allowed faculty members to work on “ideation” or idea generation that brought together nurses, engineers and IT experts.
Castro also extended the meaningful use of data and health information exchanges, the issues in their implementations especially in a third-world country, and the new trends of nursing informatics.
He showed his ongoing work at the UP Manila that is, the development of a mobile biological data repository app for its “Sampung Halamang Gamot” research project aside from discussing other tools in research and clinical data that could prove useful in networking in the Philippine context.
Topics : lectures balik-scientist