Joubert Gina, Aluko Omololu
Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein.
S Afr Fam Pract (2004). 2024 Sep 25;66(1):e1-e5. doi: 10.4102/safp.v66i1.5984.
Researchers increasingly receive invitations by email to publish. We analysed email publication invitations received by staff members of the Department of Biostatistics, University of the Free State (UFS), comparing emails relating to accredited and non-accredited journals.
This cross-sectional study included all publication invitations received via UFS email accounts by staff members from May 2023 to July 2023. The researchers independently completed the data form, then checked and resolved any discrepancies.
Of the 93 distinct emails received from 88 journals, only 15 (16%) were received from a journal appearing on the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) accredited journal lists. These included South African Family Practice (SAFP) and the African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine (PHCFM). Emails from non-accredited journals were significantly (p 0.01) less likely to refer to a journal with a health sciences-related title (37% vs. 86%), indicate the publisher (36% vs. 93%), provide a link to the journal website (59% vs. 100%), state a full physical address (24% vs. 80%), refer to author instructions (21% vs. 47%) or request the recipient to share the email with colleagues (5% vs. 47%). Emails from non-accredited journals were significantly (p 0.01) more likely to contain grammatical errors (63% vs. 0%) and flattering remarks regarding the recipient or his or her research work (49% vs. 0%), and to indicate the journal's International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) (67% vs. 13%).
Clear differences were found between email invitations from accredited versus non-accredited journals.Contribution: The findings provide insight into warning signals in email publication invitations.
研究人员越来越多地收到通过电子邮件发出的发表邀请。我们分析了自由州大学（UFS）生物统计学系工作人员收到的电子邮件发表邀请，比较了与认可期刊和非认可期刊相关的邮件。
这项横断面研究纳入了2023年5月至2023年7月工作人员通过UFS电子邮件账户收到的所有发表邀请。研究人员独立填写数据表格，然后检查并解决任何差异。
在从88种期刊收到的93封不同邮件中，只有15封（16%）来自高等教育和培训部（DHET）认可期刊列表上的期刊。这些期刊包括《南非家庭医学》（SAFP）和《非洲初级卫生保健与家庭医学杂志》（PHCFM）。来自非认可期刊的邮件提及与健康科学相关标题期刊的可能性显著降低（p<0.01）（37%对86%），指明出版商的可能性降低（36%对93%），提供期刊网站链接的可能性降低（59%对100%），写明完整实际地址的可能性降低（24%对80%），提及作者指南的可能性降低（21%对47%），或要求收件人与同事分享邮件的可能性降低（5%对47%）。来自非认可期刊的邮件包含语法错误的可能性显著增加（p<0.01）（63%对0%），包含对收件人或其研究工作奉承话语的可能性增加（49%对0%），以及指明期刊国际标准连续出版物编号（ISSN）的可能性增加（67%对13%）。
认可期刊与非认可期刊发出的电子邮件邀请之间存在明显差异。贡献：研究结果为电子邮件发表邀请中的警示信号提供了见解。
