₦airaland Forum

SocialJustice:
Who do you think you are to speak in such condescending manner about Scopus and Elsevier?

Well, you and your opinion are too insignificant to be considered or to count for anything.

Get it into your head, Scopus is overrated by Nigerian academics. Even as I write, I have a paper from a journal listed by Scopus, sent to me for review.

Of course, I do not speak for myself. I speak for you people who still suffer from academic colonialism, technologically backward and unable to free yourselves from psychological slavery and subservience. I have my papers in journals listed by Scopus. And I have helped others to get published in Scopus. I equally review papers for scopus journals. But, get into your head, outside Nigeria, Scopus is of very little significance.

Why scopus cannot be trusted for quality control in scientific publishing:
1. Most scopus journals have narrow theme, thereby leading to unnecessary rejection of papers
2. Most of them appears to embrace papers rejection as a good sign of quality for a journal
3. New journals of less than 3 years old do not get listed in scopus especially if they are not published by old big commercial publishers. This stunts expansion of research publishing, limits the number of choices available for researchers to publish their research; and cause scholars to publish only in old journals.
4. As corollary to the above, authors who must publish in journals listed in scopus, will not enjoy the benefit of publishing in new journals less than Volume 3.
5. Scopus is owned and managed by Elsevier which is a commercial publisher. This implies that Scopus cannot be impartial in the judgement of other publishers.
6. Scopus is not a database like index copernicus. It is just an endless list of journals elsevier and their workers judging by their eyes are good.
What is the way forward for scholars?
1. Do not think your paper has high quality because it is published in a journal listed by scopus. You will be deceiving yourself.
2. Publish your research in journals indexed by Google Scholar and Index Copernicus where they can gain suffecient exposure. If your research paper gains adequate exposure through search engines (made possible by Google Scholar and ICI World of Journals,) you can tell if you have done a good research work or not. This is because a novel research work with good quality will be cited over and over again by scholars across disciplines. Think of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa; you probably have the author's name on your mind already. Without being listed in Web of Science(WoS), it is widely used and recommended by scholars.
3. How about Animal Farm? It' s a creative work of Art not recorded in the minds of people beceause of its listing in Scopus but because of its content.
In summary, scholars should seek to ensure their papers and books are published in online platforms indexed in databases that will give them needed exposure. For what you need after your research has been done, colleagues have made their inputs and publishers have published, is your work to be available to the public for use and consumption. If a publisher is publishing junk science, it is not scopus or WoS that will tell us. We as researchers will know and not cite it in our own research. Except you are a bad researcher, looking for some list to make you feel good about your paper, you do not need Scopus and the other lists. Great scholars are not determined by scopus journals they publish in, but the quality of their works.
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The Npower programme is a key arrow of the Buhari government. A promise fulfilled. It's a complex labour matter that should have been institutionalised in the ministry of Labour and placed under an overseeing board or directorate headed by experienced and impeccable leaders of the calibres of Osinbajo among others. Putting Npower, in the Ministry of Disaster headed by a first time minister, it's like announcing the name of the ministry.
Disaster ministry should be concerned with handling Boko Haram Issues, Oil explosion, Militants, banditry, earthquake, IPOB, Supply of humanitarian aids to terrorist-torn as well as oil spillages areas. That's why I think it is named Ministry of Disaster. Or is it meant to inflict national disaster?
The present government has a very strong weapon in its hands through the Npower programme to reach out to the youths and the unemployed people of the country in whichever way it wants to come to their aid.
The programme started very well by being transparent and having human face. Only those opposed to good things and the success of this current administration will not like it. It would be good if it is properly institutionalised. What the directorate of employment is doing is not known to us in the street. It appears its programmes are rubbished by list racketeering or lack of a well thought out policy. It should be scrapped and its programmes transferred to a new board of npower which will oversnee the engagement of unemployed graduates and graduating them to economic ventures that acan transform the industrial and commerocial destinies of our nation.
Recently there was a programme of empowerment by the Delta State government. In applying for the programme you have to go to the illiterate in your community to get a recommendation letter fsuor a slot. Even if the rules were officially different, those who attempted to apply were calling me to give them my connections. They said it was based on connection. And I told them wait for Npower. Ignore anything that PDP calls empowerment. Their style has never been pleasant ie genuinely meant for the people. The APC government should continue to distinguish itself by making the npower programme germinate fruits. Those who successfully complete the programme should have access to capital for business or appointment to government jobs and certificates to serve as evidence of professionalism. Thanks for reading.