It might worth noting that faculty at Western Illinois University are not being tenured or promoted on the basis of the articles found in predatory publishers. While the DW “broke” this story four weeks ago, Department Personnel Committees began addressing this issues at least a year ago. These publications are not being allowed for tenure or promotion consideration. I have made PowerPoint presentations at the department level regarding this issue, and gave a presentation to the University Chairs Council last month on this topic. I have openly shared my presentation materials internally (at WIU) and externally (with the American Sociological Association). Some departments actually have procedures in place to help junior colleagues avoid getting caught up in this national problem.
In short, the DW is not breaking news. While they have shown that this problem can seriously affect campuses if left unchecked, Western Illinois has in fact been addressing this issue on our campus. We discovered it more than a year ago. We are working through Department Personnel Committees and Chairs to intentionally mentor our junior colleagues regarding this situation. We are trying to catch them prior to tenure so that they are able to remedy the situation before coming up for tenure. In the end, the DW has simply come to the table late, found evidence of food, and demanded that they get credit for the meal. They have also misrepresented how the dinner was served. In fact, we are not promoting people or tenuring people on the basis of these articles. But we are bussing the table now.
