Plagiarism case in journal submission

I have just finished reviewing of a paper (from, presumably, Asian authors, given the location of the empirical study) that was blatantly plagiarised. As soon as I started reading the paper, I felt something was wrong. The writting style changed and at times the flow of ideas did not make sense. The text moved from very well written and backed up arguments, to poorly expressed and confusing ideas. When I got to the conclusion, the evidence started to mount. even further. Not only some parts of the text mentioned sectors of the tourism industry that were not the focus of the paper, but at times the text did not make any sense in the context of what was done. I then started searching for the source, and identified two papers from which large chuncks of text had been taken from. 

It is unbelievable that anyone can think they will get away with literally copying large parts of others' papers on to theirs. There is only one word to describe this: fraud attempt. They were unlucky this time because I had just read one of the papers they copied from. But the copying was so extreme that, if published, it would be discovered sooner than later. Shame on you!

Bournemouth University to host International Conference on Events

The School of Tourism at Bournemouth University (UK) presents the

 

International Conference on Events (ICE2013)

and the

10th AEME (Association of Event Management Educators) Forum

 

Overall theme: "Making Waves"

 

Bournemouth (UK), 3-5th July 2013

 

*** Abstract submission deadline: Friday 11 January 2013 ***

The conference

The aim of this international conference is to debate the way in which we see, think and undertake events management research, pedagogy, policy and practice. Acknowledging the growing international research within the events area, the organisers invite extended abstracts from researchers, academics and industry experts who have an interest in events management. This three-day conference will encompass presentations, e-posters and workshops where we hope that participants will bring their expertise to help create a ‘sea-change’ of support for the future of events.

The theme of our conference is ‘Making Waves’, and we want to harness this natural energy to create enthusiasm that will change the way we perform our work under the broad umbrella of events management. Events should be much more than the short-term coming together of like-minded people. The world would be socially, culturally and economically poorer without events, and as academics we are in the privileged position of questioning and critically reviewing the value and meaning of events to individuals and communities.

The aims are to share and develop the 4Cs:

·         Cutting edge research

·         Current and transformative pedagogy

·         Contemporary industry practice

·         Communicating green principles in the way we deliver the conference.

 

Themes for abstracts

We are looking for you to submit your proposals under one of the following themes:

• Making waves – Transformational Power; mega & major events; social media & technology; employment & careers; ISO20121
• Riding the waves – Experiential Events, learning & research; hyperreal experiences; festivity; rituals & rules
• Challenging the waves – Policy & Practice; creativity & design; discourses & narrative; imagination & dreamscapes
• Working the waves – Business Events; professionalisation; the revised purple guide; security; knowledge transfer; imagery, symbols & semiotics
• Create a new wave by proposing original ideas or concepts not covered above.

 

Key Note Speakers

• Professor Don Getz, Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor in the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Canada.
• Professor Leo Jago, Chief Economist for Tourism and General Manager of Tourism Research Australia.
• Professor Stephen Page, Professor in the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University.
• Jon Weaver, Marketing and Events Manager for Bournemouth Borough Council.
• Susan Spibey, Chair of the new Institute of Event Management.

Organisers

Dr Julie Whitfield, Senior Lecturer Events and Conference Management,

Caroline Jackson,  Associate Dean Events & Leisure

Key dates

·         Abstract submission deadline: Friday 11 January 2013

·         Confirmation of abstract acceptance: Friday 1 February 2013

·         Early bird registration: Friday 26 April 2013

 

Abstract submission guidelines can be found on the conference website. Please email abstracts to: ICE2013@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Supporting Journals

Authors of outstanding papers will be invited to submit to a special edition of the following two journals

·         International Journal of Hospitality and Event Management  

·         International Journal of Event and Festival Management

 
We look forward to welcoming you to Bournemouth in 2013!

São Paulo Conferences

I am currently in Brazil to participate in two conferences:

·         IX ANPTUR – The annual conference of the Brazilian Association of Tourism Research and Post-graduation (30-31 August)

·         V CLAIT – Latin  American Tourism Research Conference (3-5 September)

This is the third time I have attended the ANPTUR conference, having attended both in 2008 and 2010. My active participation in this year’s conferences involved running a 2h30m workshop on publishing in English Language Tourism (ELT) journals. The workshop started with a 30 minute presentation by Rosana Mazaro, from Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Rosana introduced the latest developments in the funding environment for international co-operation.

At present, only around 30 articles have been published in ELT journals by academics affiliated to Brazilian institutions. By any measure, this is a rather low level of publication. My session focused on the differences between publishing in a Brazilian and English language tourism journals. There are many differences both in terms of the research process on which the publication is based, and how the research is communicated. However, in my study on the barriers to publishing in ELT journals (see post from April) it was clear that the overwhelming majority of Brazilian researchers were not aware of such differences. This is not surprising because they have never gone through the process of submitting a paper to these journals.

In my session, three topics were covered - communication (both language and linguistic issues), literature review and research process/methodology. Simple things like the length of sentences can make a difference on how the research is perceived by the reader. Articles in Brazilian tourism journals tend to feature much longer sentences. I gave an example from a Brazilian journal where a sentence contained 129 words! In the example from an ELT journal, no sentence had more than 3 lines. Other themes within the communication section included the need to use simple language and the structure of arguments. Finally, I also shared my technique of developing ‘lists of expressions’. I sued (and still use whenever needed) this list to become familiar with the specific language used in writing/reporting about each of the components of a journal article (e.g. literature review, reporting the logistic regression results, reporting limitations and future research).

 

In the literature review section, I explained the three types of literature review (theoretical, integrative and methodological), and emphasised the need to include mainly journals and in English language journals (books and national journals are the norm in articles published in Brazilian tourism journals). I also explained the three levels of analysis at which a literature review can be done: descriptive, analytical and evaluative. With regards to the methodology-process aspects, ELT journals are much more detailed about the process of research, which reflects a concern with the validity and reliability of the evidence required to produce conclusions. I explained the helpfulness of developing a conceptual framework (a-priori for quantitative research, a-posteriori for qualitative-type research), as well as the need to clearly explain the measurement issues (data collection and analysis).

A second part of the presentation focused on developing a strategy for starting to publish in ELT journals. I started by showing the number and range of journals – a list of 76, encompassing a wide range of areas and research traditions. I also showed our assessment system in the UK (based on the ABS journal rankings) and explained the differences to the Brazilian system (based on the QUALIS system). Finally, I illustrated how Brazilian academics could gain the skills required to start submitting papers to ELT journals. 

 

A total of 26 academics participated in the workshop and their feedback was tremendously positive. I have been in discussions with two Brazilian colleagues (who have done their PhD in the UK / Australia) for a while with a view to organise a two-day workshop where we would share our experiences of publishing in ELT journals, much in the light of this workshop. We are in a prime position to do this, as we have made the journey from dreaming of one day of one day being able to do it, to actually do it. After yesterday, I am even more encouraged to make sure this workshop happens.

I also had the chance to attend some of the conference presentations, and it is really positive that the quality of the research being carried out is improving. The conference was very well organised - congralutations to ANPTUR's management committee and to the Anhembi Morumbi University (the hosts) for another successful ANPTUR conference.