Ubc publishing program

Part of our training either on the job or in coursework is to evaluate sources. In terms of similarities, both journals provide access to their archives and display information about their editorial board. Months ago, I had flagged a journal as potentially predatory after stumbling upon a borderline nonsensical article result in EDS it is indexed as part of a larger open collection of journals.

I had not given it much more thought, other than to suggest it be turned off in our indexing. My hope that any responsible academic would not consider publishing in this particular journal. The original article I uncovered months ago was so vaguely written as to be completely meaningless, and perusing the abstracts of the most recent issue should immediately strike the reader with their near incoherence.

The DOAJ-indexed journal, by contrast, did not raise the same concerns. That no APCs were being charged also spoke to the legitimacy of the journal. From my perspective as a librarian who has developed a fascination with predatory publishing over the last couple of years, circling back to further investigate a journal that set off alarms was a helpful exercise. My concern with directing scholars to Think Check Submit is that it seems to me that it may be relatively easy for those unfamiliar with, say, investigating publishers and their editorial policies, to get overwhelmed by the instructions contained therein.

It also occurs to me that wise predatory publishers would do everything they could to adhere to the tenets set out by TCS. After looking through the predatory and DOJ journal, I found few similarities and differences. Both journals provide access to their archives and display information about their editorial board.

Whereas, the DOJ journal mentioned their relationship on their websites. As a librarian and bibliography, I pay close attention to citations. I noticed in an article by the predatory journal, the authors combined two different citations styles in their article. When I looked at the author template by the journal, they had only suggested one citation style. This happened several times in the article and I suspect the journal does not go through rigorous copy editing process to check for these problems before manuscripts are accepted and published.

I spent quite a bit of time doing this activity and found it to be challenging. One particular example I came across was very tricky and I spent lots of time trying to reflect on my assumptions. There were a few things that made me uneasy:. While this journal does not necessarily fall into the predatory publishing framework, the observations described would make me think twice before publishing in such a journal.

Initially, I also had a difficult time zeroing on a predatory journal. There were citations, I did not check these out. All their intention statements were clear cut. I did not know much about this journal other than someone I know published an article in it and they considered very respectable for their field. It displayed the Open Access symbol prominently at the beginning of the article as well as the publisher website address.

This journal is definitely a good journal to publish in as it has an anonymous peer-review process. It is easy to contact the journal as they provide a feedback email on the OASPA site publishing royalsociety. I found a predatory journal on an online list of predatory journals — E-library Science Research Journal. I have never heard of this journal before but the name sounds like it should be legitimate. I did find out it is published in India, so perhaps there is a bias as it is not a Western publication?

At this site, I found a list of the editorial board. Several national and international librarians were listed as advisors, but there was no contact information for any of them. The website has little information about their peer-review process. Out of curiosity I checked our library catalogue and we do not have this item. I would definitely not trust this journal website and never recommend it for submitting articles for publication. It was more challenging to find a predatory journal than I anticipated, but after taking some time to compare the two, there were some differences that may not be easy to spot for the average person searching.

The predatory site did not look as professional and information was vague such as unclear contact information, peer review info was lacking, etc. My takeaway was to consider how predatory journals can make the research process more complicated than it already is for the students I help in the library.

Many of them are using journal articles for the first time and Google is their go to search engine. Without enough practice or knowledge about predatory publishing, it is likely there are many articles being used that are not legit. After doing this activity I felt more confused about predatory journals than before.

Afterwards, I went to DOAJ and found that most of the open access journals listed there are ones I had never heard of. I looked at two journals with and without DOAJ vetting.

The journal with DOAJ seal was easy to assess and it was easier to find necessary information. But I could not find affiliation with the journal for every board member. Contrary to this I was not familiar with any board members for other journal despite the fact that this journal was more closely associated with my research area. Open Access leads to research that is cited more quickly and more often.

It accelerates the rate of scholarly exchange and promotes better reproducibility of research results. UBC has its own position statement encouraging open access. If you elect to pay the publisher article processing charges APCs these can be charged to most research grants. This is part of a pilot program administered by the Library with support from the Provost and VP Research and Innovation.

These memberships provide benefits to researchers at UBC, often through discounts on article submission costs for OA publishing. The Library also provides article processing charge APC discounts through our negotiated license agreements with selected publishers via our membership to the Canadian Knowledge Research Network. Openly accessible resources include journal articles but also open data, images, textbooks and more. Learn more about finding open access content.

Current research initiatives on the part of faculty include such diverse topics as the ecocritical study of Renaissance drama; the triumph of transport in Romantic poetry; the impact of radio and television on modernist poetics; the politics of post-identity in Asian American literature, and the role of war and its traumatic shocks in twentieth-century Canadian, U.

Graduate students can also choose to work across disciplinary fields, taking advantage of UBC's outstanding interdisciplinary programs in Medieval Studies, Canadian and U. For specific program requirements, please refer to the departmental program website. The Graduate Program of the Department of English is a vibrant community of more than 50 graduate faculty and graduate students.

An active graduate caucus, extensive campus resources, and such local resources as departmental research seminars, a graduate reading room, and a dedicated graduate program office, ensure that our students are well-supported in a collegial atmosphere throughout their programs.

A pedagogy training program prepares our students to teach both during and after their programs. Open All. The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements.

Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:. Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements.

Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.

Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:. The requirements for this program are:. All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.

A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications. Many programs require a statement of interest , sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members. Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card. All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based i. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week.

Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union. Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships GRA from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their direction.

The duties usually constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is a form of financial support for a period of graduate study and is, therefore, not covered by a collective agreement. Unlike other forms of fellowship support for graduate students, the amount of a GRA is neither fixed nor subject to a university-wide formula. The stipend amounts vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Some research projects also require targeted research assistance and thus hire graduate students on an hourly basis. Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans. Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad.

International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships. The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students.

It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program. International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week. Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits. Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan LLP which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan RRSPs to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information. Applicants have access to the cost calculator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

Of these, career information was obtained for 47 alumni based on research conducted between Feb-May :. Upon completion of their graduate degrees, students can expect further mentoring and support in the job search process. Our doctoral students have also been very successful in securing post-doctoral fellowships in Canada and the US. Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile. This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program.

It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

To update the application inquiries contact details please use this form. The University of British Columbia was best suited for my research as a public research university in North America with its transnational and interdisciplinary outlook. The Venn diagram of medievalists and gaming enthusiasts at UBC is closer to a circle than you might imagine. Having done my undergraduate degree at UBC, I already knew what great mentors were available here in medieval studies.

The English I decided to study at UBC because I was drawn to the high quality of education and supervision, as well as the more personable feel of my department—the Department of English Language and Literatures.

I was also attracted to the interdisciplinary ethos of the university, and in particular, the I chose to study at UBC because of the incredible diversity and strength of its researchers and teachers.

While my focus at the time of applying was on the excellence of the English department, since then I have discovered fascinating opportunities beyond my discipline.

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