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Engineering 190W - Spring 2024 - Harnick-Shapiro Section


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Liaison Librarian

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Julia Gelfand
Contact:
Office: Science Library 228

Phone: 949-824-4971

EMail: jgelfand@uci.edu

InterLibrary Loan

If we do not have the book you need or the UCI copy is not available, initiate a request for the book utilizing MELVYL REQUEST by clicking on the REQUEST icon in MELVYL or clicking through the UC eLink and selecting REQUEST.  This is also possible for journal articles that we do not have.  It is not usually possible to borrow eBooks via ILL.

All About Predatory Journals (Adapted from Univ of Wisc Guide, "Where Should I Publish? : Identifying Predatory Journals")

What is a predatory journal? 

No clear definition applies to every scenario when identifying a predatory journal.  There are several common characteristics that refer to journals that share the following components and identify those that are predatory:

  • Title of journal mimics that of an established journal
  • Affiliation of the journal can't be verified - try and contact editorial officers
  • Lacks rigorous peer review, editorial, or preservation services
  • Lacks any quality control in their selection process of what is published and scope of journal content is of an unusually wide scope; journal issues are composed of too few or too many articles
  • Likely exploits open access publication models by charging fees for financial gain - not the traditional author's payment charges or APCs
  • Impact metrics and indexing is fake, missing, or bogus & claims information that can't be substantiated
  • The eMail communication with potential authors or postings contain obvious spelling & grammatical errors and claims to be following up when no previous communication was made
  • There may be no official website for the journal and if there is, it often mimics those of reputed journals and thus eMail addresses are general rather than affiliated with the journal, as a business enterprise - all submissions should be made to the journal's website and not via eMail links or to named individuals
  • Polices related to journal publishing is unclear regarding peer review, retraction, plagiarism, copyright, editorial processes, ethics, data inclusion, preservation/archival processes
  • Communication is often expressed through flattery rather than business transactions
  • Very quick response to manuscript submission
  • Editorial Boards contain incomplete or fake information about its members - affiliations are incomplete, potentailly where no relationship exists & is misaligned with proposed journal scope, photos may be photoshopped
  • In addition to journals, we see an increase in predatory special issues, conferences, textbooks and other educational resources

Sources to verify predatory journals (gratefully acknowledges UWisc Guide, Where Should I Publish?: Identifying Predatory Journals)

There are several sources that identify legitimate trusted journals:

Finding Articles

Finding Articles, Papers, Proceedings, News by Using Databases

Depending on what you are researching or seeking, what the purpose of your query is and from what time period will determine where you go. There are many databases that cover different subjects, content, dates and are organized in multiple ways. Basically, you seek, find, discover, and refine your search strategy to increase the relevancy of the output. Licensed databases tend to contain the scholarly, scientific resources that are not freely available to everyone because they require a license. Access to this information is available to current UCI students and you must configure your computer to recognize and authenticate you if you are connecting from off-campus.


The topic, wearable technologies, is used in a highly interdisciplinary way and is covered by technologies, computing, engineering, business & marketing, safety, arts, costume, design, and and with many applications - specifically in biomedical/healthcare or safety situations, and considered in many different contexts.  Consider how you plan to apply the information you are seeking and for which audience you are writing.

A list of all databases is found on the Databases A-Z Directory.  The following databases reflect different kinds of content - journal articles, books/chapters, data and come from commercial publishers and professional societies.  They support different aspects of engineering, science and business information and * denotes that resource is restricted to UCI affiliates: