Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Senator Mikulski's response about NSF funding

Dear Dr. Adler:
 
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to the Coburn amendment (S. Amdt. 65) to the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Public Law 113-6)).  It's good to hear from you. 
 
I share your concerns about the proposed elimination of funding for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) political science program.  As the Chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, I have long supported the funding of scientific research that advances our understanding of political science, including political systems around the world.  NSF is one of the major sources of funding for all fields of basic science research. NSF fosters growth, innovation, and knowledge across this country and I am committed to robust funding for all of the agency's scientific initiatives. 
 
Originally, Senator Coburn's amendment would have eliminated funding for the NSF political science program.  An agreement between the Senator from Oklahoma and myself modified his amendment to allow for the continuation of political science research projects when the Director of NSF certifies that they promote the economic or national security interests of the United States.  Furthermore, this provision will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. 
 
Many of our nation's leading thinkers, including the late Nobel Prize winning political scientist Elinor Ostrom, rely heavily on NSF grants to conduct research essential to the breakthroughs that enrich so many lives.  Knowing of your views on this issue will be helpful to me as the Senate continues to work on this issue. 
 
Again, thanks for writing.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance to you in the future.  

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Predatory journals

This is a great example of the kinds of predatory journals that everyone was speaking about yesterday.  This message below came in my Spam folder today.

Call for Papers
American International Journal of Contemporary Research
ISSN 2162-139X (Print), ISSN 2162-142X (Online)
American International Journal of Contemporary Research (AIJCR) is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed multidisciplinary journal published by Centre for Promoting Ideas (CPI), USA. The main objective of AIJCR is to provide an intellectual platform for the research community. AIJCR aims to promote contemporary research in business, humanities, social science, science and technology and become the leading journal in the world.
The journal publishes research papers in three broad specific fields as follows:
Business and Economics
Management, marketing, finance, economics, banking, accounting, human resources management, international business, hotel and tourism, entrepreneurship development, business ethics, development studies and so on.
Humanities and Social science
Anthropology, communication studies, corporate governance, criminology, cross-cultural studies, demography, education, ethics, geography, history, industrial relations, information science, international relations, law, linguistics, library science, media studies, methodology, philosophy, political science, population Studies, psychology, public administration, sociology, social welfare, linguistics, literature, paralegal, performing arts (music, theatre & dance), religious studies, visual arts, women studies.
Science and Technology
Astronomy and astrophysics, Chemistry, Earth and atmospheric sciences, Physics, Biology in general, Agriculture, Biophysics and biochemistry, Botany, Environmental Science, Forestry, Genetics, Horticulture, Husbandry, Neuroscience, Zoology, Computer science, Engineering, Robotics and Automation, Materials science, Mathematics, Mechanics, Statistics, Health Care & Public Health, Nutrition and Food Science, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and so on.
The journal is published both in print and online versions.
AIJCR publishes original papers, review papers, conceptual framework, analytical and simulation models, case studies, empirical research, technical notes, and book reviews.
AIJCR is indexed with and included in Cabell’s, EBSCO, Ulrich’s , IndexCopernicus International, and Gale. Moreover the journal is under the indexing process with ISI, ERIC, ProQuest, Scopus, DOAJ and Econlit.
AIJCR is inviting papers for Vol. 3 No. 3 which is scheduled to be published on May 31, 2013.
 Send your manuscript to the editor at editor@aijcrnet.com, or editor.aijcr@hotmail.com
For more information, visit the official website of the journal www.aijcrnet.com 
With thanks,
Dr. Andrew Lessard
The Chief Editor, American International Journal of Contemporary Research
Contact: editor@aijcrnet.com