Department/Unit: School of Communication, Cinematics and Creative Arts
PhD Institution: Daystar University
PhD dissertation title: Stigma Management Communication: A Case of Tungiasis in Murang’a County
Current research interests and projects: 1. Qualitative Evidence Synthesis in Public health communication 2. Stigma Communication management 3. Social and behavior Change Communication 4. Qualitative Approaches, Data, and Analysis in Impact Evaluations. 5. Critical Evalution of predatory publishing discourses
Selected publication 1: Da Silva, J. A. T., & Kimotho, S. G. (2022). Signs of divisiveness, discrimination and stigmatization caused by Jeffrey Beall's “predatory” open access publishing blacklists and philosophy. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(3), 102418.
Selected publication 2: Kimotho, S. G. (2019). The storm around Beall’s list: A review of issues raised by Beall’s critics over his criteria of identifying predatory journals and publishers. African Research Review, 13(2), 1-11.
Selected publication 3: Kimotho, S., & Nyaga, R. (2016). Digitized ethnic hate speech: Understanding effects of digital media hate speech on citizen journalism in Kenya. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 7(3). Doi: 10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.189
Selected publication 4: Kimotho, S., Miller, A. N., & Ngure, P. (2015). Managing communication surrounding tungiasis stigma in Kenya. Communicatio, 41(4), 523-542.
Selected publication 5: Kimotho, S. G., & Macharia, F. N. (2020). Social stigma and cultural beliefs associated with cleft lip and/or palate: parental perceptions of their experience in Kenya. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 7(1), 1-9.
Selected publication 6: Kimotho, S. G., & Nyarang'o, C. N. (2019). Role of Social Media in Terrorism Crisis Communication: A Case of Westgate Mall Terror Attack in Nairobi. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (IJISCRAM), 11(1), 65-82.
Selected publication 7: Kimotho, S., & Miller, A. (2016). Stigmatizing beliefs, stereotypes and communication surrounding tungiasis in Kenya.
Selected publication 8: Kimotho, S. G. (2018). Understanding the nature of stigma communication associated with mental illness in Africa: a focus on cultural beliefs and stereotypes. In Deconstructing stigma in mental health (pp. 20-41). IGI Global.
Selected publication 9: Kimotho, S. (2016). Defending the Voiceless in the Age of the Climate Change and Environmental Degradation. African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS.
Selected publication 10: Ngugi, J., Kimotho, S., & Muturi, S. (2018). Social Media Use by the Deaf in Business at Nairobi, Kenya.
Capstone assignment title: The storm around Beall’s List: a review of issues raised by Beall’s critics over his criteria of identifying predatory journals and publishers
Capstone assignment abstract: The issue of substandard, or the predatory journals as they are popularly known, flooding the internet has been one of the biggest challenges to quality and ethical scholarship in modern world. One of the most renowned watchdogs of predatory publishers was Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado-Denver, who came up with a blacklist of predatory OA publishers and journals. For several years since the publishing of the Beall’s list, there has been increasing concerns about the criteria that Beall used to develop his lists, with some scholars dismissing his lists as inaccurate, misleading and dangerous to academics. A review of literature of studies conducted concerning the predatory journals indicates that there is limited literature on systematic examination of the issues raised by Beall’s critics over these lists of predatory journals and publishers. To address this gap, this study sets out to answer this question: What are the major concerns of the critics of Beall’s list of predatory journals and publishers? Using a descriptive design that exploited qualitative approach, the researcher analysed 30 purposefully sampled publications. The findings indicate that four key issues are often raised by Beall’s critics: methodological flaws; Beall's bias against OA; discrimination against developing economies; and Beall’s lists of predatory publishers as an onslaught to academic freedom.
