2026-06-08 –, AUDITORIUM
Predatory journals threaten research integrity by imitating the signals of legitimate publishing, yet little empirical work examines whether readers can reliably detect them or identify the cues driving credibility judgments. This ongoing experimental study investigates how individuals evaluate scientific research when journal-level signals vary in legitimacy, holding research content constant while manipulating journal labels. Participants assess perceived credibility, trust, and intended use of the research, alongside confidence in their evaluations and the heuristics when making judgments.
Across participants, journal labels shape credibility assessments, with respondents relying on surface-level cues such as journal reputation, citations, and author credentials. The study is being expanded to include members of the general public, higher education, and journalists, enabling comparison across audiences that play central roles in consuming, teaching, and communicating research. Together, this work aims to inform research-literacy interventions and improve how scientific credibility is evaluated in expanding predatory publishing.
Steven Zhou
Could you give us a rough idea of what your lightning talk / poster presentation will cover? Such as:: A brief presentation of future research (a study that has not yet started), A brief presentation of past research (a completed study)
Steven Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Claremont McKenna College. His research and teaching focus on quantitative methods and data science applied to organizational phenomena such as leadership, personality, and career development. He uses methods ranging from traditional multivariate statistics to natural language processing (NLP) and AI, with an eye toward producing research with real-world impact for everyday leaders, managers, and employees. He earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from George Mason University with a certificate in Computational Social Sciences. He has previous industry work experience in HR, nonprofit management, and institutional data analytics.
