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Inside Beall’s lists
Macháček, Vít ; Srholec, Martin
The analysis confirms that the vast majority of journals implicated on Beall’s lists are scholarly marginal and often quite weird, which gives credibility to the suspicion that they are using non-standard editorial practices. Academics, who are concerned about their professional reputation, should better stay away from them. However, there are also enlisted journals that may not be predatory in the true sense. In particular, the list of publishers contains two important entries, namely Frontiers and Impact Journals, the accusation of which being predatory appears to be questionable. Relatively high citation impact scores coupled with large shares of authors from advanced countries in journals under these publishing houses vindicates the controversy. Jeffrey Beall in these verdicts challenges opinion of hundreds if not thousands researchers worldwide, who apparently read and quite frequently cite results reported in these journals.
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Predatory journals in Scopus
Macháček, Vít ; Srholec, Martin
The study maps the penetration of so-called “predatory” scholarly journals into the citation database Scopus. Predatory journals exploit the author pays open access model, and conduct only cursory or no peer review, despite claims to the contrary. Some such journals will publish almost anything for money. In the Czech context whether a journal is indexed in Scopus is crucial for determining the points that publications in that journal are awarded in the national performance-based evaluation of research organizations, which in turn is the basis for the allocation of institutional funding. Hence, in this evaluation framework, publishing in predatory journals that are indexed in Scopus has a clear “fiscal” advantage.
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Knowledge transfer through academic entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic
Macháček, Vít ; Srholec, Martin
The study brings first quantitative evidence on the scale and scope of knowledge transfer through academic entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic. The main finding is that Czech academics do not shy away from taking on entrepreneurial opportunities. Admittedly, this is in a sharp contrast with the image of weak entrepreneurial spirit in academia that prevails in general public based on statistics showing low payments of business enterprises for contractual research and licensing fees to research organizations. The results are discussed with regards to implications for public policy.
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Mothers and daughters: heterogeneity of German direct investments in the Czech Republic
Münich, Daniel ; Srholec, Martin ; Moritz, M. ; Schäffler, J.
We assess heterogeneity of German affiliates in the Czech Republic and their mother companies in Germany. Using cluster analysis on micro firm level data from unique ReLoc survey, we identify five main groups of firms that can be interpreted as specializing in i) High-tech production; ii) Medium-tech production; iii) Low-tech production; iv) Interactive services; and v) Support services. The results are examined more closely by location, ownership and industry of the firms. Finally, we derive implications of these findings for technological upgrading.
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Regional distribution of German-Czech multinationals on the domestic market
Moritz, M. ; Münich, Daniel ; Schäffler, J. ; Srholec, Martin
The article deals with the domestic location of German multinational firms which have affiliates in the Czech Republic. Due to the common border the Czech Republic represents an attractive target country for both vertical and horizontal direct investments. On the one hand, the still existing wage gap offers the opportunity to offshore activities abroad by reason of cost advantages. On the other hand, the increasing purchasing power of Czech customers provides favorable chances to acquire a new market. On the basis of a register of firms made available by the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce we present findings on the growing economic integration between the two countries. Almost 80% of the headquarters of German investors are located in the four federal states Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. The eastern German New Laender are far less engaged in investments in the neigh-boring country. We use count data models in order to account for the distribution of the dependent variable, i.e. the number of investors in the German domestic regions. Controlling for several economic factors it can be concluded that the headquarters of German multinationals investing in the Czech Republic are preferably located in areas with high regional GDP. The distance to the common border plays an important role for the decision to enter the Czech market. In addition, regions that are situated directly at the German-Czech border are involved at an above-average rate in foreign direct investment. Thereby, location patterns differ between manufacturing firms and both trading and service companies.
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Technological dynamics and social capability: comparing U.S. states and European nations
Fagerberg, J. ; Feldman, M. ; Srholec, Martin
This paper analyzes factors that shape the technological capabilities of individual U.S. states and European countries, which are arguably comparable policy units. The analysis demonstrates convergence in technological capabilities from 2000 to 2007. The results indicate that social capabilities, such as a highly educated labor force, an egalitarian distribution of income, a participatory democracy and prevalence of public safety, condition the growth of technological capability. The analysis also considers other aspects of territorial dynamics, such as the possible effects of spatial agglomeration, urbanization economies, and differences in industrial specialization and knowledge spillovers from neighboring regions.
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A multilevel analysis of innovation in developing countries
Srholec, Martin
Innovation is a multilevel phenomenon. Not only attributes of firms but also the framework conditions within which firms operate matter. Although this has been recognized in the literature for a long time, a quantitative test that explicitly considers this hypothesis has been lacking. Using a large sample of firms from many developing countries, we estimate a multilevel model of innovation which connects micro and macro levels of analysis in an integrated framework.
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