Keith S. Taber
The secret conference I referred to recently was advertised as being "at the University of Oxford". Now this is quite a well known university, considered by some to be very prestigious (there are some who claim it is as prestigious as Cambridge, and indeed some who even suggest more so!) With so many conferences seeking to attract academics and graduate students aspiring to develop an academic career, it is important that potential delegates can determine which are worth considering for attending and presenting work. The conference website tells potential delegates that "[f]ew places are more readily associated with scholarly endeavour [Morse?] than Oxford", and that "whilst some might argue that the city is not as aesthetically pleasing as its arch-rival Cambridge it remains a visual delight and a veritable treasure house of human achievements".
Organisers vs. facilities-for-hire?
Well a conference organised by Oxford University, or one of its Colleges or Departments, should be taken seriously. However, here this is just the conference venue. That is, the organisers have hired space to have their conference. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, either from the point of view of the conference organisers or the University: but there is a big difference between
- a conference organised by a top university, and
- a conference hiring rooms at a top university.
Prestige indicators
I tell students that if they are unsure of the likely merits of a conference they should look for indicators of prestige, such as the membership of the organising committee. An academic conference normally has at least two committees, one local to the event, and another sometimes called the 'scientific' committee or international committee, that looks after the academic programme and organises peer review of submitted contributions. One would expect this latter committee to consist of senior academics, well known in the field, normally based at top universities or institutions of similar standing.
Oddly, although the website gave detailed instructions on formatting submissions (not as proposals, but as full papers in camera ready form for publication), I could find no information about either peer review, nor any scientific/international committee. Perhaps I missed this? More likely anyone submitting a paper is accepted for the conference as long as they pay the fee. Again, there is nothing wrong with this in the sense of there being anything underhand – as long as those who were looking for "[r]ecognition of your work on [the] international platform" appreciate that the conference is not peer reviewed and so will count for little on their c.v.
Still, if you have never been to Oxford, it is certainly worth a visit, even if it is "not as aesthetically pleasing as … Cambridge".
Read about 'Conferences and poor academic practice'
First published 13th January 2017 at http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/kst24/
Note: * 'The other place'
It is something of a tradition at Oxford and Cambridge Universities to refer to the other as 'the other place', as in "she teaches at the other place", "he did his undergraduate degree at the other place", "they might accepts this kind of nonsense at the other place, but…"
This may seem arrogant to anyone not at 'Oxbridge' (in my experience it is not intended so) given the current higher education context, but for about six centuries it would have referred to the only other place in England where one could get a University education.
