Journal of Advocacy, Research and Education

3-12

Authors: Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva

In early 2017, a manuscript was submitted to a special issue of Walailak Journal of Science and Technology (WJST), a free (platinum) open access (OA) journal published in Thailand. Prior to submission, WJST was checked for most obvious signs of predatory OA publishers and being covered by SCOPUS and listed at Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), it was determined to be a non-predatory OA journal. An editor-created account that entered incorrect data and without the implicit permission of the corresponding author raised an immediate red flag. WJST immediately corrected that error. After submission, the article was peer-reviewed, and the steps between editorial revision and final proof processing and publication were fairly quick, and professionally handled. No DOI was assigned. An unrelated article published in WJST with an apparent error in a figure was discovered. The authors of that paper were contacted about the query, and the journal and editors were copied. After a week of silence, the editor contacted the corresponding author (CA). After one more week, and with the threat of retraction by the editor-in-chief if no suitable explanation was provided, the CA responded. No explanation was provided for the figure irregularities, and it was discovered that the CA had submitted the paper without the knowledge of at least one of the authors, with whom he had not been in contact since 2004. In clear breach of the ethical and submission policies of the journal, WJST decided to swiftly retract the paper, the first-ever such retraction for WJST. WJST was caught by surprise and was very apologetic for editorial oversight. This case represents a rarely documented and witnessed birth of a potential black swan event – a highly unlikely or improbable event – in an OA journal. Future perspectives and cautious advice are provided.

21-27

Authors: Jelisavka Bulatović, Goran Rajović

Studies on rural settlements are useful for tourism, research, historical, and educative purposes. Notwithstanding the indisputable global need for studies in the area of rural settlements, little works have been conducted so far. Since Montenegro lags behind most European and even neighboring countries in this respect, we explored rural settlement in Gnjili Potok until the immigration of Slavs using a geographical (spatial) method. Our findings show that the main relics in the field of social life in the considered geo-space were and are still indicative of tribal-brotherhood and family relations. Furthermore, the history rural settlement of Gnjili Potok is not fully explored, so its history, as well as the history of many other rural settlements in Montenegro, cannot be reliably traced until 1744. It is almost certain that the ancient peoples (Illyrians, Celts, Romans) lived in the area of the rural settlement of Gnjilog Potoka and that they were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Therefore, our study contributes to the study of the rural settlement of Gnjili Potok from the aspect of the evolution of the settlement to the immigration of Slavs.