Ghost Shopping to Improve the Quality of Scientific Journal Services

Abstract

Along with the increasingly rapid development and high competition, especially scientific publication in journals, managers must always maintain and improve scientific publication services. That is why a study is needed to assess the quality of scientific journal services. The discussion focuses on ghost shopping as a method for assessing the quality of scientific publication services in journals. The ghost shopping is important to evaluate the quality of service, improve service, measure compliance, provide objective feedback and improve customer satisfaction. The steps of ghost shopping in assessing the quality of academic journal services are: impersonate an author or reviewer, observe the submission and review process, assess the quality of feedback and evaluate availability and accessibility. Predictions of developments towards positive trends by ghost shopping are increased transparency, achievement of higher service standards, the progress of innovation in the publication process, increased satisfaction of authors and reviewers in the future, and useful for efforts to develop better policies and procedures in the future. As conclusion, ghost shopping is an effective tool to improve the quality of service, transparency, and satisfaction of authors and reviewers in the scientific journal publication system; which is then useful for future journal development efforts.
Keywords: scientific journal; service quality; publication; ghost shopping; manager; reviewer; author