We call for your author fees.

Thanks to tips sent in by scientists and researchers, I learn about several new questionable publishers and independent journals each week. In this blog post, I highlight three questionable publishers that I recently learned about and added to my list.

1. Today Science purports to be owned by a bogus organization called the Science and Education Centre of North America. This center was probably established (if it even actually exists) to help make the publisher look more legitimate.

Today Science publishes four journals: International Education Research, Agricultural Science, Global Review of Economics, and Journal of Business and Management. Two of these titles are unoriginal and currently in use by other journals. The publisher is headquartered at 2050 Bridletowne Circle in Toronto, Ontario, which is a high-rise condominium.

One of the rotating images on the sites main page un-idiomatically declares, “We call for papers.” Most of the editorial board members are from Asia, and only a couple are from Canada.

I fully expect this publisher to increase its journal portfolio. There are about a dozen publishers based in Ontario that match this publisher’s method of operation.

Recognize anything?

2. Science Publishing Group is notable for two things: spam and possible trademark abuse.

This publisher is currently unapologetically engaged in a massive spam campaign. They are spamming researchers all over the world soliciting manuscripts and editorial board applications. They may be harvesting email addresses themselves or they may be purchasing lists from companies that specialize in selling email addresses.

The publisher unabashedly uses the logo for the Google Chrome browser as its logo. Do they think no one will notice?

Science Publishing Group has 52 brand-new journal titles, yet none has any content. It has four education titles, which is rare for a questionable publisher. How will the educational research community — one with many society publishers — respond to these journals?

This publisher claims it’s located at 548 Fashion Avenue in New York, but I think that’s either a fake address or the address of a mail-forwarding agency.

Bad spelling, in so many ways.

3. Business Journalz (BJ) claims to be published by an organization called Global Research Society (sounds impressive, no?) in Essex, U.K., but their domain name registration data lists a Hong Kong address. They claim “chapters” in several other countries.

Of course, this publisher stands out for the clever and cool spelling “Journalz,” which it uses to draw attention (and author fees) to itself. The initialism “BJ” is unfortunate in American English at least and reminds one of the need to hire consultants when developing new brands, for pleasant terms in one language or dialect may be offensive in others.

This publisher has been publishing since 2011. It has three journals that publish monthly.

The impostor.

Archives des sciences is a reputable journal that has been hijacked online. There are two websites for the journal, a real one and an impostor one that is run by criminals.

The real journal is published by the Société de Physique et d’Histoire Naturelle (SPHN).

The authentic journal website is located here: http://www.unige.ch/sphn/Publications/Archives.html

The impostor journal website is located here: http://www.archiveofscience.com/

If you search the journal by title on Google, unfortunately the impostor site is the first to appear. Until recently, the authentic journal had little online presence. The impostor site has hijacked the authentic journal’s ISSN and impact factor. It uses what appears to be a correct street address, but because it conducts most transactions online, the physical address is unimportant.

The authentic one.

This hijacking of a respected scholarly journal is an affront to scholarly communication. The authentic journal is now warning people (in French and English)  about the fraud. The English version says,

The website http://archiveofscience.com (or http://www.archiveofscience.com/, or also http://sciencesarchive.com or http://www.sciencesarchive.com; changing with time) IS NOT the official website of the journal Archives des Sciences published by the SPHN.

This website criminally usurps the identity of the official journal, using fraudulent means (false editorial board, false addresses, false publication requirements, etc.) in order to encourage scientists to publish articles through finalcial [sic] contribution.

The SPHN is not liable for any offense undergone by potential authors who would have submitted and published scientific articles via the website mentioned above.

The SPHN did not know about this issue until a few weeks after I wrote about it in early September of this year. Later, the offending website was blocked from the Internet in Switzerland, leading the society to falsely conclude the problem had disappeared. Meanwhile, some legal action taken in the U.S. has forced the impostors to include text on their website stating that they are not part of the real journal, yet the bogus website continues to steal the original journal’s identity.

If anybody knows how to shut down a corrupt website, please take or recommend action on this as soon as possible.

A publisher to avoid.

In late 2012, I was the victim of criminal impersonation. Someone sent out emails that looked like they were from me, asking for money to remove a publisher from my list. The technique they used is called email spoofing.

British journalist Richard Poynder recently wrote a blog post about the case, a blog post that contains an interview with Egyptian national Aly Ashry, who runs Ashdin Publishing in Belgium. Ashdin is listed on my list of predatory publishers, a listing I stand by and confirm.

In the blog post/interview, Mr. Aly states,

There is no plagiarism or self-plagiarism in any of our journals. All Ashdin articles are original, and it is easy for our editors and reviewers to detect plagiarism and reject any article containing it. Each accepted article will have been passed by 2 reviewers and 2 editors before it is accepted.

This statement is false.

The article “Gaseous Pollutants Formation and Their Harmful Effects on Health and Environment” by Yousef S. H. Najjar and published in the Ashdin journal Innovative Energy Policies, volume 1 (2011). doi:10.4303/iep/E101203 contains significant plagiarism.

The article contains this passage immediately after the abstract (p. [1]):

The plagiarized text.

Unfortunately, this text is taken verbatim from page 37 of the textbook Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 4th ed., 2002, by Yunus A. Cengel and Michael Boles. ISBN 9780072549041.

The original text.

The citations in the passage in the article do not refer to the book but to other sources and are therefore false. In my opinion, this article should be retracted. Ashdin’s other journals contain additional examples of plagiarism. I recommend that scholars do not serve on Ashdin Publishing’s editorial boards, and I recommend that they not submit articles to the publisher.

Stay Away From OMICS’ Conferences

In earlier blog posts I’ve described and documented examples of OMICS Group’s unethical practices, including sending personal invitations to potential authors to submit manuscripts without informing them of the author fees, only to invoice them after their papers get quickly accepted. This was also reported in an article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education called “‘Predatory’ Online Journals Lure Scholars Who Are Eager to Publish.”

Now new evidence has surfaced revealing that OMICS, which is also in the business of organizing scientific conferences, has been 1) using the names of scientists, oftentimes without their permission, to invite participants to their meetings, 2) promoting their meetings by giving them names that are deceptively similar to other well-established meetings that have been held for years by scientific societies, and 3) refusing to refund registration fees, even if their meetings are cancelled.

First, OMICS implies that its editorial board members are conference organizers by placing their names and photographs on their conference web pages, and by sending email invitations to their meetings which are “signed” by members of the editorial boards. However, many of these people never agreed to be meeting organizers, and some have never even agreed to be become OMICS editorial board members.

For example, one scientist who does not wish to be named wrote the following to OMICS:

“I have requested/demanded resignation from this Editorial board several times, via emails and phone calls. I have also been promised that my name would be pulled off the Editorial Board and all forms of events associated with OMICS. I am extremely disappointed and outraged to learn that you still list me as a member. Here, I request again, take an immediate action to remove my name from the editorial board!”

Finally, after several phone calls, the scientist’s name was removed and she was assured that it would no longer be used. However, just four days later OMICS sent email invitations to one of their meetings which included her name as one of the signers, implying the invitation came from her and other editorial board members.

Second, the web pages for OMICS meetings list names and photographs of their “Organizing Committee Members,” but many of the scientists that appear on these pages never agreed to be participants, and some were reportedly shocked to see themselves represented as such. One scientist, who was surprised to see that OMICS had posted his name and photo on their website, along with other “organizers,” determined that OMICS did so after a colleague had mistakenly submitted a presentation to an OMICS meeting. After the submission was received, OMICS presented both of them as meeting organizers without their knowledge.

Next, OMICS intentionally gives its conferences names that are similar to the names of longstanding, authentic conferences held by scientific societies. For example, OMICS uses the name Entomology-2013 for one of its conferences, the same name (minus the hyphen) that the Entomological Society of America (ESA) uses for its annual meeting. Moreover, ESA plans to host the International Congress of Entomology (ICE) in 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Coincidentally (or not?), OMICS uses a very similar name, the “International Conference of Entomology,” for its meeting, also to be held in Orlando.

This has led to obvious confusion among entomologists, some of whom believe they are participating with ESA meetings after receiving solicitations from OMICS. The scientists mentioned above, who were listed as OMICS organizers without their permission, wrote in an email:

“I think we were duped into thinking this was the ICE meetings. Dr. [XXX] in Switzerland asked me to co-host a session so I think this is where it originated from … Dr. [XXX], I suggest you look at the links below and you will see that we were indeed duped. The folks who contacted you about a session in FL in 2013 are NOT associated with ICE.”

Assembly line of conferences.

Sometimes OMICS improbably organizes multiple conferences at the same hotel at the same time. For example, the screenshot above shows four conferences that were held simultaneously from December 3-5, 2012 at the same hotel in Philadelphia.

Also, a close look at OMICS’ conference registration policy shows that they never grant refunds for registration fees — even if they themselves cancel or postpone the conference. Instead, they grant a credit for other OMICS conferences.

I strongly recommend, in the strongest terms possible, that all scholars from all countries avoid doing business in any way with the OMICS Group. Do not submit papers. Do not agree to serve on their editorial boards. Do not register for or attend their conferences.

Also, be aware that OMICS has established a separate brand called SciTechnol that operates much the same as OMICS. OMICS may be experimenting with additional web brands designed to funnel people to the OMICS web pages.

Guest blog post by Kenneth Witwer.

Kenneth Witwer is an assistant professor of pathobiology in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The views and opinions expressed in this post are his own and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of his employer or any associated entity.

OMICS Group’s presence on LinkedIn

The India-based OMICS company publishes open access journals and organizes conferences. The group has been criticized previously on this website and elsewhere for predatory publishing practices. The OMICS website lists no fewer than 273 titles in its family of journals, along with approximately 80 conferences to be held during the next 10 months at locations from Hyderabad, India, to “Raliegh, [sic] USA”. With such a far-flung empire, it is perhaps not surprising that OMICS would also have a social media presence. And given the questionable practices of OMICS, one might expect some degree of internet hijinx. I was nevertheless bemused by the gratuity and needlessness of the deception practiced by OMICS, which I recently uncovered by accident on a popular networking website, as well as by some bizarrely anti-science content on another site.

Last week, my LinkedIn inbox was spammed repeatedly by OMICS, whose putative employees asked me to join newly created groups such as “Molecualr [sic] Biology MBL”  (perhaps meant to be reminiscent of the Woods Hole MBL, but misspelled). These groups typically comprised only one or two members (at least as of February 2, 2013) and had no background information or description. I noticed with curiosity that the OMICS representatives who contacted me had male, largely untraceable names like “Eric White,” “Richard Martin,” “Michael Smith,” and “Kevin Johnson,” even though all OMICS employees I have communicated with in the past were from the Asian subcontinent…and all but one were female.

When I examined the profiles of these employees, it became clear that the accounts were pseudonymous and had been created from a single template. If taken at face value, the profiles showed that employees had obtained their education at a leisurely pace from “1990 – 2008.” They had earned college degrees in subjects like “Psychology, A” and “Library Science, A” (showing tremendous initiative in several cases, since these majors do not exist at their universities). Each also had wonderfully alphabetic hobbies, such as “Judo, Jujitsu, Jump Rope.” Unfortunately, none listed grammar as an interest, and despite their lengthy education, each OMICS employee maintained an inability to use punctuation, spacing, or capitalization correctly.

Here are the LinkedIn profiles of some OMICS “employees”:

Eric White
Education
Irvington High School
San Diego State University, Psychology, A
1990 – 2008
Hi my name is Eric White,working in Psychology department.
Activities and Societies: Lacrosse, Line Dancing, Marathon.

Kevin Jackson
Education
American High School
San Francisco State University, Library Science, A
1990 – 2008
Hi my name is Kevin Jackson,working in Science department.
Activities and Societies: Shovel Snow, Sit Ups, Snowshoeing.

[SFSU does not offer a Library Science degree.]

Richard Martin
Education
Mission San Jose High School
California State University, Stanislaus, Parks, Recreation, Leisure, and Fitness Studies, A
1990 – 2008
Hi my name is Richard Martin,working in fitness department.
Activities and Societies: Step Aerobics, Street Hockey, Surfing.

[Cal State Stanislaus has no such major or department.]

Michael Smith
Education
Berkeley Unified School District
California Maritime Academy, Computer Science, A
1990 – 2008
Hi my name is Michael smith. Working in science department. I am an event organizer.
Activities and Societies: Basketball Beach Volleyball Biking

[Cal Maritime has no computer science major or science department.]

Jason Williams
Education
Alameda High School
California Maritime Academy, Computer Science, A
1990 – 2008
Hi my name is Jason Williams.working in science department.
Activities and Societies: Judo, Jujitsu, Jump Rope

[Cal Maritime has no computer science major or science department.]

Justin Gonzalez
Education
Horizon High School
Concordia University Irvine, Irvine, Family and Consumer Sciences/ Human Sciences, A
1990 – 2012
Hi my name is Justin Gonzalez,working in Consumer Science department.
Activities and Societies: Clean the house, Clean the pool, Community Service Projects.

[Concordia has no such major…and really?...clean the pool?]

I am unclear on whether the creator(s) of these fake accounts would have had to pay to send me a message—an “InMail”—through LinkedIn. Nor do I understand what the purpose of this group-building campaign would be, or why a legitimate OMICS employee would not use his or her real name to promote the organization.

Just as inscrutable as OMICS’ LinkedIn push is the purpose of the OMICS Facebook page, which is updated with three or four new posts each day. Most are links to one of the many OMICS family journals. The few comments to these posts are usually spam…and verbose spam at that (“I Work About 10-13 Hours A Week From Home And I Basically Make About $18,000-$19,000 A Month Online”). However, apparently original blurbs on famous scientists (e.g., Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Graham Bell) are also provided on the page, interspersed with unintentionally interesting descriptions of animals. The avid reader will learn, for example, that,

“The ‘Bu’ bristled baby is a cuddly animal, and the internet contains cuddly pictures of such animals that are available for download or viewing little animals that look sweet and touches the heart. Various funny videos are also available” (January 9, 2013)…

…and that the farmed fox in Russia

“has curly tails like most of the cats and dogs due to the breeding” (January 30, 2013).

Unfortunately, the OMICS Facebook account sometimes ventures beyond the innocuous and silly and into a dangerously anti-science realm. A post on January 24, 2013 included an anti-vaccination diatribe. To give a flavor:

“Vaccinations usually have several components thought to be harmful, such as formaldehyde, genetically combined microbes, adjuvants of nut, mercury and more. In such circumstances, parents are usually faced with the question of going ahead. The risk is carried by the children and their families, while the government authorities are not in any mood to address the danger. Health officials and pediatricians also follow the suit. Standard emergency care is usually advised for an injury emanating from vaccination.”

The post ended with commentary copied at length (and without attribution) from an anti-vaccine blog.

In conclusion, the social media presence of OMICS seems completely consonant with Jeffrey Beall’s observations of the group as a whole. OMICS’ antics and tactics appear to be inconsistent with the promotion of science. Those who value science and transparency should avoid contact—or, for some of us, further contact—with this group.

The report’s cover.

A report entitled “Legitimacy of citations in predatory publishing: The case of proliferation of papers by Serbian authors in two Bosnian WoS‐indexed journals” was published in late 2012. Written by Pero Šipka,, the report looks at the questionable self-citation practices of four journals published by a Sarajavo-based organization known as DRUNPP. The shadowy organization publishes five journals according to its website:

• TTEM – Technics Technologies Education Management
• HealthMED
• International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health (IJCRIMPH)
• International Journal of Pharmacy Teaching & Practices (IJPTP)
• Balkan Journal of Health Science (BJHS)

Page 5 of the report details and summarizes its findings:

• The two journals, HealthMed and TTEM, are published by an organization (DRUNPP) of unclear identity, low transparency and questionable management.
• The general profile of these journals shows a typical “predatory” pattern characterized by the discrepancy between authors publishing charges and investment in journal quality.
• The two journals are bibliometrically isolated, i.e. not being cited by other quality journals including two controls, and even by small non‐WoS [i.e. Web of Science] Bosnian journals of similar background.
• Relatively high Impact Factor of the two journals comes entirely from self‐citations, their mutual citations exchange, and citations delivered by Serbian authors.
• A large amount of those citations is illegitimate, i.e. either unjustifiable, or fabricated.
• The proofs exist of direct engagement of both journals’ editorial staff in misconduct. Some of these malpractices, e.g. appending article reference lists with items citing their own or the other DRUNPP journal without informing authors about the change, are to our best knowledge unprecedented in international academic publishing.
• Clear indications exist of willing involvement of authors from several Serbian institutions, which makes them members of a “citation cartel”.
• Considering the benefits Serbian researchers have from publishing in WoS journals, these authors, along with editors of DRUNPP journals themselves, have to be tagged as “members of a joint unethical enterprise”.
• The cross‐border spillover of fabricating citations is already taking place in Serbia, where two authors, one of which is a prominent member of the DRUNPP group, established journals of the very same profile and started the very same malpractice.

The publisher DRUNPP is included on my list of predatory publishers. The publisher’s name is an initialism in Bosnian, but I cannot figure out what it is. The English name is Society for Development of Teaching and Business Processes in New Net Environment in B&H.

This case is evidence that just because a journal in included in Thomson Reuter’s Journal Citation Reports database (that is, journals with an official impact factor) doesn’t mean it’s a quality journal.

We commend Dr. Šipka for his work on this project and the Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science for publishing it.

The report’s citation:

Šipka, P., (2012). Legitimacy of citations in predatory publishing: the case of proliferation of papers by Serbian authors in two Bosnian WoS‐indexed journals. CEES Occasional Paper Series ; no. 2012‐12‐2. Retrieved from http://www.ceon.rs/ops/12122 ISBN 978‐86‐89475‐00‐5

Don’t trust their peer review.

Sometimes, we are able to gather direct evidence of how predatory publishers operate. In this case we received primary information about the operation of the Journal of International Management Studies.

This journal markets itself as a standalone journal, but we think it is really one of three published by the same, unnamed firm. The other two journals the firm publishes are:

• The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning
• The Journal of Global Business Management

The three journals are also co-marketed with a conference called Global Business & International Management Conference. I blogged about this firm a year ago.

We got a copy of one of this journal’s acceptance letters:

Dear Dr. [Redacted]/Dr. [Redacted],

Thank you very much for your submission to JIMS. We are pleased to inform you that your paper has been reviewed by two reviewers, and accepted for publication. Enclosed is the registration form of your paper, “[Redacted]” from JIMS. Please follow the payment guideline to ensure your publication. Please inform us after the check is delivered.

After the payment is received, we will e-mail you an official acceptance letter and the receipt of payment immediately.

In addition, your paid paper will be published in The Journal of International Management Studies (JIMS) Vol. 8, Num.1, April 2013.

Thank you for making The Journal of International Management Studies a vehicle for your research interests.

Best wishes,

Gloria Wang
Secretary of Journal of International Management Studies (JIMS)

The significant thing about this letter is the reference to the peer review. Note that there are no comments from the “reviewers”.  It really looks like no review occurred at all. Also, the letter is written in poor and confused English, and it’s all about the money.

Also included with this email to the authors was this document [PDF]. It lists the location where the $776 check is to be sent: 16085 NW Ridgetop Lane, Beaverton, OR 97006-7718, USA. We assume that is the home of Gloria Wang, the person who signed the email reprinted above. Here’s the house:

Your money goes here.

In his email to me, the paper’s co-author said this:

I hope all is well. I was recently approved for publication but never knew I’d have to pay a fee to be published. As I now educate myself with your site, pls advise if this is a legitimate publication. I do appreciate it. Thx.

I attached the payment form as well. Looks odd…

I agree. This is very fishy. This is gold open-access publishing. I recommend that scholars avoid any association with these three journals and their corresponding conference.

Scholarly publishing has never been so easy.

The English word epitome can mean, according to Wictionary, “The embodiment or encapsulation of” or “A representative example.” Here I want to describe a publisher that is the epitome of predatory publishers.

The publisher is IJCRM. This India-based publisher is among the lowest-quality publishers I’ve seen. Some of its articles are a dumping ground of plagiarism. It’s clear that this publisher does not check for plagiarism prior to publishing its  articles.

On its website, the publisher has trouble distinguishing among singular and plural and possessive. The site describes itself as a journal — indeed, IJCRM means International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management. However, this publisher has four journals in its portfolio:

• International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management
• International Journal of Research in Computer Application & Management
• International Journal of Research in Commerce, Economics & Management
• International Journal of Research in Commerce, IT & Management

The titles of the four journals are absurdly similar — it didn’t take a lot of time for someone to come up with them.

I think that this publisher is basically a one-man operation. He is Surender Kumar Poonia, a guy with an MBA. To make his scheme look legitimate, Poonia has concocted an elaborate hierachy of officials for his publishing business. It includes people at all these levels:

Chief Patron
Patron
Co-ordinator
Advisors
Editor
Co-Editor
Editorial Advisory Board
Associate Editors
Technical Advisor
Financial Advisors
Legal Advisors
Superintendent

Poomia is the lone person at the lowest level, superintendent, but we think he is really the “man behind the curtain” for this publisher.

We found a couple of the other characters interesting. The Chief Patron is Prof. K.K. Aggarwal, and, accordiong to his bio, “In 1975, he rose to the level of Professor at an age of 27½ years, probably the youngest person in the world to have achieved this level.” Very impressive.

We also found the information about the firm’s Investment Consultant to be captivating:

Interesting address.

Don’t mess with Neena.

It’s very easy to find plagiarism among this publisher’s journals. Give it a try. Randomly select an article, find a phrase that is written in standard English, and search it as a phrase in Google. If you get any hits from other sources, it’s a good bet that you’ve discovered some plagiarism. But don’t tell Neena.

Well trusted by whom?

Science Record is a Delaware-based publisher of ten scholarly journals. This publisher now appears to be a toll-access publisher, and each article listed has a “purchase” link, but none of the links actually leads to anything.

Many of the journal’s table of contents pages are populated by titles, authors, and abstracts from previously-published legitimate journals. Here’s an example:

Copied from Elsevier.

This article is listed here, on the Science Record website in their journal entitled Science and Nature.

This article was originally published here in the Elsevier journal Advances in International Accounting:

The original version.

What’s happening is that Science Record is filling up past issues of its journals with metadata from other publishers. They are doing this to make it looks like their journals have a longer publishing history than they really do.

Another publisher that uses this tactic is the International Center for Business Research. This publisher actually copies the text of other publisher’s articles and re-titles them.

Finally, it looks like Science Record Journals may be using a title that was already in use by another journal. The title Science Series Data Report refers to a journal here and to one that used to be published in the U.K.

List of Science Record journals as of April 1, 2013

• Science Series Data Report
• America Scientist
• International Journal of Medical Discovery
• International Journal of Professional Artist
• International Research Journal of Basic and Applied sciences
• International Research Journal of Engineering and Technologies
• International Research Journal of Humanities
• Pioneer Architects & Urban Designers
• Science and Nature
• Innova Ciencia

The impostor site.

The journal Bradleya, published by the British Cactus and Succulent Society appears to have been hijacked. Journal hijacking is the process of maliciously setting up a duplicate website for a respected journal and then inviting article submissions for the legitimate journal on the hijacked page.

• Website of the authentic journal: http://www.bcss.org.uk/brad.php
• Website of hijacked journal: http://www.britishedu.org.uk/

The hijackers make money by collecting the author fees on the submitted papers. In this case, the hijackers are not making any material available open access; each article listed on the site has an abstract but no full text. There is a “BUY NOW” button with each abstract. So they are potentially making money by selling articles as well.

Volumes 1-5 (1983-1987) copy the original Bradleya tables of contents. Then there is a gap, and then volumes 28-31 (2010-2013) apear. The later issues have abstracts for articles covering diverse scientific topics. The ISSN and impact factor from the authentic journal are copied on the bogus journal’s website.

The hijacked site has a new scope and claims “The journal publishes experimental and theoretical results of research on, amongst other topics, semiconductors, magnetic materials, and applied biophysics.”

A portion of the authentic journal’s website.

Bradleya is actually the society’s yearbook, published once a year. I sent a message to the society informing them of this but have not received a reply. I am unable to determine who is behind this hijacking.

On April, 8, I was quoted in a New York Times article about questionable open-access publishers and questionable conferences. Since that day I’ve been happy to receive many emails, some with suggestions about possible publishers and standalone journals to add to my lists.

Below are three publishers and two standalone journals that I added to my lists after completing an analysis of each. For each I’ve listed the name, a representative image, a selection of the reasons for including the publisher / journal on my list, and a short discussion.

1. Scribes Guild:

Scribes Guild (note the typo in the image)

Reasons for inclusion:

• The publisher does not reveal its location information.
• The site includes content pirated from other websites (i.e. privacy policy, authors’ guidelines)
• The site has numerous broken links and dead image links.
• Some of its journals have empty editorial boards but they have papers published.

Discussion: This publisher has a spare website with its format copied from existing sites. It was probably created in a single sitting. This publisher is part of a recent surge of similar operations coming from Nigeria.

2. International Journal Publishers Group:

International Journal Publishers Group

Reasons for inclusion:

• The Publisher is not a group of publishers as indicated in the name; it is a single publisher.
• The publisher claims its journals will be indexed in services that are not abstracting and indexing services.
• The publisher appears to use the same editorial board for all its journals
• The publisher does not reveal its headquarters location or address.
• The publisher requires copyright transfer
• The site makes no mention of whether authors are charged an APC or the amount.

Discussion: I cannot figure out where this publisher is based. It uses the ubiquitous Open Journals Systems software, a favorite of low-quality publishers. Its servers are slow, and some of its journals, such as the International Journal of Advanced Mechanic [sic] Engineering still lack any content.

3. Design for Scientific Renaissance:

Design for Scientific Renaissance

Reasons for inclusion:

• The publisher gratuitously uses the logos of Elsevier, Thomson Reuters, Scopus and Emerald on some of its pages.
• The editorial boards are listed but lack members’ institutional affiliations.
• The site makes no mention of whether authors are charged an APC and if so, the amount.
• Some of the journals use the word “advanced” in their titles but the articles do not reflect advanced research.
• There are instances of plagiarism among the articles.
• The articles all bear this licensing statement: “© 2012 Design for Scientific Renaissance All rights reserved.” The site makes no reference to free licenses.
• The author guidelines are pirated from other sites.

Discussion: This publisher is from Malaysia (which it clearly states). I am not sure why this publisher plasters the Elsevier, Thomson Reuters, and other logos on its web pages. The name, Design for Scientific Renaissance, is contrived and corny.

4. International Journal of Medicine and Biosciences:

International Journal of Medicine and Biosciences (IJMB)

Reasons for inclusion:

• The journal does not list a headquarters location.
• The journal lists a fictitious person as its editor in chief (A. Anderson from the International University, Cambodia). Also, editorial board members are listed without institutional affiliations.
• Some of the articles contain plagiarism.
• Much of the journal’s content (such as its editorial policy) is copied from other publishers without attribution.
• The journal mentions an article processing charge on its website but doesn’t state the amount.
• The journal claims to be indexed in services that are not abstracting and indexing services.

Discussion: This journal is trying to be a mega-journal and wants to accept practically any article that might match or come remotely close to its scope. The world does not need another journal on this topic; there are too many already. This is likely a one-man operation in which the man wants to do an hour’s work every day and watch the money roll in.

5. International Journal of Trends in Economics Management and Technology (IJTEMT):

International Journal of Trends in Economics Management and Technology (IJTEMT)

Reasons for inclusion:

• The publisher’s headquarters location is not listed.
• The journal requires that authors transfer their copyright
• The journal charges a higher, per-page APC for papers above eight pages.
• The journal makes false and boastful statements including, “As the world’s leading publisher of Economics Management and Technology, IJTEMT serves more than 30 million Researchers, Students, Academecians [sic] & information professionals worldwide.”
• The journal promises a two-week turnaround time for peer review.

Discussion: This journal is brand new and lacks any content. It shows three issues as being published, but this is just a ruse. In fact, the three issues each have a table of contents and abstracts listed and no full text. The article titles and abstracts are lifted from other publications. An example is the article Rough logic for building a landmine classifier from volume 1, issue 6 of this journal, an article that originally appeared here.

Conclusion:  These are only a few of the publishers I’ve added to my list in April. The numbers of questionable journals and publishers are surging. Every day I receive new “nominations” from concerned scholars. The increasing predominance of predatory publishers in the scholarly open-access publishing industry seriously threatens the future of the open-access movement.

Hat tips:

Here be dragons.

Recently launched, and with 66 brand-new journals, Horizon Research Publishing Corporation carefully hides its headquarters location on its website. The “contact us” page does not list any location.

Its spam email is signed, “Horizon Research Publishing, USA,” but I doubt it’s really from the United States. The publisher uses the URL http://zj.nkwww.com/, which is registered to Wanlun Guo in Linyi, Shandong, China. So apparently this is a Chinese operation and the spam email is misrepresenting the publisher’s true location. [See a copy of the spam email in Appendix B, below.]

None of the 66 journals has any content yet, and none appears to have editorial boards either. Horizon is currently engaged in a massive spam email campaign to recruit editorial board members. Strangely all the journals have live “Submit manuscript” buttons, so the publisher seems willing to accept papers despite not having any established editorial boards.

Its Twitter account has ten followers and its Facebook page has one “like,” an indication that this is a new operation. The publisher’s logo is a stylized unicorn.

I found this on one of the firm’s FAQ pages:

Q2: How can I know the status of my paper?

A: Please send your paper title and paper ID to preview@hrpub.org. The editorial assistant (Alice Bella) will give you a promote response within 48 hours.

I think that “Alice” and “Bella” are two figures from contemporary popular culture, so this seems like a contrived name to me. Also, the answer is ungrammatical.

The journals cover a broad array of disciplines, and each has a broad scope within its particular field. This dual strategy means that pretty much every scientific article has a potential place in the publisher’s portfolio. Each journal’s home page is similar to all the others; they all were built off the same template.

The publisher is waiving all article processing charges through July, 2013 and will then charge $150 per article, not an unreasonable fee.

I don’t think the world needs another 66 OA jorunals with broad scopes. The publisher’s use of “USA” in its spam may be an attempt to mislead. I recommend against joining these editorial boards and against submitting any papers to this publisher.

Appendix A: List of Horizon Publishing Journals as of May 1, 2013:

1. Advances in Diabetes and Metabolism
2. Advances in Economics and Business
3. Advances in Energy and Power
4. Advances in Library and Information Science
5. Advances in Pharmacology and Pharmacy
6. Advances in Quantum Engineering
7. Advances in Signal Processing
8. Advances in Surgical Science
9. Advances in Zoology and Botany
10. Bioengineering and Bioscience
11. Cancer and Oncology Research
12. Chemical and Materials Engineering
13. Civil Engineering and Architecture
14. Computational Research
15. Computer Science and Information Technology
16. Energy and Environmental Engineering
17. Environment and Ecology Research
18. Food Science and Technology
19. Immunology and Infectious Diseases
20. Intelligence Science and Technology
21. International Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics
22. International Journal of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease
23. International Journal of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science
24. International Journal of Wireless Engineering
25. Investment and Trade
26. Linguistics and Literature Studies
27. Manufacturing Science and Technology
28. Mathematics and Statistics
29. Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
30. Natural Resources and Conservation
31. Nursing and Health
32. Open Journal of Dentistry and Oral Medicine
33. Preventive Medicine and Hygiene
34. Probability and Statistics
35. Sociology and Anthropology
36. Sport and Art
37. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance
38. Universal Journal of Agricultural Research
39. Universal Journal of Applied Mathematics
40. Universal Journal of Applied Science
41. Universal Journal of Biomedical Engineering
42. Universal Journal of Chemistry
43. Universal Journal of Clinical Medicine
44. Universal Journal of Communications and Network
45. Universal Journal of Computational Mathematics
46. Universal Journal of Control and Automation
47. Universal Journal of Educational Research
48. Universal Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
49. Universal Journal of Engineering Science
50. Universal Journal of Food and Nutrition Science
51. Universal Journal of Geoscience
52. Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management
53. Universal Journal of Management
54. Universal Journal of Marine Science
55. Universal Journal of Materials Science
56. Universal Journal of Mechanical Engineering
57. Universal Journal of Medical Science
58. Universal Journal of Microbiology Research
59. Universal Journal of Physics and Application
60. Universal Journal of Plant Science
61. Universal Journal of Psychology
62. Universal Journal of Public Health
63. Universal Journal of Service Science
64. Universal Journal of Software Engineering
65. World Journal of Computer Application and Technology
66. World Journal of Internal Medicine

Appendix B: Example of spam email sent out by Horizon Publishing in April, 2013:

From: “joinus@hrpub.org”
To: “—” <[redacted]>>
Sent: April 26, 2013 9:55 AM
Subject: Horizon Research Publishing: Call for Editorial Board Members/Reviewers/Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleages,

Horizon Research Publishing (HRPUB) is a worldwide open access publisher serving the academic research and scientific communities by launching peer-reviewed journals covering a wide range of academic disciplines.

We are seeking to establish a new international Editorial Board. If this experience sounds interesting to you, please complete the downloadable application form, and send it to joinus@hrpub.org<mailto:joinus@hrpub.org>.

Apply for Membership ( Editorial Board Members / Reviewers / Editor-in-Chief )

(1) Download <http://www.hrpub.org/download/HRPUB_Membership_Application_Form.pdf> the membership application form .

(2) Complete and send the application form to joinus@hrpub.org <mailto:joinus@hrpub.org> .

Look forward to receiving your application.

Yours sincerely,

Horizon Research Publishing , USA
joinus@hrpub.org<mailto:joinin@hrpub.org>
http://www.hrpub.org

–
If you no longer wish to receive email from us, please click this link<http://service.hrpubmail.org/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=21d3b7784f5fcc09fad4ca1c0ff61ca0&gt;

[End of blog post]

One of many in Canada.

We recently learned about the Canadian Science and Technology Press Inc. a scholarly publisher with six brand-new scholarly journals. The journal lists an address in the Toronto, Ontario suburb of Richmond Hill. Only two of the six journals have any content. One, the Canadian Journal of Plant Protection, has published two issues. The other one with content is the Canadian Journal of Plant Breeding, which has published one issue.

Unfortunately, both journals have published content that originally appeared in other publications. For example, the Canadian Journal of Plant Protection includes the article “In vitro evaluation of some chemicals and plant extracts against colony growth of Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum causing bacterial blight of cotton” in its first issue. This same article was previously published in another journal, namely vol. 3, no. 1 of the European Journal of Experimental Biology, published by Pelagia Research Library, another publisher on my list. So, this is an instance of duplicate publication.

Stolen title.

One of the new journals the Canadian Science and Technology Press is launching is called Scientific Canadian. This name is already in use by a prominent blog, so it appears the publisher is trying to “borrow” some of the blog’s name recognition value. The publisher indicates it is an open-access publisher but doesn’t disclose what its author processing charges will be. Also, it is unclear who is really behind this operation.

The publisher displays a page counter on its pages. When I first began examining the publisher, most of the page views were close to 70,000. Now, a couple days later, they are all around 80,000. I don’t think the counters are honest.

I recommend against submitting papers to this publisher or agreeing to serve on its editorial boards. There are many operations similar to this one in Canada, which is becoming a very popular place for low-quality, predatory publishers.

Appendix: List of journals published by the Canadian Science and Technology Press Inc. as of May 6, 2013

• Scientific Canadian
• Canadian Journal of Plant Protection (CJPP)
• Canadian Journal of Plant Breeding (CJPB)
• Canadian Journal of Genomic Era (CJGE)
• Canadian Journal of Food Science (CJFS)
• Canadian Journal of Animal Research (CJAR)
• Canadian Journal of Green Energy Research (CJGER)

I’m happy to add this to my list, sure.

I regularly receive emails from new open-access publishers asking me to add their publisher or journal to one of my lists.

My lists include publishers and standalone journals that I have found to be predatory or questionable in their practices, so it’s odd that a publisher would request inclusion.

I assume they do it because they are trying to promote their publications and just go through some list of websites,  sending the same boilerplate email to all the email addresses on the list. In their rush to make money, predatory publishers typically pay little attention to important details.

I investigate each journal or publisher, finding that in most cases they merit inclusion on my list. I’m delighted to fulfill their requests, carefully archiving a copy of each email so that in a possible future lawsuit, I can say, “Hey, you ASKED to be placed on my list.”

Here is one such request I received on May 8, 2013:

Hello And Good Evening Mr. Jeffrey Beall,

My name is Samuel Rivero and i am working as a internee for International Journal of Biology, the reason why i am sending you this e-mail is because i was hoping that if you can add our Journal’s name on this page: http://scholarlyoa.com/individual-journals/

The aim of IJOBIO is to publish peer reviewed research and review articles in rapidly developing field of all biological research areas. This journal is an online journal having full access to the research and review paper. The journal aims to cover the latest outstanding developments in the field of all biological Research Areas specifically in the following branches.

Keep in mind we are a non-profit organization and we mostly provide Journal publication services to 3rd world countries. It’ll be a huge favor if you can add the name of our journal in the “Individual Journals” list.

URL of our journal: http://www.ijobio.com

Best Wishes,

Samuel Rivero

Upon investigating this standalone journal, I discovered deceit.

The journal uses the nickname International Journal of Bio, and most of the claims in the email are false.

The new journal has “published” four issues, but upon closer examination, it really hasn’t. It’s a ruse. Among the four issues, there are only six articles. At least some of them are copied from the former BioMed Central (BMC) journal called the Journal of Biology. In 2010, this journal merged with BMC Biology, and the merged journal is called BMC Biology.

Here’s an example:

• Article from bogus journal: Progress so far in genetic kin recognition among vertabrates
• Original article from BMC Biology: Making progress in genetic kin recognition among vertebrates

The publisher of the new journal has taken previously-published articles and edited them, changing some of the words, and published them as new original articles in the journal.

What a scam! I can’t figure out where this journal is based, and my reply email to “Samuel Rivero” bounced back. Do not submit to this journal. Be wary of all OA journals.

Aloha?      Adios!

Based in Hilo, Hawaii, the Institute for Business and Finance Research publishes eight business journals and organizes a regularly-occurring conference called Global Conference for Business and Finance that rotates among places like Honolulu, Las Vegas, and Costa Rica.

One unique thing about this publisher is that it is successfully exploiting the Latin American market. Two of its journals, the Revista Internacional Administración & Finanzas and the Revista Global de Negocios, are published in Spanish. Like its English-language journals, these have a broad coverage. Most of the publisher’s website is also available in Spanish.

The publisher claims that “Each of our Journals is distributed in print and through EBSCO Host, providing access to the journal content in more than 70 countries.” Indeed, I was able to access some of the journals through my library’s EBSCO subscription.

However, I was unable to access the full text of any of the journal articles through the website. Each journal has a link to “sample past issues,” but these samples only include the first page of each article. So the journals are not open-access.

On the other hand, I was able to access the conference proceedings through the publisher’s site, but they are only available to download as a single-file PDF, and these average around 18 MB.

The publisher charges page fees for its journals — $25 per page with a minimum of $300. It also offers an expedited review service. It says,

We have introduced an expedited review process. Our expedited review process is intended to provide faculty going for tenure and/or promotion a quick response regarding the possibility of publishing their paper in one of our journals. The fee is $100 and the initial review process will be completed in two weeks.

So, the publisher charges an article processing charge, plus an optional, expedited review fee,  even though its journals are not open-access.

The Latin American Angle

The publisher has become very popular with Latin American business academics, especially in Mexico.

A Mexican researcher who asked that his name not be used told me, “I am convinced there are many wrong things with this publisher. That only increases my concern as in the last three years there has been an authentic stampede of people trying to publish in IBFR journals. Perhaps all their papers were accepted.”

The journals claim to have low acceptance rates. For example, the journal Accounting & Taxation claims, “The Journal acceptance rate is between 5 and 15 percent.” Looking at the content, and given the competition among business journals, I don’t see how this could be true.

The domain-name registration of the Institute for Business and Finance Research lists Mercedes Jalbert. Her husband Terrance Jalbert is a professor of finance at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Some sources indicate that Mercedes used to work at Jayco Travel and Tours. Terrance is listed as the “academic editor” of each of the firm’s journals; Mercedes is listed as managing editor of each. No editor-in-chief is listed.

It appears that the “Institute” is not really an institute at all but rather just a highly-profitable company catering to authors needing quick and easy publications, editorial board service, and conference presentations. Apparently, editorial board service is awarded to authors who have paid to publish in the journals or paid to attend the conferences. Also, I am told the “best paper awards” given at the conferences are determined by raising hands, so if your paper has several co-authors you can all vote for your own paper and win.

I recommend against submitting papers to this publisher’s journals and against attending their conferences.

Appendix: List of Institute for Business and Finance Research Journals as of May, 2013 

• The International Journal of Business and Finance Research (IJBFR)
• International Journal of Management and Marketing Research (IJMMR)
• Global Journal of Business Research (GJBR)
• Accounting & Taxation (AT)
• Business Education and Accreditation (BEA)
• Review of Business & Finance Studies (RBFS)
• Revista Internacional Administración & Finanzas (RIAF)
• Revista Global de Negocios (RGN)

Researchers beware.

I recently discovered a new publisher called Recent Science, a scholarly publisher with 38 journals in its portfolio, some of which duplicate other publishers’ titles. According to Recent Science, every one of its journals has earned an impact factor, even though none has any content.

It’s possible that this publishing operation is still being set up. In investigating this publisher, I found R & S Publications, a publisher that uses Google Sites as its platform. It has all the same journal titles as Recent Science. It lists its address as:

R & S Publications, P.O. Box 957
Offshore Incorporations Centre,
Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Recent Science does not list any headquarters address, and this new site may be an attempt to improve on the R & S Publications, using a real platform and not Google Sites. Still, both sites are poorly made and contain boastful information (such as the impact factors) that is not verifiable.

Recent Science promises a quick turnaround time for its review process. It states:

“We are committed to provide quicker decision dates for the articles submitted to us. We on an average take 15 to 17 days to process the articles submitted to us.”

Regarding article processing charges, the publisher states,

“Recent Science Publications charge authors a simple fee of 150.00 USD for publishing their articles and rendering it in our content rendering platforms. The fee is for a typical article of 5 pages. If the article exceeds the page limit, an additional fee might be levied on the author … “

In what field is a typical article five pages? Other boastful information the publisher makes includes this gem:

“We have about 1,300 staff in the UK, US, Spain, India, China, Singapore and Australia. We publish nearly 100+ journals with about 20 new journals annually. So generally, our progress is the combination of many relatively small but exciting events. The sheer range and quality of new titles we are producing is phenomenal.”

Much of the information about the individual journals seems like it’s made up. For example, the International Journal of Alternative Medicine states that it started in 1992, has published 85 issues in 17 volumes, has an impact factor of 1.8 and in 2011 published 369 out of 397 papers submitted. It appears that this information is all contrived and false. There is no record for the journal in WorldCat. The journal is not found in Journal Citation Reports. The publisher does not list tables of contents from earlier volumes, nor are any editorial boards listed. Links to article content on the publisher’s website all lead to a page requesting a login and password.

From the homepage of the International Journal of Alternative Medicine. No evidence exists that confirms any of the statements made here..

I cannot determine where this publisher is based. The Tortola address is probably just the “offshore incorporation address,” an indication that the real operations occur elsewhere. The amount of apparently false information on the site is disturbing. I recommend against submitting papers to this publisher.

Appendix: Recent Science journals as of 2013-06-02

• International Journal of Advanced Computing
• International Journal of Alternative Fuels
• International Journal of Alternative Medicine
• International Journal of Applied Mathematics
• International Journal of Architecture and Design
• International Journal of Automotive Electronics
• International Journal of Automotive Technology
• International Journal of Business Management and Research
• International Journal of Cancer Research
• International Journal of Chemical Engineering
• International Journal of Chemistry
• International Journal of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering
• International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering
• International Journal of Computer Networks and Security
• International Journal of Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
• International Journal of Energy Efficient Vehicle Designs
• International Journal of Finance and Quantitative Methods
• International Journal of Fluid Power Engineering
• International Journal of Indigenous Medicinal Plants
• International Journal of Internet and Web Technology
• International Journal of Marketing, Strategy, Operations Research and Organizational Behavior
• International Journal of Material Sciences and Manufacturing Engineering
• International Journal of Mathematical and Computer Modelling
• International Journal of Mathematical Sciences
• International Journal of Mechanical Engineering
• International Journal of Mechatronics and Aerospace Engineering
• International Journal of Medical Technology
• International Journal of Medicine and Medicinal Sciences
• International Journal of Multimedia and User Design & User Experience
• International Journal of Ocean and Water Resources
• International Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis
• International Journal of Pharmaceutics
• International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
• International Journal of Pharmacology and Clinical Trials
• International Journal of Physics and Astronomy
• International Journal of Social Sciences, Language and Linguistics
• International Journal of Statistics
• International Journal of Urban Planning and Transportation

An ambitious new venture.

The International Journal Network is a new, open-access publisher that includes over 350 journals in its portfolio. The publisher’s main page lists San Francisco as its location, but its domain name is registered to Adam Curry at 4401 Roland Ave., Suite 405 in Baltimore, Maryland.

There is a residential condominium at that address. The publisher’s “contact us” page lists no location information.

On its main page, the publisher promises an acceptance decision within two weeks and charges a refundable, $65 review fee. If a paper is rejected, the $65 is refunded, but I doubt that many papers will be rejected. It is unclear if there is an article processing charge for accepted manuscripts in addition to this review fee.

Each journal’s submission page says this:

You understand that altough [sic] most materials are assessed within 7 days, this duration is non-binding.  A paper may require more than 7 days to review and provide a decision to the submitting author.

At this time, it appears that none of the journals has published an issue or has any editorial boards, yet the publisher is accepting article submissions.

Several of the journals deal with non-scientific topics, including:

• International Journal of Ayurvedic Medicine Research & Practice
• International Journal of Paranormal Investigation
• International Journal of Astrology

 This publisher appears to be a one-man operation that operates out of an apartment in Baltimore. No serious scholar should submit his or her work to this publisher.

1. Appendix: List of International Journal Network journals as of June 9, 2013

1. International Anthropology Research Journal
2. International Banking & Finance Journal
3. International Biography Journal
4. International Cardiology Journal
5. International Dermatology Journal
6. International Experimental Psychology Journal
7. International Film Studies Journal
8. International Government Affairs
9. International Hydraulic Engineering Journal
10. International Industrial Journal
11. International Information & Library Sciences Journal
12. International Information & Library Sciences Journal International Inorganic Chemistry Journal
13. International Journal of Academic & Scholarly Research
14. International Journal of Acoustics Research
15. International Journal of Adult Education & Training
16. International Journal of Advances in Agriculture
17. International Journal of Advances in Behavioral Medicine
18. International Journal of Advances in Clinical Psychology
19. International Journal of Advances in Dentistry
20. International Journal of Advances in Toxicology
21. International Journal of Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
22. International Journal of Aerospace & Defense
23. International Journal of African Archaeology
24. International Journal of African History
25. International Journal of African Languages & Linguistics
26. International Journal of African Literature
27. International Journal of African Religions
28. International Journal of African Society & Culture
29. International Journal of African Women’s Interests & Issues
30. International Journal of Agnosticism
31. International Journal of Alternative Energy
32. International Journal of American History
33. International Journal of American Literature
34. International Journal of American Society & Culture
35. International Journal of American Women’s Interests & Issues
36. International Journal of Ancient History
37. International Journal of Anesthesiology
38. International Journal of Animal Agriculture
39. International Journal of Anti-Aging Medical Research
40. International Journal of Applied Consciousness Research
41. International Journal of Applied Mathematics
42. International Journal of Archaeological Enigmas
43. International Journal of Archaeology Research & Exploration
44. International Journal of Architectural History & Criticism
45. International Journal of Art History
46. International Journal of Art Theory & Criticism
47. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
48. International Journal of Asian Archaeology
49. International Journal of Asian History
50. International Journal of Asian Languages & Linguistics
51. International Journal of Asian Literature
52. International Journal of Asian Religions
53. International Journal of Asian Society & Culture
54. International Journal of Asian Women’s Interests & Issues
55. International Journal of Astrology
56. International Journal of Astronomy & Space Sciences
57. International Journal of Atheism
58. International Journal of Ayurvedic Medicine Research & Practice
59. International Journal of Bahá’í Faith
60. International Journal of Bibliographies
61. International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Innovation
62. International Journal of Bioethics & Research Standards
63. International Journal of Biological & Developmental Psychology
64. International Journal of Biomedical Engineering
65. International Journal of Biotechnology Research & Innovation
66. International Journal of Botany Research & Innovation
67. International Journal of Buddhism
68. International Journal of Business & Trade Law
69. International Journal of Business Management & Administration
70. International Journal of Business Strategy & Tactics
71. International Journal of Cell & Molecular Biology Research
72. International Journal of Ceramic Arts
73. International Journal of Chemical Engineering & Technology
74. International Journal of Chemistry
75. International Journal of Child Care & Rearing
76. International Journal of Children’s Writing & Literature
77. International Journal of Chinese History
78. International Journal of Chinese Literature
79. International Journal of Chinese Society & Culture
80. International Journal of Christianity
81. International Journal of Citizen Science & Innovation
82. International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology
83. International Journal of Classical Music
84. International Journal of Coaching & Team Management
85. International Journal of Cognitive Psychology & Cognitive Science
86. International Journal of Commerce & Trade
87. International Journal of Commercial & Industrial Building
88. International Journal of Communication Studies
89. International Journal of Communications Technology
90. International Journal of Comparative Religion
91. International Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine
92. International Journal of Computer Engineering & Technology
93. International Journal of Computer Programming
94. International Journal of Computer Security
95. International Journal of Construction
96. International Journal of Consumer & Home Economics
97. International Journal of Consumer Product Manufacturing
98. International Journal of Contemporary Archaeology
99. International Journal of Contemporary Research in Biology
100. International Journal of Criminal Investigation & Inquiry
101. International Journal of Criminal Law
102. International Journal of Crop Science
103. International Journal of Cultural Psychology
104. International Journal of Demographics
105. International Journal of Diagnostics
106. International Journal of Digital Art
107. International Journal of Digital Photography
108. International Journal of Early & Primary Education
109. International Journal of Earth Science Advances
110. International Journal of Ecology & the Environment
111. International Journal of Economic Trends & Forecasting
112. International Journal of Economics & Economic Analysis
113. International Journal of Education & Training
114. International Journal of Electrical Engineering Technology
115. International Journal of Emergency Medicine
116. International Journal of Engineering Physics
117. International Journal of English Language Studies
118. International Journal of English Literature
119. International Journal of Entrepreneurship & E-Commerce
120. International Journal of Environment & Conservation
121. International Journal of Epidemiology & Public Health
122. International Journal of Epistemology
123. International Journal of Essays & Commentary
124. International Journal of Ethics & Moral Philosophy
125. International Journal of Ethnology & Ethnic Studies
126. International Journal of European Archaeology
127. International Journal of European History
128. International Journal of European Languages & Linguistics
129. International Journal of European Literature
130. International Journal of European Religions
131. International Journal of European Society & Culture
132. International Journal of European Women’s Interests & Issues
133. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology Research
134. International Journal of Exotic High Technology
135. International Journal of Family Medicine & Practice
136. International Journal of Fiction
137. International Journal of Fiction Analysis
138. International Journal of Film History
139. International Journal of Fluid & Dynamic Systems
140. International Journal of Folklore
141. International Journal of Food & Beverage Production
142. International Journal of Forestry
143. International Journal of Games
144. International Journal of Gastroenterology
145. International Journal of Gay, Lesbian, & Transgender Studies
146. International Journal of Genetics & Genetic Research
147. International Journal of Geography
148. International Journal of Geology & Hydrology
149. International Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine
150. International Journal of Global Warming & Climate Change
151. International Journal of Graphic Design
152. International Journal of Higher Education
153. International Journal of Hinduism
154. International Journal of Historical Mysteries
155. International Journal of History
156. International Journal of Hobbies
157. International Journal of Home & Family Life
158. International Journal of Horticulture
159. International Journal of Human Performance Enhancement
160. International Journal of Humanistic Psychology
161. International Journal of Immunology & Rheumatology
162. International Journal of Indian History
163. International Journal of Indian Literature
164. International Journal of Indian Society & Culture
165. International Journal of Industrial Manufacturing
166. International Journal of Infectious & Emerging Diseases
167. International Journal of Information Technology Research
168. International Journal of Innovations in Engineering & Technology
169. International Journal of Interior Decoration
170. International Journal of Internal Medicine
171. International Journal of Internet Industries
172. International Journal of Internet Research
173. International Journal of Investment Strategies & Analysis
174. International Journal of Islam
175. International Journal of Jainism & Jaina
176. International Journal of Journalism & Media
177. International Journal of Judaism
178. International Journal of Landscape Architecture
179. International Journal of Languages & Linguistics
180. International Journal of Latin American Archaeology
181. International Journal of Latin American History
182. International Journal of Latin American Languages & Linguistics
183. International Journal of Latin American Literature
184. International Journal of Latin American Religions
185. International Journal of Latin American Society & Culture
186. International Journal of Latin American Women’s Interests & Issues
187. International Journal of Law & Justice
188. International Journal of Law Enforcement
189. International Journal of Legal History & Analysis
190. International Journal of Literary & Critical Theory
191. International Journal of Literary Analysis & Comparative Literature
192. International Journal of Literary History
193. International Journal of Literary Reviews
194. International Journal of Literature
195. International Journal of Local Government Administration
196. International Journal of Logic
197. International Journal of Lost Libraries & Manuscripts
198. International Journal of Macroeconomics
199. International Journal of Mathematics & Mathematical Concepts
200. International Journal of Medical History
201. International Journal of Medical Research & Innovation
202. International Journal of Medical Therapy & Therapeutics
203. International Journal of Medicine & Medical Practice
204. International Journal of Medieval History
205. International Journal of Metaphysics
206. International Journal of Microbiology & Parasitology
207. International Journal of Microeconomics
208. International Journal of Middle Eastern Archaeology
209. International Journal of Middle Eastern History
210. International Journal of Middle Eastern Languages & Linguistics
211. International Journal of Middle Eastern Literature
212. International Journal of Middle Eastern Religions
213. International Journal of Middle Eastern Society & Culture
214. International Journal of Middle Eastern Women’s Interests & Issues
215. International Journal of Military & Warfare Science
216. International Journal of Military Medicine
217. International Journal of Modern Accounting
218. International Journal of Modern Applied Psychology
219. International Journal of Modern Architecture
220. International Journal of Modern History
221. International Journal of Modern Music
222. International Journal of Modern Nursing
223. International Journal of Modern Pharmacology
224. International Journal of Modern Photography
225. International Journal of Museum Science
226. International Journal of Music Theory & Analysis
227. International Journal of Musical Instruments & Training
228. International Journal of Mythology
229. International Journal of Nanotechnology Development
230. International Journal of National Government
231. International Journal of Native American Languages & Linguistics
232. International Journal of Negative & Null Results
233. International Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience
234. International Journal of New Age Beliefs
235. International Journal of Nonprofit Organizations
236. International Journal of North American Archaeology
237. International Journal of North American History
238. International Journal of North American Religions
239. International Journal of Nuclear Engineering
240. International Journal of Numerical Analysis
241. International Journal of Nutrition & Dietetics
242. International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology Practice
243. International Journal of Occupational Medicine & Health
244. International Journal of Occupations & Careers
245. International Journal of Oncology
246. International Journal of Ophthalmology Research & Practice
247. International Journal of Optical & Laser Systems
248. International Journal of Optometry
249. International Journal of Organic Chemistry Research
250. International Journal of Otolaryngology Practice
251. International Journal of Pacific Island Archaeology
252. International Journal of Pacific Island History
253. International Journal of Pacific Island Languages & Linguistics
254. International Journal of Pacific Island Literature
255. International Journal of Pacific Island Religions
256. International Journal of Pacific Island Society & Culture
257. International Journal of Pacific Island Women’s Interests Issues
258. International Journal of Paganism & Neopaganism
259. International Journal of Pain & Pain Medicine
260. International Journal of Painting & Drawing
261. International Journal of Painting Theory & Analysis
262. International Journal of Paleontology
263. International Journal of Paranormal Investigation
264. International Journal of Parapsychology & Psi Research
265. International Journal of Pathology
266. International Journal of Peace & Conflict Resolution
267. International Journal of Pediatrics & Pediatric Care
268. International Journal of Performing Arts
269. International Journal of Personal Relationships
270. International Journal of Perspectives on Gender
271. International Journal of Philosophical History
272. International Journal of Philosophy
273. International Journal of Photographic History & Analysis
274. International Journal of Physical & Rehabilitative Medicine
275. International Journal of Physical & Theoretical Chemistry
276. International Journal of Physics Research
277. International Journal of Physiology & Metabolism
278. International Journal of Picotechnology
279. International Journal of Poetry & Poems
280. International Journal of Poetry Analysis
281. International Journal of Political Science
282. International Journal of Politics & Political Parties
283. International Journal of Preventive Medicine Practice
284. International Journal of Prints & Printmaking
285. International Journal of Probability
286. International Journal of Psychiatry
287. International Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research
288. International Journal of Public Policy & Administration
289. International Journal of Publishing
290. International Journal of Qi Energy Research
291. International Journal of Quantum Mechanics
292. International Journal of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine
293. International Journal of Recreation & Leisure
294. International Journal of Relativity
295. International Journal of Religion
296. International Journal of Religious Mysteries
297. International Journal of Satire & Humor
298. International Journal of Science & Nature
299. International Journal of Science Fiction
300. International Journal of Science History
301. International Journal of Scientific Anomalies
302. International Journal of Scientific Skepticism
303. International Journal of Screenwriting
304. International Journal of Sculpture
305. International Journal of Secondary Education
306. International Journal of Semiconductors
307. International Journal of Sex & Sexuality
308. International Journal of Short Stories
309. International Journal of Sikhism
310. International Journal of Soccer
311. International Journal of Social & Civil Rights
312. International Journal of Social Work & Social Welfare
313. International Journal of Sociology & Social Psychology
314. International Journal of Special Needs Teaching & Education
315. International Journal of Speculations in Science & Technology
316. International Journal of Sports & Athletics
317. International Journal of Sports Medicine & Therapy
318. International Journal of State & Provincial Government Administration
319. International Journal of Statistics
320. International Journal of Surgery & Surgical Practice
321. International Journal of Systems of Government
322. International Journal of Tax Law
323. International Journal of Team Sports
324. International Journal of Technical Writing
325. International Journal of the Chemical Industry
326. International Journal of the Classics
327. International Journal of the Energy & Power Industry
328. International Journal of the Entertainment Industry
329. International Journal of the Food & Beverage Industry
330. International Journal of the Health Care Industry
331. International Journal of the History of Technology
332. International Journal of the Insurance Industry
333. International Journal of the Mining & Mineral Industry
334. International Journal of the Oil & Gas Industry
335. International Journal of the Pharmaceutical Industry
336. International Journal of the Service Industry
337. International Journal of the Shintō Religion
338. International Journal of the Wholesale & Retail Industries
339. International Journal of Theater & Plays
340. International Journal of Topology
341. International Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine Research
342. International Journal of Transportation
343. International Journal of Travel
344. International Journal of Unsolved Crimes
345. International Journal of Urology & Urological Practice
346. International Journal of Veterinary Medicine & Science
347. International Journal of Wildlife Management & Conservation
348. International Journal of Women’s Studies
349. International Journal of Young Adult Writing & Literature
350. International Journal of Zoology Research
351. International Medical Physics Journal
352. International Meteorology Research Journal
353. International Optics Research Journal
354. International Pharmacology Journal
355. International Sports History Journal
356. International Thermodynamics Research Journal

e-Medical Central

Hyderabad, India-based OMICS Publishing Group has set up new websites with different brand names that all try to lure potential authors into submitting papers to one or more of OMICS’ 250 journals. It is currently using these alternative brands:

1. e-Clinical Central = http://www.eclinicalcentral.com/
2. e-Medical Central = http://www.emedicalcentral.com/
3. e-Pharma Central = http://www.epharmacentral.com/
4. e-Science Central = http://www.esciencecentral.org/

It’s almost as if OMICS is deliberately creating brand confusion to trick scholars into submitting papers to these ghost brands. None of the brands has its own journals; their websites all lead to OMICS journals. The brands also serve to invite scholars into attending OMICS conferences.

e-Clinical Central

This arrangement allows OMICS to have a greater web presence with more names. The objective is still the same — earn article processing fees and conference registration fees from authors. The company is trying to saturate the market for OA paper submissions. I think it’s just a matter of time before they develop new brands that begin with i-hyphen, such as i-Science, or something like that.

e-Pharma Central

Looking at these ghost brands, one observes the same grammatical deficiencies that occur on OMICS’ main websites. For example, one banner says “Bringing microscopic world closer to you.” And, “Key to open access science forum” doesn’t really make any sense either.

e-Science Central

OMICS also displays the logo for NIH, the National Institutes of Health, on all these brands’ websites:

They display and even distort the NIH logo.

Don’t be fooled by this intentional brand confusion. OMICS, by any other name, is still OMICS.

Should be called “Amateurish Science Publisher”

The word savvy in English, according to Wictionary, means “shrewd, well-informed and perceptive.” The term is informal, so I am surprised to see it being used as the name of a scholarly publisher.

However, examining Savvy Science Publisher leads me to think the term is perhaps too formal in this case.

A colleague forwarded me a spam mail he received from Savvy. The company is seeking editorial board members for its not-yet-released title Journal of Dentist (yes, just Dentist).

The spam email was sent out by Dr. Saiqa Mushtaq, who lives at 5801 Wild Lilac Drive in East Petersburg, Pennsylvania. This address appears on the Savvy website as their “USA Office,” but it’s really a dwelling. Their other “office” is in Karachi, Pakistan.

Google searches indicate that Dr. Mushtaq is a psychiatrist who practices in Pennsylvania.

The publisher does not reveal what its article processing charge (APC) is, stating only, “Once the manuscript is final after having gone through peer review and the editorial approval it will be subjected to its processing fee.” Legitimate and ethical OA publishers always clearly and prominently state the APC.

Strange Things

The publisher displays the logo of the Copyright Clearance Center. The site offers no information about how its articles will be licensed. Are they confused, mindlessly adding logos to their site to make it look legitimate?

The site also offers a place to upload just article abstracts. However, it doesn’t explain why it does this and how uploading an abstract is different from uploading a manuscript in terms of being published on the site.

Clearly, this is an amateurish operation. However, its editorial boards have already been established and it is ready to accept manuscripts.

Just one oncologist?

Appendix: List of Savvy Science Publisher’s journals as of June 27, 2013:

• Global Journal of Oncologist
• Journal of Aging and Gerontology
• Journal of Nanotechnology in Diagnosis and Treatment
• Journal of Neurology and Epidemiology
• Journal of Ocular Diseases and Therapeutics

The KY Publications CEO, Medikondu Kishore, sitting back and waiting for the easy money to roll in.

We recently discovered KY Publications, a new open-access publisher based in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. We’re not sure what “KY” in the name stands for, but we know it’s not Kentucky or any drugstore product.

The publisher has six new journals, but not all of them have content. The operation seems to be the work of a sole proprietor, a Dr. Medikondu Kishore, who refers to himself as the firm’s CEO.

He uses false and boastful language to describe his publishing operation:

As of today, we are one of the leading national and international journal publishers and distributors of our research journals and serve million [sic] of scientists, research scholars, educational institutions, governmental bodies, corporate, scientific and engineering libraries and private research firms across the globe.

Visitors to the site will experience popup advertisements that appear and move about, for the publisher uses the free version of a website hosting service, a version supported by this annoying advertising.

A screenshot from the table of contents page — three poems are published as a “research article”

One thing that struck me as I investigated this publisher was a “research article” appearing in the Research Journal of English Language and Literature that consists entirely of three very pitiful poems. The publisher in this case is actually publishing a two-page “research” article that is just some really bad poetry. The author is Hilal Ahmad Wani. This article proves, I think, that this is a true vanity press.

I recommend against submitting papers to this publisher’s journals, against serving on its editorial boards, and against reading the poetry it publishes as research articles.

Hat tip: Welko Tomic

Appendix: List of KY Publications journals as of July 3, 2013:

• Bulletin of Mathematics and Statistics Research (BOMSR)
• Bulletin of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences (BOPAMS)
• International Journal of Applied Physics and Nanosciences (IJANS)
• International Journal of Engineering Research-Online (IJOER)
• International Journal of Environmental and Pollution Research (IJEPR)
• Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)