Researchers in Southeast Asia Are Bombarded with Conference Spam

Conferences, journals, spam.

A continuing explosion in the number of low-quality and predatory scholarly conferences in Southeast Asia is confusing and annoying researchers in the region. One example is the so-called International Academy of Computer Technology (IACT) — which is not really an academy at all — whose headquarters address shows up as a dwelling in a U.S. state.

The International Academy of Computer Technology (IACT) claims on its website that it’s a “nonprofit research and development organization,” a claim I doubt. It operates several scholarly conferences each month and publishes several open-access journals.

Here’s the headquarters address the “Academy” gives:

3308 N Mayfield Ave,
San Bernardino, CA 92405

Paying taxes on earned income in the U.S. and California?

This is the house at that address, a small structure with a steeply-pitched roof and a tree-lined yard. Despite its claimed U.S. base, only a tiny proportion of its journals’ editorial board members are based in the U.S.

The company lures researchers into presenting at its conferences (and paying the registration fees) by tempting them with offers to publish their conference papers in indexed journals, journals they themselves publish.

The come-on, in a strange font, as seen on their conference website.

They generally organize two-four conferences each month, with each month’s conferences taking place at the same hotel at the same time. For example, their April, 2016 conferences will be held in Bali, Indonesia. They are:

• 2016 4th International Conference on Nano and Materials Engineering
• 2016 2nd International Conference on Sensors and Mechanical Automation
• 2016 4th International Conference on Electronics Engineering and Technology

Some believe that if a conference is the event’s 2nd or higher that it’s automatically legitimate — not true. I’ve gotten reports from several researchers in Indonesia that many there are being spammed to attend these conferences.

Their publishing arm, also run from a house in San Bernardino.

The people in the house on Mayfield Avenue in San Bernardino publish a lot of journals. Some — but not all — of the journals they publish are included on website for International Academy Publishing.

I strongly recommend that researchers everywhere avoid this company’s conferences and open-access journals. I think the academic indexes that cover these journals have been fooled.

Appendix: List of International Academy Publishing journals as of 2016-03-12 (list may be incomplete):

1. International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics
2. International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics
3. International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering
4. International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering
5. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning
6. International Journal of Knowledge Engineering
7. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics
8. International Journal of Materials Science and Engineering
9. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity
10. Journal of Computers
11. Journal of Software
12. Lecture Notes on Information Theory
13. Lecture Notes on Software Engineering