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
