This blog post reports on four brief items related to predatory publishers.
1. Journal Influence Factor
We all know about the journal impact factor, but now there is a brand-new measure called the Journal Influence Factor. This factor is published by a mysterious company called “Journals Metrics.” It purports to be based in Okemos, Michigan, specifically at this address:
Journals Metrics, PMB 149, 3520 Okemos Rd. Ste 6, Okemos MI 48864, USA
Clik here to view.
Predatory Publisher Headquarters
That address is in a small shopping center, at a business called PostNet, which is a shipping company that also rents mailboxes. “PMB” means private mail box. There are many predatory publishers (and predatory metrics, like this one) that use rented mailboxes as their headquarters addresses. They can then be based anywhere, including overseas. For a fee, the mailbox companies will forward any mail received.
Journals Metrics also publishes a “Publisher Influence Factor” and offers manuscript editing services. We recommend that its products be ignored.
2. OMICS Publishing Group Attacks PubMed Central
OMICS Publishing Group recently released a comical press release entitled Open Access Journals and Healthcare Information: Indexing and Archiving that attacks PubMed Central (PMC). Over the summer, PMC announced that it would no longer include articles from any of OMICS over 300 questionable journals. The press release, published on PR Newswire, is incoherent, poorly written, and signed with a contrived name (John Benson).
The release says, “However, PMC has never been out of controversy regarding the discrimination and its co-operation with eLife.” The press release tries to make the case that PMC is no good and that Google Scholar is “the finest and foremost trusted indexing platform.” This is clearly a case of sour grapes on OMICS’ part, and we applaud PMC’s decision to de-list OMICS’ pretend journals.
3. Predatory Journal Publishes Solution to Global Warming
Bulgaria-based publisher Hikari has published a five-paragraph article that offers a solution to global warming.
Published in the Hikari Journal Environmental Sciences, the article is titled “Combating Climate Change with Neutrinos.” [PDF]
The publication of this article exemplifies what I have been saying for several years now, that predatory publishers don’t carry out an honest peer review and are mere vanity presses. They want the author fees and don’t care about the content they publish.
4. More Journal Hijackings
I regret I have another journal hijacking to report. You’ll recall that journal hijackings occur when a respected print journal is “hijacked” by someone creating an online presence for it and accepting articles for the bogus online version. They essentially steal the journal’s identity.
Clik here to view.
Don’t go here
Many have been spammed with offers to publish here. As far as I know, the authentic journal does not have an online presence. I recommend deleting the spam and NOT submitting papers to this counterfeit journal.
I also recently received a spam email inviting me to publish in a counterfeit version of the journal Pensée, but the bogus journal’s site was quickly shut down.
That’s all the predatory publishing news; thanks for reading.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
