Think Congress is bad? — Try Congress Press

We can all agree on this congress.

Congress Press is a brand-new scholarly open-access publisher that has launched with thirty journals. Its logo is a stylized rendering of the United States Capitol dome.

The journal titles each reflect a broad coverage and all begin with the phrase “American Journal of …”. We know that when a new publisher goes out of its way to appear to be based in particular country, it is usually not based in that country.

I found this information in the domain name registration:

Eduventure International Limited
WJ Shen
Pen Street 2020 -39132
Washington
DC
20020
US
Phone: +1.239183183
Email Address: wjshen1@gmail.com

I think that “Pen Street 2020″ is really 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue — the address of a UPS store, a mail-forwarding service. The phone number is too long to be a North American one.

Each of the journals lists a Mr. Bill Barton as the contact person, but I think the name is fake. The journals have published articles but no editorial boards. If you do peer review, how can you publish articles with no editorial boards?

Actually, the articles all appear to be lifted from other publishers. Here’s an example:

Not original.

This was apparently lifted from here:

Where the article first appeared.

Notice how the author’s name was cleverly changed. Congress Press is using articles from other publishers to make itself look more established; it’s really a brand-new publisher. This is a common predatory publisher scheme. Nice try, Congress Press.

Verdict: I recommend against submitting papers to Congress Press and against serving on its editorial boards.

Appendix: Congress Press journals as of October 1, 2013:

1. American Journal of Agricultural Sciences
2. American Journal of Animal Research
3. American Journal of Applied Systems
4. American Journal of Behavioural Science and Psychology
5. American Journal of Biomedical Technology
6. American Journal of Business and Finance
7. American Journal of Chemical Sciences
8. American Journal of Civil Engineering and Environment
9. American Journal of Computing and Computation
10. American Journal of Culture and Philosophy
11. American Journal of Economics and Development
12. American Journal of Education Sciences
13. American Journal of Electrical Systems
14. American Journal of Energy and Policy
15. American Journal of Geology and Ecology
16. American Journal of Governance and Politics
17. American Journal of Greenhouse Gas
18. American Journal of Health and Diseases
19. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
20. American Journal of Information Sciences
21. American Journal of Langauge [sic] and Lingustics [sic]
22. American Journal of Law and Public Policy
23. American Journal of Marine and Ocean
24. American Journal of Materials
25. American Journal of Mathematical Modeling
26. American Journal of Mechanical Systems
27. American Journal of Medicine and Health
28. American Journal of Natural Sciences
29. American Journal of Resources Engineering
30. American Journal of Soil and Water