Shedding Some Light on the Photon Foundation

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Worst of the worst.

The Photon Foundation is a predatory publisher of fifty bogus journals. This publisher, which uses Google Sites as its publishing platform, has been on my list for some time. I recently learned that the publisher is trying to use deception to get manuscript submissions from legitimate journals with titles similar to its journals.

The publisher uses fake names for its journals’ editors-in-chief. It also  uses bogus metrics and bogus standard numbers:

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Deception.

Its journals have no editorial boards that I can find, and I have no idea whatsoever where this operation is based or who the owner is. It uses yahoo.com email addresses. The publisher misrepresents itself as a “foundation.” It promises a twelve-day peer review process and does not state what its article processing charges are. The publisher provides links to legitimate scholarly organizations, a tactic to make itself appear legitimate. It’s almost as if the Photon Foundation is intentionally trying to meet every single one of the criteria I’ve established for determining predatory open-access publishers.

Some of the Photon Foundation’s journal titles match exactly the titles of legitimate journals. One example is Photon’s Journal of Parasitology. The original Journal of Parasitology is co-published by Allen Press, Inc. in Lawrence, Kansas, and the American Society of Parasitologists. Allen Press requested that Google, Inc. remove the intentionally duplicate journal,  but Google declined to take any action.

Lately, the Photon Foundation has been spamming members of the society, soliciting manuscripts for their journal with the same title as the authentic society journal. Photon is exploiting its duplicative journal title to deceive authors and steal potential article submissions.

I strongly recommend against submitting articles to any of the Photon Foundation journals. If anyone can determine where this publisher is based and who’s behind it, I would be grateful for that information.

Hat tips: Peter Burns, David Blair

Appendix: List of Photon Foundation journals as of November 23, 2013

1. International Journal of Agriculture
2. International Journal of Agriculture
3. International Journal of Biochemistry
4. International Journal of Biotechnology
5. International Journal of Business Management
6. International Journal of Electrical and Electronics
7. International Journal of Medicinal Plants
8. International Journal of Photocatalysis
9. International Journal of Proteomics
10. Journal of Anatomy
11. Journal of Antimicrobials
12. Journal of Applied Biochemistry
13. Journal of Biodiversity
14. Journal of Bioprocess Technology
15. Journal of Chemical Science
16. Journal of Civil Engineering
17. Journal of Computer Science
18. Journal of Ecology
19. Journal of Economics
20. Journal of Education
21. Journal of Energy and Environmental Science
22. Journal of Ethnobiology and Traditional Medicine
23. Journal of Food Technology
24. Journal of Free Radicals and Antioxidants
25. Journal of Genetics
26. Journal of Geography and Geology
27. Journal of Human Disease
28. Journal of Humanities and Social Science
29. Journal of Infectious Diseases
30. Journal of Insect Science
31. Journal of Journalism & Mass Communication
32. Journal of Language and Literature
33. Journal of Library and Information Science
34. Journal of Materials Science
35. Journal of Mathematics
36. Journal of Mechanical Engineering
37. Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
38. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
39. Journal of Orthopaedics
40. Journal of Parasitology
41. Journal of Physics
42. Journal of Physiology and Health
43. Journal of Phytochemistry
44. Journal of Planning and Architecture
45. Journal of Plant Pathology
46. Journal of Plant Physiology
47. Journal of Psychiatry
48. Journal of Water Research
49. Photon Journal of Neurology
50. Photon Journal of Pediatrics

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