New OA Publisher: the Council for Innovative Research

Innovative deception

Yesterday I added one of the worst scholarly publishers ever to my list, the Council for Innovative Research.

The only innovative thing about this dangerous publisher is the number of different ways it tries to fool people into thinking it’s a legitimate publisher. Here is a selection:

• It uses an impressive-sounding name to trick people. It is not a council; it is just one of hundreds of new OA publishers from India that aim to rip-off researchers.
• It launched with 36 new journals all at once. They are all broad in scope and the title of one is ungrammatical.
• The publisher does not state its headquarters location on its ‘Contact us’ page; that is, it wants to hide its true location.
• The publisher claims that some of its journals have impact factors. None have impact factors.

Don’t be fooled!

• Like many predatory publishers, this one uses the Open Knowledge Project’s free Open Journal Systems software to manage its journals. The first listing on the editorial board for each is this: “Chief Editor, Council for Innovative Research http://www.cirworld.com, United States.” Thus the journal is faking an editorial presence in the US (and the editor’s name is not stated).
• One of the main tabs at the top of the website is Payment Methods, and this is what the site is really all about — getting money from researchers.
• Individuals and institutions can buy memberships, but there is no real benefit. The publisher states, “CIR membership enables the benefits for the CIR members. A certificate of membership will be provided to the members of CIR.”
• To make its journals look successful, the publisher has lifted content from legitimate sources and reproduced it in its journals. One example is the article, “Can fluctuating quantum states acquire the classical behavior on large scale?”,  published in the Journal of Advances in Physics. This article is a pre-printed lifted from arXiv.

They lifted this content from arXiv to make their journals look successful.

Next, the source:

The source of the lifted content.

There are many additional reasons that make the so-called Council for Innovative Research a predatory publisher. The regular appearance of exploitative new publishers like this one is ongoing and perhaps accelerating.

All researchers be forewarned: do not submit any papers to this publisher’s journals.

Hat tip: Sandeep Singh

Appendix: List of Council for Innovative Research journals as of March 26, 2014:

1. International Journal of Computer & Distributed Systems
2. International Journal of Computers & Technology
3. International Journal of Data & Network Security
4. International Journal of Electronics & Data Communication
5. International Journal of Management & Information Technology
6. International Journal of Networking & Parallel Computing
7. International Journal of Research in Education Methodology
8. Journal of Advances in Agriculture
9. Journal of Advances in Anthropology
10. Journal of Advances in Archaeology
11. Journal of Advances in Architecture & Planning
12. Journal of Advances in Biology
13. Journal of Advances in Biotechnology
14. Journal of Advances in Botany
15. Journal of Advances in Chemistry
16. Journal of Advances in Environmental Sciences
17. Journal of Advances in Geography
18. Journal of Advances in Geology
19. Journal of Advances in History
20. Journal of Advances in Humanities
21. Journal of Advances in Law
22. Journal of Advances in Linguistics
23. Journal of Advances in Mathematics
24. Journal of Advances in Medicine
25. Journal of Advances in Natural Sciences
26. Journal of Advances in Nursing
27. Journal of Advances in Pharmacy
28. Journal of Advances in Philosophy
29. Journal of Advances in Physical Education
30. Journal of Advances in Physics
31. Journal of Advances in Political Science
32. Journal of Advances in Psychology
33. Journal of Advances in Sociology
34. Journal of Advances in Veterinary
35. Journal of Advances in Zoology
36. Journal of Social Science Research