Red Alert: Avens Publishing Group

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A complete impostor.

The purpose of this blog post is to warn scholars to avoid having any association with Avens Publishing Group. By this I mean: don’t serve on their editorial boards, don’t submit papers to the firm’s journals, and don’t agree to review any papers for them.

When this publisher first appeared, it listed this contact address:

Avens Publishing Group
877 W 23rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90007 USA

Now it uses this address, which is a house:

Avens Publishing Group
47 Hemlock Dr.
Northborough, MA 01532
USA

The actual address is this:

Avens Publishing Group
Flat No. 502
Jyothiraditya Apartments,
Srinagar Colony,
Hyderabad, India

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Headquarters for 46 medical journals? 47 Hemlock Drive, Northborough, Massachusetts

Avens Publishing Group’s portfolio now includes 46 journals (see list below), chiefly in the area of biomedical sciences.

In its early spam emails, the publisher claimed to be non-profit:

“We are glad to invite you as an eminent editor for the Journal of Cancer Sciences. Journal of Cancer Sciences, nonprofit, open access, peer reviewed journal that is being recently launched by Avens Publishing Group with a commitment to serve the scientific community.” [emphasis added. Source: Avens Publishing Group spam email message]

There is no evidence to indicate that the firm is truly non-profit. When it first began operations, Avens Publishing Group sent spam emails to editors listing these enticements:

Editorial Board benefits:

1. We will provide 20% of Journal’s yearly revenue to individual editor, for their valuable service and on fulfilling their responsibilities.
2. Articles suggested (or) submitted by Editors will be provided a 50% discount.
3. We will be conducting conferences yearly; relating to happenings, advancements and breakthroughs in our Journal and editors will be playing a key role in suggesting titles, educating the young scientific community and also promoting our Journal.
4. The article’s fate i.e., both the acceptance or rejection of article is purely dependent on the Editor’s decision and the peer reviewing process will be confidential.
5. We will be providing scientific credits to all the Editorial board members based on their active participation towards our journal.

[Source: Avens Publishing Group spam email message]

The publisher has the annoying habit of saying its spam is not spam.

“Note: This is not a spam message, and has been sent to you because of your eminence in the field. If, however, you do not want to receive any email in future from Avens Publishing Group, then please reply with your request.” [Source: Avens Publishing Group spam email message]

Avens Publishing Group is a shrewd and dishonest publisher that all researchers should avoid. If you are currently serving on one of its editorial boards, I recommend that you resign. Above all, do not submit your work to this publisher’s journals. There are many better options.

Appedix: List of Avens Publishing Group journals as of 2014-04-13

1.  International Journal of Nutrition
2. International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
3. Journal of Addiction & Prevention
4. Journal of Analytical & Molecular Techniques
5. Journal of Andrology & Gynaecology
6. Journal of Antimicrobial Drug Design and Therapy
7. Journal of Bioanalysis & Biostatistics
8. Journal of Bioelectronics and Nanotechnology
9. Journal of Biowar & Defence
10. Journal of Cancer Sciences
11. Journal of Cardiobiology
12. Journal of Chemistry and Applications
13. Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports
14. Journal of Clinical and Investigative Dermatology
15. Journal of Clinical Trials & Patenting
16. Journal of Cytology & Molecular Biology
17. Journal of Emergency Medicine & Critical Care
18. Journal of Environmental Studies
19. Journal of Epidemiology & Drug Research
20. Journal of Food Processing & Beverages
21. Journal of Forensic Investigation
22. Journal of Gene Therapy
23. Journal of Geriatrics and Palliative Care
24. Journal of Glycemic Disorders
25. Journal of Hematology & Thrombosis
26. Journal of Human Anatomy & Physiology
27. Journal of Integrative Medicine & Therapy
28. Journal of Metabolomics & Systems Biology
29. Journal of Neurology and Psychology
30. Journal of Obesity and Bariatrics
31. Journal of Ocular Biology
32. Journal of Oncobiomarkers
33. Journal of Oral Biology
34. Journal of Orthopedics & Rheumatology
35. Journal of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease
36. Journal of Pediatrics & Child Care
37. Journal of Pharmaceutics & Pharmacology
38. Journal of Plant Biology & Soil Health
39. Journal of Proteomics & Computational Biology
40. Journal of Surgery
41. Journal of Syndromes
42. Journal of Toxins
43. Journal of Transplantation & Stem Cell Biology
44. Journal of Urology & Nephrology
45. Journal of Vaccine & Immunotechnology
46. Journal of Veterinary Science & Medicine

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