CAUTION: Corruption in “scientific publications” is increasing at a logarithmic rate !!

Several colleagues have shared with me their pain, annoyance, and inconvenience of receiving 10, 20 or 40 such emails EVERY DAY, seven days a week.

Since 2010, the number of “open-access online scientific journals” has increased from 3,000 to 16,000 (!!!!). This means that there are now more than 10,000 new “journals” in only a few years (including a few legitimate ones in BioMedCentral), and the number of “articles published” … amounts to nearly half a million in this period. Besides being invited to “submit a manuscript”, we are being “invited to present a talk” at a scientific meeting (and then publish a paper about that talk in “their proceedings”), to “chair a session” at such a meeting, to “review a (very poorly written) paper” from one of these fake journals, and/or to “become a member of the editorial board” of such journals. The only “downsides” are:  the huge cost of “page charges”, you must pay all travel-food-lodging expenses (plus “registration fee”) to attend these meetings, and the “manuscripts” are (almost always) not seriously peer-reviewed (acceptance to publish occurs usually in 2-3 days, maximal).

This of course leads to serious scientific mistakes published, poor grammar and typos will happen, and the overall “quality” of “Science as we knew it, before 2010” is heading increasingly toward the sewer. Below I have stripped and pasted portions of five examples of emails (out of 25 so far rec’d today), for anyone who does not “enjoy” receiving these emails every few minutes every day, just so we can all appreciate this impending disaster.

Everyone should avoid contact with these journals at all times.

Dear Dr. xxxxx,

[1] Greetings for the day! We hope you are doing well!

The purpose of this letter is to invite you on behalf of the Kidney 2016, to be speaker at the upcoming International Conference on Kidney Transplantation during September 29-30, 2016. This conference will be held at Orlando, USA.

Kidney-2016 conference aims in gathering renowned Scientists, Professors and Research professionals across the globe under a single roof, where they discuss the research, achievements and advancements in the field. It also catalyzes for information exchange and networking between researchers and business entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds for the advancement of Technology and Research in the field of Kidney diseases, Transplantation and Nephrology.

[2] XXXXXXX salutes you for your compendium of writings which immensely help the global society and their descendants understand and shed light on and about XXXXXXXXX Journal of Forensic Science and Technology. Your published manuscripts are evidence that you have innate ability and prodigies for research and writing.

XXXXXXXXX  publishes diverse range of scientific disciplines. We have open access policy, single blinded peer review system and we wholly adhere to the ethical and publication guidelines of  XXXX .

But then again, we know that to gain the affection of an elegant author like you, we require some unmatchable spheres. So, here we are for you with some expounding uniqueness:

  • Shortest publication lead time: Systematic peer review and rapid publication is the foremost vision of  XXXXXXXXX .
  • EPUB format: Our file format (.epub) enables anybody to access and read your scholarly work from anywhere via smartphones, tablets, computers etc.
  • Narrate your manuscript: Just narrate and record your dream manuscript in MP3 format, we will take care of its publication.

Manuscript promotion:  XXXXXXXXX has various avenues to ensure that your important contribution gets maximum readership.

[3] SSSSSSSSS Journals publishes high impact, best quality, multidisciplinary, peer reviewed, open access journals. Our journals are Peer-Reviewed journals and invites you to submit your research papers, original article, short communication, mini-review and review articles etc. Our journals welcome the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence.

[4] We would like to take the pleasure to appreciate your expertise and professionalism in the field of Microbiology on behalf of the journal, Bioaccent Open Access Journal of Microbiology.

We heartily welcome you to submit the same full length article or a new article (Research/Review/ Mini Review etc.) for publication in BAOJ Microbiology. Please have a glance at the below link to view the journal.
http://bioaccent.org/microbiology

BAOJ: Microbiology desires publishing quality research and ensures authors with expedient publishing:

Note: Deadline is May 30th, 2015.

[5] The purpose of this letter is to solicit your gracious presence as a Speaker at the upcoming “4th International Conference on Plant Genomics” on July 14-15, 2016 which is going to be held in Brisbane, Australia. As such, I would like to offer you and your colleagues the opportunity to share your research based on your current research interests.

Plant Genomics 2016 Theme: “Frontiers in plant genomics: From discovery to applications”

The conference is a specially designed With CPD Credits which will bring together a unique and international mix of various aspects in Plant science and Agriculture. This event is a good platform to meet with researchers, scientists and, delegates as well as the opportunity to network with colleagues in the industry to share the pros and Cons from the basics to advancement happenings in Plant Genomics. your expertise and experience will be and Excellent addition to our conference as many of our visitors will look forward to hearing from and learning from your work.

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