With more than 25,000 “open-access, rapid-publication with fake revewers, predatory journals” that have been created, and continue to explode, since about 2012 — you can imagine the difficulty in trying to come up with a new name (and initials that have not already been used) for your newly planned journal. 😊😉
Why so many new journals? The best answer we can give is the example (about seven years ago) of a family of four living in a small flat in Turkey and in one year [offering “reasonable” “page charges” to post your manuscript (on any topic) online] — this “publisher-company” family had “accepted” and published enough papers to clear more than $1 million in profits — just working from laptops in their kitchen…!! (i.e., the best answer is … VERY L-U-C-R-A-T-I-V-E…!!)
So, … the names of new journals can be as similar as Journal of Biological and Immunological Chemistry (JBIC), International Journal of Immunological and Biological Chemistry (IJIBC), World Journal of Biological Immunology (WJBI), World Journal of Biological Immunology and Chemistry (WJBIC), Global Journal of Biological Immunological Chemistry (GJBIC), Journal of Molecular Biology and Chemical Immunology (JMBCI), Zelenskyy Journal of Biology and Immunology in Wartime (ZJBIW) … and … and … [you can catch my drift] — just as long as the title and initials differ from all 25,000 others.
Well, this week Professor Vasiliou received an email request [see below] to “publish his next paper (on any topic)” in the journal of Current Microwave Chemistry (CMC).
We checked and the journal name “Trends in Microwave and Toaster Oven Chemistry” (TMTOC) has already been taken. ☹ Therefore, as a follow-up we are considering the title of a novel journal, “Frontiers in Egg-Beaters, Potato-Peelers and the Kitchen Sink Chemistry” (FEBPPKSC). After checking carefully, the International Committee on Fake Predatory Journals (ICFPJ) has accepted this new journal name as “one not yet taken.” 😉😉😉
DwN
Comments continue to pour in — on the topic of the many thousands of predatory open-access (questionably peer-reviewed) journals that have (explodingly) proliferated during this past decade. ☹ Dr. Randolph describes his point of view from the clinical practice of medicine. Fred Guengerich describes his consulting with clients in court, and those judges and lawyers who sometimes rely on “peer-reviewed” publications. Olavi Pelkonen contrasts all these new and untested journals with the older (more reliable/trustworthy) established journals, while John Reichard confirms that the Case Rep Obstetr Gynecol Reprod (CROGR) journal is clearly an example of a predatory journal, compared with Compar Microwave Chem journal (which lies in the grey zone). ☹ 😊
DwN
From: Reichard, John
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2023 4:20 PM
To: Nebert, Daniel
Subject: RE: Call for Papers & Thematic Issues—Current Microwave Chemistry
Dan, I certainly agree that “Case Rep Onstetr Gynecol Reprod (crogr)” is without a doubt a predatory journal. (Reproductive … what??) I wonder about the poor schmucks who are listed on the editorial board. I wonder if they know their names are listed, or if they get paid for “serving,” on the board. I’ve heard of a few instances when Editorial Board members had never even known they were listed for a particular predatory journal!
From: Olavi Pelkonen
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2023 12:14 AM
Dan, I have not counted (the number I’ve received of) these suspicious requests to publish, because I delete them outright, but it must be >10 per day. Then there are publishers like Frontiers and MDPI (both having headquarters in Switzerland), which publish generally valuable material, but sometimes pretty poorly scientific or biased material (e.g., on endocrine disruptors) gets through and is published. One of the problems of these open-access journals is proliferation of articles that pass the limit of “the least amount of publishable information” and just add to the CV of the authors, which may of course be significant to them, because it will advance their careers in their own countries.
In essence, from the point of view of an individual researcher, the “old respectable” publishing houses and journals are the mainstream sources of useful information — even if they are usually painstakingly slow and methodical in their reviewing routines. ☹
Olavi
From: Guengerich, Frederick P <
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2023 4:09 PM
Dan, there is another issue that you may or may not be aware of. I have done some consulting work on legal cases, mostly patents (one tort), and journal articles get brought in, as “evidence”….. One measure of their reliability (to the judge & other laymen) is whether they are peer-reviewed. Some of these journals at least claim to be, so there is room for trickery here by nasty lawyers. The other side (i.e., me) has to explain why this is a bad journal and can’t be trusted — if possible.
Also, the new eLife reviewing plan is really going to create a can of worms, if it catches on. Surely you have heard about this — essentially, this plan eliminates peer review. At least lawyers & judges understand that data (accepted for publication but has not yet been peer-reviewed) in bioRXve is not a real journal — the other side tried this trick in a case I was helping with.
F. Peter Guengerich, Ph. D.
From: Dave
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2023 3:59 PM
Dan,
As a practicing physician, I am on the receiving end of “scientific evidence” in journal publications. I have to pull and review articles pertaining to a unique clinical condition, and then assess the validity of the study and conclusions. Recently I had a case of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the parotid gland which the treating oncologist from a very prestigious western university med school declared “was likely work related,” due to a possible benzene exposure. I reviewed the article. First, any substantial benzene exposure was unprovable. Second, there are over 60 types of NHL. Third, the publication addressed only eight of the 64 types — and did not include the rare parotid-associated NHL. Fourth, the patient’s father died of parotid-associated NHL (strongly suggesting a heritable disorder).
All “peer-reviewed” and published articles must be cautiously examined. What is in the abstract may not be supported by the actual data. Statistical significance remains important. Everyone wants to pull a fast one, but you know this much better than I do.
David Randolph, MD
From: Nebert, Daniel
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2023 3:19 PM
John Reichard [below] points out that this appears to be a “legitimate” journal, but there are questions about how honest and straightforward their policies are. Doron Lancet [below] laments that “these emails are copious and annoying and these might seem humorous on the surfake, but we should be weeping, rather than doing nothing — because predatory journals are helping drag “high-quality” science into the sewer.
I probably receive between 20 and 40 emails PER DAY (most of them in my junk email folder) — ranging in journal topics from mathematics, physics and astronomy to clinical medicine, nursing student education and social sciences. In fact, the latest one [see below] just arrived while I was working on this email response. Note that this CASE REP OBSTET GYNECOL REP (crogr) “invitation to submit a manuscript came on 19 Jan 2023, with a request to submit the paper “on or before 27 Jan 2023,” i.e., eight days(!!) to prepare a manuscript. [This very short turnaround time is one of the factors that determine a predatory journal from a normal scientific journal. Other factors include: [a] shady names of the email server used to send you the email; [b] incorrect usage of English grammar in the email; [c] describing your expertise (in email below, am I an expert in Case Reports in Obstetrics & Gynecology?); [d] check the email server, sometimes it’s simply “gmail” or “yahoo;” and [e] pleading “We are in shortfall by one paper before we can publish the next issue; please help us out…”]. ☹☹
DwN
From: CASE REP OBSTET GYNECOL REP
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 5:31 PM
To: Nebert, Daniel
Subject: Issue your expertise work and research
Dear Dr. Daniel W Nebert
We would be extremely grateful if you would submit your article to Case Reports in Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive.
Note that "Eliminated Open Access Charge" will be assured if the article is submitted on or before 27th January 2023.
articles@sciencerepository.net Please submit your files to the mentioned email. Do contact us for further information.
Thanks and Regards,
Albert Petrov
Editorial Assistant
From: Doron Lancet
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 4:12 PM
I laugh, but in fact I should weep. Can’t the Artificial Intelligent (AI) giants find a way to filter all these predatory journals out?
---Doron
From: Reichard, John
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 11:10 AM
Hi Dan: It’s a hokey name for sure, but I think Current Microwave Chemistry it is a proper journal, and I know this is a field of chemistry (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_chemistry).
The journal falls under the umbrella of Bentham Science publishing. Under the Guidelines for Authors link, the journal states:
“PAGE CHARGES: No page charges will be levied to authors for the publication of their article. However, the authors may decide for some paid-for editorial services such as open access publication and/or a faster overall publication for their article(s). “
[ i.e., it’s like Frontier Airlines, you can pay for upgrades. 🙂 ]
Also, this journal is not listed in the most recent list of predatory journals, although it is possible that predatory journal names change as fast as the spoof calls that I get on my cell phone. They also have pretty extensive misconduct and fabrication policies. Impact factor is 3rd quartile per “Web of Science” – not great — but not as bad as I would expect if it was a predatory journal.
Speaking only for myself, I usually know where I’m going to publish when I start writing, or at least I do some investigation to check impact factors, etc. as I am writing. So, my question is who is actually responding to emails like the one you forwarded and just so happens to have a spare manuscript lying around to submit? What are the clear telltale signs of a predatory journal, aside from unreasonable publishing costs, short publishing history, and low impact factor?
John
John F. Reichard,
From: Nebert, Daniel
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 3:58 PM
From: Vasiliou, Vasilis
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 6:09 PM
Subject: Fwd: Call for Papers & Thematic Issues---Current Microwave Chemistry
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Current Microwave Chemistry
Date: January 17, 2023 at 9:07:05 PM EST
Subject: Call for Papers & Thematic Issues—Current Microwave Chemistry
(Indexed in Emerging Source Citation Index by Clarivate-ESCI
Dear Dr. BLABLA
This is a call for papers & thematic issues for the journal Current Microwave Chemistry (CMIC). The journal is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes important contributions describing advances in the use of the microwave in the fields of chemistry, biology, medicine, biomedical science, and engineering.
Current Microwave Chemistry is indexed by Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Chemical Abstracts Service/SciFinder, ChemWeb, Google Scholar, J-Gate, CNKI Scholar, Suweco CZ, EBSCO and Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory.
Submission of an article or abstract may be undertaken through our online system or via email. All submitted manuscripts are peer-reviewed prior to a possible decision on acceptance for publication.
If you are interested in guest editing a thematic issue, then please submit your proposal by return email. Thematic issue proposals should contain title, aims and scope of the theme issue, with the list of contributors (with corresponding authors having preferable h-index 10 or above) and tentative manuscript titles.
Author’s/Guest Editors’ Benefits:
There are no Article Processing Charges.
Articles submitted by March 31st, 2023, will be published as Full Text, without any additional fee.
Quick processing and publication of the submitted papers. Articles will be published online within 40 days of final acceptance.
Guest Editors will receive an honorarium of US$600 per thematic issue organized by them.
Guest Editors will receive a free online access to the contents of the journal for the volume in which their thematic issue will publish.
The corresponding authors will receive a complimentary one-year online subscription to the journal’s volume in which their article is published.
30% discount on the single-issue cost to authors on the purchase of issue(s) in which their article is published.
Multiple issue copies at discounted rates.
In case of your interest in any capacity, please provide us your consent via return email, so that we may guide you further accordingly.
We look forward to receiving your interest in article or thematic issue publication.
Nuzhat Gul
Sr. Editorial Manager
Current Microwave Chemistry