Publish My Researches!

Today I received a note that the Clinical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology wants to publish my researches. Yes, my researches.  

This is surprising to me because I've never performed any researches in obstetrics or gynecology.   I resided in a uterus for about nine dark months once, but other than that my clinical experience in the subject has been far less than open access. 

Upon investigation it turns out that this fine journal's publisher is in an apartment complex in Irving, TX.  It is located on Love Dr. which is short for "Love Doctor", so irony abounds.  They do have a bitchin' swimming hole for the editorial team to take a much needed dip after a long day of scholarly publishing on gynaecology.

Once again, maybe this is legit and they are a great journal.  

But when asking for my scholarly work in an area that I don't work in, I get a bit skeptical when  they offer to publish my "researches".

Case 1 - Journal of Plant Biotechnology and Microbiology

I clicked on this one just because it seemed related to my research interests.  What a fun time I had following the links! 

Why do so many start with "Greetings of the Day!"  ???

If you click on the first link it takes you here.   Hmm.  Online shopping? 

The second link takes you to an editorial manager site, one that looks a lot like the one used by legitimate journals. 

Here's a legit journal's editorial manager:

Here's the one in my mailbox:

So where are they located?   Impressive!  A global community! 

Let's Google Earth that address! 

Their "London Office" is a post office box and a website called "London Office", which seems a little deceptive. 

For your website you can use their physical address:

As this scientific publisher does! 

And it is located somewhere here, between the acupuncture place and the pharmacy:

To be fair, I looked at the journals and papers and they appear to be of low impact but probably okay.  Nonetheless, it is strange that there is no transparency, the use of a web-based false address, and knock offs of a legitimate editorial manager.  It just doesn't seem like the best way to publish scientific work. 

Why Predatory Pushback?

I get a lot of email.  

Probably 200 a day on weekdays.

At least ten are invitations to some conference that has nothing to do with my research area or interest. 

At least ten are from alleged journals, soliciting contributions. 

I started to look into this a bit more.  Who are they?  Where are they?  Are these legit? 

The answer is typically that these are small businesses that realize they can make money by charging to build a website and invite contributors to put their scientific reports there.   In the days of predatory publishing, tough peer review, and publication requirements for academic tenure and/or promotion, these sites are obviously getting some business.  

The problem is that it subverts the concept of peer review and journal publication.  

1.  Poor quality research is published in a technically peer-reviewed journal that does not likely have editorial or reviewer rigor of legacy journals.  The work should never be granted that gold standard. 

2. Poor-quality work is difficult to differentiate from good quality work from a public perspective, leading to confusion.  The standard of publication used to mean some stringent standards were in place before articles were presented. 

3.  The media, always looking for a sensational story, may report bad work as credible based on its claim of published and peer-reviewed. 

Are any of these journals legitimate?  Beats me. Skimming through them the work usually looks okay but consistent with low-caliber work with inadequate statistical power and overstatement of conclusions from data presented. 

I also feel that if a journal is good, I should be begging them to accept my solicitations, not the other way around. 

In the following posts I'll provide information about some publishers that have solicited my submissions-- their physical location, what is their infrastructure, are they on predatory lists? 

Should be fun.