Comments for Scholarly Open Access

Yes, I recommend that you email the publisher and tell them you would like to withdraw the submission.

Julius Jillbert, you may have been taken aback to have your first message above treated rather dismissively. I wouldn’t worry as I’m sure there are other readers who valued your contribution.

Incidentally, on googling Zaki Rachmat I came up with a 1979 North Carolina State PhD graduate of that name – would this be the scholar you mentioned?

I.have.an.experience.with.my.publisher.for.3.works….after.one.from.publishing.dates.ofbook.1&2..i.received.2.royalty.statement…reports.with.zero.credits…i.do.not.mind.any.revenues.but.my.publisher.is.apparently.sustain.my.works.in.PDF.and.ac.dvised.me.to.promote.my.works.inscientific.journals.and.periodicals.to.a.get.a.royalty.that.counts….i.tried.to.address.Mr.Jeff..but.my.mailfailed.to.get.him…..i.hope.he.is.ready.to.explore.this.matter.

What’s the name of the publisher?
If this involves a dispute about royalties, I regret that I am unable to advise.

<blockquote>Our dedicated proofreaders, cheerfully labor on your Manuscripts in a speedy way, with high quality standards on the back of their minds and offer you very appropriate content improvisation wherever required.</blockquote> If I am reading "very appropriate content improvisation" correctly, the guy behind the journals is promising not only to clear up the contributors' prose into something resembling standard Inglish, but also to <b>write the prose himself</b> if they can't think of anything to write. The promise to perform "peer-review" is cursory and <i>pro forma</i>, tacked onto the end of the paragraph extolling the brilliance of the proofreaders and where in their minds they keep their quality standards. So the market targetted here comprises non-English-speaking academics who need to have an English-language article on a website somewhere that they can point to for career advancement, and are not concerned about its content, or about writing it themselves.

When someone uses the construction “McX” or “MacX”, I understand it as shorthand to describe a cheapened, degraded, mass-produced, fast-food travesty of “X”. Does it have some different connotation in the Indian subcontinent?

[…] are tools available to navigate the process. Jeffrey Beall, an academic librarian, has compiled a list of predatory publishers that he updates every year. Shrime recommends that people who cite medical research cross-reference […]

Thank you, Jeffry, for publishing the list of journal titles for this publisher. I am particularly concerned about #20 and #25. They are very close to legitimate journal titles. I know that is what these people count on, but these are two more to add to my suspect list if they come up in a search.

Does anybody know about this one: http://krishisanskriti.org/electrical/1brochure(EPEACT-2015).pdf

Update… For instance, “mcmed.de” is an on-line quack-medicine site, hawking “affordable alternatives to the pharmacy”.

Out of interest I looked at the editorial board of 2 of their journals: “International Journal of Neuro & Psychological Disorders” and “International Journal of Advanced Paediatrics”. The editorial boards for these 2 journals are identical. None of the associate editors has a primary academic expertise in either pediatrics or neurology. The “Editor in Chief” is a post-doctoral fellow.

I find it silly that you consider gender bias as a metric for scientific validity. It’s like saying something isn’t scientifically valid because all of the editorial board has brown hair. How can a paper be truly diverse and scientific unless a blonde is included?!?!

Thank you. I did that immediately. No response, but I do not expect one

I have it on good authority that two members of the editorial board are disassociating themselves from the journal.

They’re a branch of Pharma Intelligence (already on your list).

http://pharmaintelligence.org/images/pharma%20Intelligence%20proforma%202014.pdf

http://www.pharmaintelligence.org/images/SUBSCRIPTION%20BROCHURE%202014.pdf

These are price lists for subscribing to these open-access journals.

What language is “Der Pharmacologia Sinica” supposed to be? Did they think “Oh, a Latin name for our journal does not look sufficiently long-established, let’s tack on the definite article from German”?