Minutes ago I got the following solicitation from Research Media. I’m a physicist, so this is not just targeting biologists or medical researchers. This is much more casual and friendly than the random spam I get out of Asia. This is as close as I’ve come to taking the bait. I’m reproducing some of the verbiage here to help others see what it’s like. All in all, however, $3K for glossy self promotion may be very useful for tenure decisions in small and relatively unsophisticated institutions. It may be worth the money, but one should be aware that this is simply vanity publishing and has no scientific or real disseminatory value.
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Dear Dr. Slipmok,
I would like to speak with you concerning your project, the Physics of Biomedicine.
Research Media are producing a special publication in June 2014 and we would like to feature your work, within this publication we will be working with a small number of researchers and institutes with a broad focus on space, physics and earth sciences.
Our publication is called International Innovation and is quite different to typical scientific or peer reviewed journals, we cover the most important issues in science, education and research currently but our approach was developed to bridge the gap between science, education, policy, research, government and the private sector.
The series of reports provides concise, educational, informative and easy to understand information to all key stakeholders involved in the sector and beyond. We publish in hard copy format, along with digital.
The primary element of our work is to have a team of editors, science journalists and graphic designers translate often complex science in to a easily understandable piece that clearly demonstrates impact and relevance of the research to the wider community of stakeholders.
A very important point to note is that very little of your time is required in production of the article. I understand how busy you are at present but we have lots of time before the production deadline, throughout this process we usually require around two to three hours of your time over the coming months.
We will have an editorial team from Research Media assigned to you directly. This experienced, highly skilled team have worked with hundreds of scientists to disseminate in a simple language to a professional, visually attractive standard.
If you are not familiar with the publication you can view recent digital editions via the following link:
http://www.international-innovation-northamerica.com
Before we talk further please look over the attached articles recently produced. These examples will give you a clear idea of how your article could look.
I hope you agree, the attachment example articles I have sent look wonderful, and are written to the highest of standards.
International Innovation will also feature a selection of high level figures from both Government agencies and some of the worlds leading organisations and associations involved in the enhancement of research and science policy.
—-It then goes to list a bunch of previous “interviewees” and countries to which they disseminate information, etc…
