December 1, 2013

Musings on mock conferences and predatory journals - Copy Shake and Paste

Jeffrey Beall published the "evaluation form" from a scientist who was lured to one of the many OMICS mock conferences. He describes pretty much all of the behavior that is found at such conferences: no involvement of the people on the committees, shortening the conference, massive no-shows, lots of pictures and awards and a fancy web site. It took a lot of effort on his part to get his name removed from their web site, the entire page has now been pulled. Perhaps scientists should quit attending large conferences at hotels, instead sticking to smaller, focused conferences held at universities?

OMICS also publish a wide range of "open access" journals that are on the predatory publishing list. I wonder how many of the "editors-in-chief" actually know that they are editors here?

One of the commenters noted that there is now a CWTS Journal indicator that calculates an impact factor that is normalized according to the field for journals in the SCOPUS database. I looked up a few journals, they seem to have only English-language journals listed. Even just looking at my field, I see so very many journals, how on earth are people able to read all of them? It might be good to check out the journals you are planning on submitting to before you dash off that manuscript.

Random Posts


  • German minister gives up doctorate after plagiarism row

    Germany's defence minister has given up his doctoral title for good, after allegations that he had plagiarised sections of his thesis. Last week Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said he would temporarily give up the title while his university investigated the charges.The University of Bayreuth says he h... READ MORE>>

  • Misconduct and adventure - TheScientist

    The Lab, a new interactive film from the Office of Research Integrity, is a fresh approach to research misconduct training.The entire film is online at ORI's website. Read more: Misconduct and adventure - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences READ MORE>>

  • Why Cheating is Wrong

    Scott Williams & Michael Courtney Abstract: Mathieu Bouville’s "Why is cheating wrong?" (Studies in Philosophy and Education, 29(1), 67-76, 2010) misses the mark by failing to consider the longer term consequences of cheating on student character development and longer term societal consequences... READ MORE>>

  • Editors Crack Down on Plagiarism With Help of Detective Software

    Adam Marcus Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News  If a plagiarist plagiarizes from an author who has plagiarized, do we call it a wash and go for a beer?That scenario is precisely what Steven L. Shafer, MD, found himself facing recently. Dr. Shafer, editor-in-chief of Anesthesia & An... READ MORE>>

  • Retraction Watch is watching you

    Charles DayBig, scandalous cases of scientific fraud are widely covered in the popular press. In the early 2000s Jan Hendrik Schön of Bell Labs published 21 papers about organic semiconductors: seven in Nature, six in Physical Review Letters, and eight in Science. All of them were withdrawn when it ... READ MORE>>

  • U.S. Scientists Top Research-Fraud List -- How Concerned Should We Be?

    A recent paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics showing that American scientists are responsible for most cases of scientific retractions and fraud is causing a stir.The paper's author, Dr. R. Grant Steen, searched PubMed, a leading science research database, and identified 788 retracted papers from... READ MORE>>

  • Top retractions of 2010 - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

    Jef Akst Retractions are a scientist's worst nightmare. In the last 10 years, at least 788 scientific papers have been pulled from the literature, according to a study published this year in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Whether it is a result of research misconduct, duplicate publication, or simp... READ MORE>>

.

.
.

Popular Posts