Template city
We recently learned of the launch of one of the largest scholarly open-access publishers. It’s called Academic and Scientific Publishing, and it launched with an amazing 355 journal titles.
None of the journals has any content, nor does any have an editorial board as far as we can tell. This publisher is only now beginning to spam researchers soliciting manuscripts and editorial board memberships. Each journal’s home page has several links, including links to the editorial board, the publication fee, and the like, but they are all blank.
The publisher does not state what its author fees will be. It appears to be run by Bangladeshis based in New York and Connecticut. The IP domain-name registration provides the following information:
Mohammad Rashid
mamun_sarker2002@yahoo.com
(203) 253-8235
Publishing Company
1429 35th Street Apt 1A
Brooklyn, NY 11218
We think that Mr. Rashid sometimes also uses his fuller name: Mohammad Mamun-or-Rashid. He appears to be associated with the Dhaka-based company Noorzahan Kamal Web Technology. We wonder how anyone could manage 355 scholarly journals from apartment 1A in Brooklyn.
Their other brand.
Some of the 355 journals are individually branded as being from the publisher Science and Technology Publishing. We are unsure why the two brands appear under the single Academic and Scientific Publishing banner.
We’ll monitor the development of this publisher. We worry that 355 individual journal titles will generate an extreme amount of spam.
Appendix: List of journals as of 2012-12-27
- American Journal of Agricultural Management and Economics
- American Journal of Agricultural Research
- American Journal of Applied Sociology
- American Journal of Biotechnology and Bioengineering
- American Journal of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Research
- American Journal of Chemical Engineering and Processing Technology
- American Journal of Clothing Science
- American Journal of Earth and Planetary Science
- American Journal of Engineering Technology
- American Journal of Environmental Chemistry
- American Journal of Environmental Health Sciences & Toxicology
- American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
- American Journal of Law
- American Journal of Music and Dance
- American Journal of Nanoscience
- American Journal of Pharmacology and Microbiology
- American Journal of Polymer Degradation and Stability
- American Journal of Psychology
- American Journal of Science and Environment
- American Journal of Sports Science
- American Journal of Stomatological Research
- American Journal of Stroke Research
- American NGO Journal
- Global Journal of Applied Agricultural Research
- Global Journal of Biotechnology and Bioengineering
- Global Journal of Business Administration and Management
- Global Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research
- Global Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism Research
- Global Journal of Operations Management and Services
- Global Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology Research
- International Journal Agriculture Engineering
- International Journal Environmental Engineering
- International Journal of Accounting
- International Journal of Accounting and Taxation
- International Journal of Advance Business Management and Information Technology
- International Journal of Advanced Analysis
- International Journal of Advanced Calculus
- International Journal of Advanced Mathematics
- International Journal of Advanced Mathematics and Physics
- International Journal of Advanced Mechanics
- International Journal of Advanced Nanomaterials
- International Journal of Advanced Physics
- International Journal of Advanced Software Engineering Research
- International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
- International Journal of Agricultural Biotechnology and Sustainable Development
- International Journal of Agricultural Chemistry
- International Journal of Agricultural Development and Economics
- International Journal of Agriculture and Food Technology
- International Journal of Alternative Energy
- International Journal of Alternative Energy and Petroleum Technology
- International Journal of Analytic Geometry
- International Journal of Analytical Biochemistry
- International Journal of Analytical Chemistry
- International Journal of Anatomy and Physiology
- International Journal of Animal Physiology
- International Journal of Anthropology
International Journal of Anthropology- International Journal of Applications of Discrete Mathematics
- International Journal of Applied Chemical Science Research
- International Journal of Applied Chemistry
- International Journal of Applied Electronics and Interfacing
- International Journal of Applied Environmental Sciences Research
- International Journal of Aquatic Ecology
- International Journal of Archaeology
- International Journal of Architectural Engineering
- International Journal of Arthritis Research and Therapy
- International Journal of Arts
- International Journal of Astrobiology
- International Journal of Astronomy
- International Journal of Astrophysics
- International Journal of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
- International Journal of Basic Sciences of Medicine
- International Journal of Behavioral Health and Neuroscience Research
- International Journal of Biodiversity Conservation
- International Journal of Biological Engineering Research
- International Journal of Biological Sciences
- International Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
- International Journal of Biophysics
- International Journal of Bioresource Technology
- International Journal of Biosecurity
- International Journal of Biotechnology Research
- International Journal of Botany
- International Journal of Business Management and Information Technology
- International Journal of Cancer Research
- International Journal of Carbon Nanotechnology
- International Journal of Catalyst
- International Journal of Cell Biology
- International Journal of Cell Biology and Genetics
- International Journal of Cell Biology Research
- International Journal of Ceramic Engineering Research
- International Journal of Cereals and Oilseeds
- International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- International Journal of Chemical Engineering Science
- International Journal of Chemical Science
- International Journal of Chemistry
- International Journal of Chemistry and Materials Science
- International Journal of Chemosphere Research
- International Journal of Circuits and Systems
- International Journal of Civil Engineering
- International Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction Technology
- International Journal of Classical Physics
- International Journal of Cleaner Production Research
- International Journal of Climate Change
- International Journal of Climate Change and Ecological Science
- International Journal of Clinical Immunopathology & Immunology
- International Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
- International Journal of Clinical Pathology Research
- International Journal of Clinical Practice
- International Journal of Clinical Reviews and Opinions
- International Journal of Coal Science and Engineering
- International Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
- International Journal of Composite Materials
- International Journal of Computation Techniques in the Materials Sciences
- International Journal of Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics Research
- International Journal of Computer and Internet Security System
- International Journal of Computer Engineering Research
- International Journal of Computer Science and Application
- International Journal of Condensed Matter Physics
- International Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
- International Journal of Database Theory and Application
- International Journal of Dermatology and Venereology Research
- International Journal of Design Engineering
- International Journal of Developmental Microbiology and Molecular Biology
- International Journal of Diabetes Research and Endocrinology
- International Journal of Digital Signal Engineering
- International Journal of Dynamics of Fluids Engineering
- International Journal of Earth Science and Engineering
- International Journal of Economics
- International Journal of Ecosystem Research
- International Journal of Educational Research
- International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- International Journal of Electromagnetic Science
- International Journal of Electronics Cooling and Thermal Control
- International Journal of Energy
- International journal of Energy and Combustion Science
- International Journal of Energy and Power
- International Journal of Energy Conversion and Management
- International Journal of Energy Engineering
- International Journal of Energy Management and Policy
- International Journal of Energy Science and Technology
- International Journal of Engineering and Computer Innovations
- International Journal of Engineering and Technology Research
- International Journal of Engineering Studies Research
- International Journal of Entomology
- International Journal of Environmental Engineering and Management Research
- International Journal of Environmental Forensics
- International Journal of Environmental Protection and Waste Management
- International Journal of Environmental Protection Research
- International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology Research
- International Journal of Environmental Science and Development Research
- International Journal of Finance
- International Journal of Finance and Accounting
- International Journal of Finance and Management
- International Journal of Fisheries
- International Journal of Fisheries and Aquaculture Research
- International Journal of Fluid Dynamics
- International Journal of Food and Public Health Research
- International Journal of Food Chemistry
- International Journal of Food Science and Technology
- International Journal of Foreign Trade and Policy Research
- International Journal of Forensic Medicine Research
- International Journal of Forest and Mountain Ecology
- International Journal of Forestry
- International Journal of Foundation Mathematics
- International Journal of Frontiers in Science
- International Journal of Fuel and Energy Research
- International Journal of Fuel Processing Technology
- International Journal of Fuels
- International Journal of Game Theory
- International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research
- International Journal of General Engineering Research
- International Journal of General Microbiology
- International Journal of Genetics Engineering
- International Journal of Genetics Research
- International Journal of Geographic Information System
- International Journal of Geography
- International Journal of Hazard and Disaster Management
- International Journal of Hazardous Materials
- International Journal of Herbal Medicine
- International Journal of Histology
- International Journal of History and Culture
- International Journal of HIV & AIDS Research
- International Journal of Horticulture and Forestry
- International Journal of Hospitality Administration and Management
- International Journal of Human Geography
- International Journal of Human Resource Development
- International Journal of Human Resource Management Research
- International Journal of Industrial Chemistry
- International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Technology
- International Journal of Industrial Technology
- International Journal of Infectious Diseases and Immunity Research
- International Journal of Information and Computation Technology Research
- International Journal of Information Science
- International Journal of Information Science and Application
- International Journal of Information Science and Education Research
- International Journal of Information Technology & Operations Management
- International Journal of Information Technology and Library Science Research
- International Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
- International Journal of Instrumentation Science
- International Journal of Internal Medicine Research
- International Journal of Languages and Culture
- International Journal of Linear Algebra & Matrix Theory
- International Journal of Linguistics
- International Journal of Livestock Production Research
- International Journal of Management
- International Journal of Marine Engineering
- International Journal of Marine Geosciences
- International Journal of Materials Chemistry
- International Journal of Materials Science
- International Journal of Mathematical Finance
- International Journal of Mathematical Modeling and Applied Computing
- International Journal of Mathematics
- International Journal of Mechanical Engineering
- International Journal of Medical and Diagnostic Biochemistry
- International Journal of Medical Case Studies
- International Journal of Medical Genetics and Genomics Research
- International Journal of Medical Laboratory and Diagnosis Research
- International Journal of Medical Practice and Reviews Research
- International Journal of Metabolic Biochemistry
- International Journal of Metabolomics and Systems Biology Research
- International Journal of Metal and Steel Research Technology
- International Journal of Microbial Ecology
- International Journal of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
- International Journal of Microelectronics and Solid State Electronics
- International Journal of Microscopy and Cytometry
- International Journal of Mineral Science
- International Journal of Modern Nonlinear Theory and Application
- International Journal of Molecular Biology
- International Journal of Molecular Catalysis
- International Journal of Molecular Chemistry
- International Journal of Molecular Genetics Research
- International Journal of Molecular Nanotechnology
- International Journal of Nanomaterials
- International Journal of Natural Science
- International Journal of Networking & Computer Engineering Research
- International Journal of Neurochemistry
- International Journal of Neuroscience
- International Journal of Nuclear Engineering
- International Journal of Nuclear Science
- International Journal of Nursing Science Research
- International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research
- International Journal of Ocean Engineering
- International Journal of Oceans and Oceanography Research
- International Journal of Operations Research
- International Journal of Ophthalmology
- International Journal of Optics and Nanophotonics
- International Journal of Optics Science
- International Journal of Oral Hygiene & Dentistry Research
- International Journal of Organic Chemistry
- International Journal of Peace and Development
- International Journal of Petroleum and Gas Engineering
- International Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences
- International Journal of Pharmacology & Pharmacy
- International Journal of Pharmacy
- International Journal of Physical Chemistry
- International Journal of Physiology and Pathophysiology Research
- International Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science Research
- International Journal of Plant Genetics
- International Journal of Polymer Chemistry
- International Journal of Polymer Science
- International Journal of Prevention and Treatment
- International Journal of Pure Mathematics
- International Journal of Pyrolysis Technology
- International Journal of Quantum Mechanics
- International Journal of Quantum Physics
- International Journal of Radiology
- International Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy
- International Journal of Renewable Energy
- International Journal of Renewable Energy and Smart Grid
- International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
- International Journal of Resources and Environment
- International Journal of Resources and Recycling
- International Journal of Rivers and Lakes Research
- International Journal of Robotic Engineering
- International Journal of Safety Engineering
- International Journal of Science and Entrepreneurship
- International Journal of Science and Technology
- International Journal of Scientific Research and Essays
- International Journal of Sensor Technology
- International Journal of Separation and Purification Technology
- International Journal of Sociological Science
- International Journal of Software Engineering
- International Journal of Soil and Erosion
- International Journal of Soil Science
- International Journal of Solid-State Chemistry
- International Journal of Solid-state Science
- International Journal of Spinal Cord Research
- International Journal of Statistical Design and Analysis
- International Journal of Statistics
- International Journal of Statistics and Mathematics
- International Journal of Stored Products and Postharvest
- International Journal of Surface Science
- International Journal of Surgical Research Application
- International Journal of Synthetic Chemistry
- International Journal of Telecommunication Engineering
- International Journal of Textile Science
- International Journal of Theoretical Chemistry
- International Journal of Theoretical Physics
- International Journal of Thermodynamics
- International Journal of Tourism Management
- International Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
- International Journal of Transfusion Science
- International Journal of Transportation Engineering
- International Journal of Tumor Therapy Research
- International Journal of Vector Biology
- International Journal of Vocational Education
- International Journal of Waste to Energy
- International Journal of Web Engineering
- International Journal of Wildlife Ecology
- International Journal of Wireless Networks and Communications
- International Journal of Worldwide Waste Management
- International Journal of Zoology
- International Journal Surface and Coatings Technology Science
- International Journal Thermal and Catalytic Process
- International Journals of Biochemistry and Biotechnology Research
- International Research in Cancer & Tumor
- Journal of Advanced Biotechnology
- Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
- Journal of Agriculture
- Journal of American Studies and Development
- Journal of Animal Health and Veterinary Medicine
- Journal of Automotive Engineering Research
- Journal of Business and Rural Development Studies
- Journal of Civil Mechanical Engineering
- Journal of Computational Science and Engineering
- Journal of Control Science and Engineering
- Journal of Engineering and Manufacturing Science Research
- Journal of Experimental Oncology Research
- Journal of Management and Technology Research
- Journal of Medical Sciences & Medicine
- Journal of Medicinal Plant Research
- Journal of Optoelectronic Engineering Research
- Journal of Parasitological Research
- Journal of Phytotherapy & Pharmacognosy Research
- Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture
- Journal of Roads and Highway Engineering
- Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management Research
- Journal of Water
- Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
- Journal of Web and Grid Services
- Journal of Wireless and Mobile Communications Engineering
- Open Journal of Computational Linear Algebra
- Open Journal of Computational Physics
- Open Journal of Ecohydrology and Climate Change
- Open Journal of English and Literature
- Open Journal of Environmental Protection and Management Science
- Open Journal of Forensic Science
- Open Journal of Industrial & Production Engineering
- Open Journal of Marine Science
- Open Journal of Mathematics and Physical Science
- World Journal of Advanced Mechanical Engineering Research
- World Journal of Applied Engineering Research
- World Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- World Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
- World Journal of Wireless Networks and Applications
I wonder whether this guy could even manage to register ISSN for these journals. When a person wants to handle so many journals at the same time, he will end up publishing Plagiarized papers and his website will quickly be in trouble since people start sending complains web hosting firms. Just wait and see the first few papers.
Thanks Jeff for carefully monitoring scientific society.
Naser
The ISSN is in a large part to blame. Corruption does not start at the bottom., It starts at the top. No quality control. Makes you wonder what the ISSN benefits from being associated with this plague. Contact your national ISSN Center today, anonymously, or not, and launch a formal complaint and demand a formal explanation. Time to make the REAL fraudsters sweat. If the ISSN did not give these predatory OA publishers the tool to validate their journals, maybe they would find it more difficult to attract authors. The equation is simple. Clean up the rot at the top and you will see an instant filtering down of cleansing at the bottom of the food chain.
While scrolling down to the comment form I was also thinking about ISSNs :)
I noticed that 56 and 57 appear to be duplicates (“International Journal of Anthropology”).
Ben, thanks for catching that. I crossed it out, but I think I will not change my title.
There are many similar cases of OA publishers who claim they are running over 100 journals but when we check the journals’ content we see that only a few have actual contents. Look at IDOSI for example, idosi.org, they claim to run nearly 100 journals but fewer than 10 journals are active and the rest of them are almost dead. So the moral story is that this person will end up having the same future and in this particular case the link of publishers will soon be in trouble.
These days, absorbing some professionals as editorial board, attracting interested researchers to submit papers are not as easy as it was. In most academic agencies such as universities, people do not give any credit to these kinds of publishers any more.
I think this wave of internet scam will disappear from OA publishers soon.
Naser
I am sorry that I am re-posting some of my thoughts again from previous thread (http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/19/publisher-charges-authors-for-retractions/#comments).
Basically, I believe that always competition is healthy. At least some of the new publishers (Hindawai, Co-action, Frontiers, etc) started to break the monopoly of the giants. It is a good sign for all of us. But I also strongly agree that these new publishers (which are mainly small start-up), are showing immaturity by launching so many journals (50,100,150…or so on). (in this case 355!!!!) If they really want to manage all the related journal operations ethically and rightly, then they should start with small numbers. They should make successful the first lot (3-6 only. Not more that that). Initial days, they are bound to do some mistakes. But if the number of journal is small, then amount of error will be less and then if you are sincere, you can correct those errors. Then apply those learning to launch next lot of journals (again not more that 3-6). Progressive learning and application of those learning makes things easier. This is the science. A big development can not come overnight. Whenever I see that a new publisher comes up with a fleet of journals, I imagine that this is going to again populate Beall’s list. Anyone related to journal publication, knows how difficult to manage religiously even the peer review formalities of 5 journals. Then for a serious publisher starting with 50/100 journals, will be nightmare. I think this trend started with Benatham Open, when they started 200/300 journal at a time some years ago. Too many journals mean too many errors. Then rectifying those errors will be next to impossible. Ten the publisher will slowly enter inside the darkness of academic criminal publishing.
Regarding allotment of ISSN: I am very much aware that from 2012 (June onwards), HQ of ISSN (Paris) advised all national centers to be alerted about low quality unethical journals. They requested to all centres to make some preliminary checks (valid editorial board, repeated papers from same author in the first issue, etc) before allotting ISSN. But I don’t know that whether you agree or not that Basic Principle of ISSN (According to the basic ISSN rules, all the publications which comply with the definition of a serial (i.e “continuing resource issued in a succession of discrete issues or parts, usually bearing numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion” [iii]) are eligible for ISSN assignment whatever their physical medium. Reference: http://www.issn.org/2-22635-What-is-an-ISSN.php).
Therefore, the basic goal of ISSN is something different than stopping these predatory publishers. But I also agree that rules can be changed as per the changed scenario.
Most amazing. What (apparent) greed will spawn…
Hi Jeff
Thanks for providing this information to the scientific society, but I have one doubt. Academic and Scientific Publishing just now started their Journals even they have not published a single Issue of any Journals. I contacted the office of Academic and Scientific Publishing and they said that still they are waiting for ISSN registration and most of the software work is still under construction. Than how can you say that Academic and Scientific Publishing is the fake publisher. Ok on the basis of quality of the article and related material once we can say that this kind of publishers are fake but Academic and Scientific Publishing still they are in preliminary step
I never used the term “fake publisher.” I have listed this publisher on my list of predatory publishers, so it’s fair to say I’ve called it predatory. It’s clear that the mission of this publisher is to make money off of scientists, and that’s why they started with so many journals. The people handling the operation apparently have no experience in scholarly publishing. There is also some confusion over branding, as there are at least two distinct brands represented in the website, but without explanation. If the publisher is waiting for the ISSNs to be approved, then they should have waited before publishing all the empty templates. I know that they are spamming scientists with invitations to join their editorial boards, the same method used by other predatory publishers. The name of the publisher, “Academic and Scientific Publishing” is very close to the name of another publisher, “Scientific and Academic Publishing” and may be an attempt to confuse scientists. Anyone who knows anything about scholarly publishing knows that starting with 354 journals is a very poor business decision. I’ve seen enough scam operations to know that this one is just another attempt to exploit the gold open-access model. I recommend against having any contact with this publisher.
Raj, you sound like you are part of Academic and Scientific Publishing by defending it so strongly. You see, this is EXACTLY the problem. This publisher has the responsibility to wait for the assignment of ISSN numbers before it starts to spam and post information online. The fact that it is rushing the process, trying to shove its contentless, unregistered void down scientists’ throats is evidence that it is a predator. Kudos for listing this irresponsible publisher.
I don’t know why the subject of ISSN keeps coming up.
1. ISSN assignment have NEVER been about content or quality. As long as it is serials, it can get an ISSN.
2. It is not even physically possible to review every entry. Some ISSNs are assigned before first issue published.
Vanity journals and books have always existed. It used to be in the humanities (There are many pay to publish poetry journals and monographs for literary rejects). Now it is in the sci & eng because of the OA movement. …And they always had ISSNs and ISBNs.
If there’s any chatter about reviewing each journal that request an ISSN, that is definitely news to me.
I think this guy must have been pressing reload on here a lot:
http://virtualchrisleonard.co.uk/bjg.html
But in all seriousness, I hope no one is taken in by this shell of a scam. Thanks for flagging it up.
I believe this publisher even did not bother to do a simple search on whether the journals listed above had already been registered by others or not. For example International Journal of Civil Engineering
has already been registered by other people. Here is the link:
ijce.iust.ac.ir
The words are the same, nothing more, nothing less. We may now officially call this guy, a noive predatory publisher.
I am sure if some one download a PDF format published paper, change it to word, put a new fake author name and submit it to this publisher, it will be getting accepted. They may even publish it with no charge just to encourge for another submission.
I think this guy was not even worth for investigation.
Naser
Naser, I am not sure if we should be applauding you, or criticising you. You have just given a brilliant idea to to-be fraudsters who are willing to try anything now. That is why I have always advocated the inclusion of Adobe security on PDF files to avoid the abuse, manipulation and loss of information from the PDF itself. Do you know why so many publishers do not include security on their PDFs? Because Google, Yahoo and other spiders, trawlers and bots cannot read key words and thus those papers don’t appear high up on Google or Yahoo searches. I am sorry, but thumbs down for your ideas, because you use the term “I am sure”, suggesting that you might be doing just what you are advocating against. Proof of the predatory nature (or hill-billy ignorance and sloppiness) is entry No. 315 (multiple journals within one journal)?
Robin Hood
I was only joking about that part, please disregard that part of my comment. I have never done and will never do such action to any one. Thanks for sharing your advise.
Best
Naser
But isn’t that the same list published by “Canadian Center of Science and Education” ..who claim on their website to have existed since 2006 .. although the journal I know only started last year ?
[...] I recently discovered a group of 15 brand-new journals that are not published under the banner of any publisher — each operates as an independent journal. They all have an intriguing relationship with Academic and Scientific Publishing, a new predatory publisher I recently described in an earlier blog post. [...]
Another “open access” racket