Mysterious Publisher Launches with 44 Journals

I received several tips recently about a large, new open-access publisher called Open Science. I have added this publisher to my list and recommend that researchers ignore the spam they are likely to receive – sooner or later – from this publisher.

The two main problems with this publisher that I observe are deceit and lack of transparency.  In terms of deceit, this publisher tries to make prospective authors and readers believe that it is based on Park Avenue in New York. The address it gives there is that of a mail-forwarding service.

We are left with no information about the true location of this publisher and why it wants to hide the true location. Also, the site gives no phone number, despite its invitation to call.

There is no information about who the true owners of this publishing operation are or where they are based. The site gives no hint of this information — it is cleverly concealed. If you can figure out where Open Science is based, please let me know. This publisher is not transparent; it leaves visitors to the site with lots of questions.

This is the third new open-access publisher I’ve seen in the past two weeks that has launched with a large fleet of journals with many of the titles starting with “American Journal of ….” The other two were Congress Press, which I wrote about last week, and American Scientific Research Journals, which I added to my list recently but didn’t write about.

Now there are likely more “American Journals” outside of America than in it.

Here are some other issues I observe with this publisher:

• It is accepting article and book submissions even though none of the 44 journals has any editorial board members yet.
• It uses lofty language to promote itself: “Open Science is an independent, open access publisher and unique cultural institution. We promote widespread awareness and boundary-breaking ideas. Through our well-crafted books, journals, public events, and innovative outreach programs we are building a vibrant community of readers, writers, and thinkers.”
•  It is currently undertaking a major spam campaign, soliciting editorial board memberships.
• It is simultaneously launching 44 new scholarly journals, most with broad scopes.

I will give the publisher credit for one thing: The English language on its site is quite good, with only a few trivial errors. This is different than most questionable publishers, who tend to have prominent grammatical and typographical errors on their sites.

Appendix: List of Open Science journals as of October 14, 2013:

1. American Journal of Biological Chemistry
2. American Journal of Biology and Life Sciences
3. American Journal of Business, Economics and Management
4. American Journal of Chemistry and Applications
5. American Journal of Chemistry and Materials Science
6. American Journal of Circuits, Systems and Signal Processing
7. American Journal of Computer Science and Engineering
8. American Journal of Earth Sciences
9. American Journal of Engineering, Technology and Society
10. American Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science
11. American Journal of Food Science and Nutrition Research
12. American Journal of Materials Science and Application
13. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation
14. American Journal of Modern Physics and Application
15. American Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
16. American Journal of Service Science and Management
17. American Journal of Social Sciences
18. American Journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy
19. International Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
20. International Journal of Archaeology and History
21. International Journal of Art and Literature
22. International Journal of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science
23. International Journal of BioMaterials Science and Engineering
24. International Journal of Computer Science and Control Engineering
25. International Journal of Educational Research and Information Science
26. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Protection
27. International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture
28. International Journal of Microbiology and Application
29. International Journal of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
30. International Journal of Nursing and Health Science
31. International Journal of Public Health Research
32. International Journal of Service Science, Management and Engineering
33. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Sciences
34. Medicine Journal
35. Open Science Journal of Analytical Chemistry
36. Open Science Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering
37. Open Science Journal of Clinical Medicine
38. Open Science Journal of Education
39. Open Science Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
40. Open Science Journal of Mathematics and Application
41. Open Science Journal of Modern Physics
42. Open Science Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
43. Open Science Journal of Psychology
44. Open Science Journal of Statistics and Application