Caveat Emptor, Researcher

"Dear Lakhtakia, Akhlesh,
"This is from Frontiers of Engineering Mechanics Research (FEMR). It is a great honour writing to you.
"We found a paper you published. It's an excellent paper which is well matched with the Focus & Scope of FEMR.
"Title: Erratum: Theory of thin-film, narrowband, linear-polarization rejection filters with superlatice structure...
"To promote the communications in the area of engineering mechanics, we are now sending our earnest invitation for you to submit new paper to FEMR."
Pseudo-scientific online Journal

Who, other than researchers desperate to have their studies published -- published anywhere in some journal, obscure or recognized -- to be able to state on their CV that they are well published, might know that there are hundreds of research journals emanating from around the world who eagerly offer their publication to service those academic papers looking for a home to nestle in?

Trouble is, these are not bona-fide journals that one can trust for the calibre of the papers they are so eager to publish. For one thing, those over-eager researchers are more than willing to pay to have their research discoveries of great moment, but as-yet-unrecognized by the scientific research community, see publication. As long as they are prepared to pay the publisher's price, the paper will be published.

The paper will be published, never edited, never peer-reviewed, never checked to determine by someone scientifically literate and capable of discerning nonsense from science, the legitimacy of what is being published. The paper, language inconsistencies, spelling errors complete, on publication will be read, and those as ignorant as the author and the publisher will take whatever the research reveals as representative of science.

These are shadow publications with fake addresses, fake names and no claim whatever to scientific legitimacy. They are "predatory" journals publishing the work of desperate-to-publish authors, scientists of dim repute who will pay whatever the going rate happens to be to get their work out there, to be uncritically taken for publication, asserting by default the article's genuine usefulness.

One Texas-based journal published a study identifying Bigfoot DNA. A bit of investigation indicated the DNA was that of an opossum, a diurnal creature, a marsupial somewhat akin to a koala. The journal itself was a fringe-pseudo-science enterprise with its own agenda to push the legend of the Bigfoot.

What happens when reputable people involved say, in medical science, read such claptrap and believe it? Say, for example, a brilliant new surgical technique never before ventured and appearing as though it is a breakthrough in a brilliant new protocol to improve surgical outcomes. And it is based on nothing more than someone's feverish imagination.

With just that kind of scenario in mind, there are those who find the situation scandalous and hope to do something about it. "Do you want your surgeon reading questionable research? No." The quality in some of these sources "is abominable", said Cameron Macdonald, executive director of Canadian Science Publishing in Ottawa.

"You can do a really half-assed job and get a journal up" online. "Many of them just appear and all of a sudden they're publishing 40 journals", hiding behind academic terms that sound oh, so legitimate; like "institute", or "medical centre. "There's a lot of fabrication that goes on with these predator journals."

Like the one quoted above whose blandishment appealing to the desperation of those seeking publication revealed that the publisher had no idea that "Erratum" is Latin for the need to correct. Many of the journals claim they're based within Western academic centres. Scientific & Academic Publishing Co. which claims the publication of 200 journals out of California is located in China.

At one time scientific journals were printed and acquired by subscription. Currently many of those same journals make use of an "open access" system, publishing online, free to anyone to peruse. The authors pay all the costs. Research that is deemed unpublishable in legitimate journals can find a publisher to print their work, inclusive of errors.

Some of the journals list no staff names or telephone contact numbers; only an email address and a Pay Pal account. If reputable names for editors are listed, sometimes they're simply lifted from a university website without the knowledge of the individual involved. For the fee of several hundred dollars per individual per paper, it has become a business enterprise for the unscrupulous.