It’s a new year and my email inbox is brimming with invitations addressed to “Dr.” Stacey Johnson to be a speaker at a scientific conference, be on a scientific editorial board, submit an article based on my research – you get the idea. So what, you say? You also get these invitations? Congratulations. My point isn’t to brag. I am questioning why these conference organizers and journals are so desperate they will invite anyone without any vetting. As Groucho Marx once said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”
As we are all aware, predatory journals are likely here to stay and so are conferences looking to fill their roster of speakers to attract attendees.
As Arndt Leininger points out in his post about predatory journals and #FakeScience, these publications don’t fool a lot of scientists. It is mostly media and the general public who have difficulty distinguishing between serious, peer-reviewed journals and those that invite communications professionals to submit their academic studies to biomedical and life sciences journals. Recently, one such publication invited me to submit a paper and join the Editorial Panel/Reviewer Team. A privilege of being a reviewer is I get a discount on the fee I pay to have my research published (see #5). Lucky me.
While these email requests can be quickly dismissed as only a minor nuisance, their impact on society is potentially greater. How many dubious stem cell clinics get their work published in these journals and then showcase these articles on their website to legitimize their claims? How often will media report on a study of inferior quality that hasn’t been peer reviewed, but sounds newsworthy? Scientists who knowingly submit to these journals because of the “publish or perish” pressure could be hurting more than themselves.
If you are unsure whether an invitation to publish or present is legitimate, University Affairs has some tips:
- Is the request motivated by money?
- Is the request riddled with bad spelling and grammar, hyperbolic language about the conference or flattery about your expertise?
- Is there a lack of interest in the quality of the contribution or no direction on what you should write/speak about?
Read Sarah Elaine Eaton’s article for a complete list of indicators you should watch for.
Curious about the status of a particular journal or publisher? You can check Jeffrey Beall’s comprehensive list.
In closing, I’d just like to state that while my byline does appear outside of Signals, it is only in legitimate contexts.
The almost last word goes to Arndt Leininger, from the Elephant in the Lab blog above, who reminds his readers of this quip credited to Winston Churchill: “Do not trust any statistics you did not fake yourself.”
If you’d like to watch a humourous (with some swearing) take on this issue, click on Jayde Lovell’s video.
Stacey Johnson
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