PREDATORY AUTHOR SERVICES:WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT?
Hazel Newton Head of Author Services, Nature Publishing Group
Donald Samulack President, U.S. Operations, Editage/Cactus Communications
Josh Dahl Head of Publishing & Associations, Thomson Reuters
Jeffrey Beall Scholarly Communications Librarian and Associate Professor, University of Colorado, Denver
International Society of Managing and Technical Editors8th Annual North American ConferenceAugust 20-21, 2015 | Baltimore, MD
Panelists
#ISMTE2015
Thursday, August 20 (Breakout Session A)11:20 am – 12:05 am
Disclaimer
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The statements and opinions expressed by the panelists are those of the
individuals and not necessarily of the companies or organizations for whom
they work or represent.
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• On December 30, 2014, Jeffrey Beal posted “Is This a Paper Mill?” on his ScholarlyOA.com blog where he brought to light some irregularities of an otherwise seemingly very sophisticated author services website
• This was my personal call-to-action on several levels:• It was very sophisticated• It clearly heavily borrowed elements from Editage, AJE, and Edanz
websites; so they did their homework• It was clear to me that an unsuspecting author would never know
the difference
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• While Jeffrey clearly did due diligence on this site and uncovered a connection to a whole host of sites, at Editage we dug very deep and tested the degree of inappropriate behavior they were exhibiting.
• Offer to write a thesis.
• Questionable NDA agreements (Texas jurisdiction)
• Payment to Dubai
• Scholarly recognition certificates
• Web traffic focused in Pakistan
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• While it appears that PaperMoz (Journal Publishing) and Ace Publication Consultants (The Research Publication), the front companies behind many of the scholarly paper writing and editing website activities targeted at the research community, seem to have gone off the grid, some of their other sites are still up and running, seemingly targeting university and high school students writing essays and term papers.
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• But those who are looking to buy a manuscript, or buy their way onto a paper should not be dismayed. There are still plenty of websites to facilitate this for you.
• For example, SCIpaper.net is a manuscript “Marketplace” in China
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• There are plenty of titles for sale! You can buy to own the manuscript, buy your way onto the author by-line, or solicit the writing of a manuscript customized to your specifications (journal, Impact Factor, timeline to final draft, etc.)
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Chef, The Actor, and the Scoundrel
• If you call the customer service line, you will have access to just about any form of scholarly article you wish
• Check out www.scipaper.net/about.php?part=announce#1 (slow loading, but worth the wait, then prompt your browser to translate the page for you)
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
Fraud and Predation in Science Is Mainstream News
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
Fraud and Predation Affect Discovery
1. To evaluate and select the best scholarly content available today for coverage in Web of Science.
2. To provide the publishing community with objective standards for building world-class publications.
Journal Publishing Standards
Editorial Content
International Diversity
Citation Analysis
3,000+
10 ~ 12% Accepted
A continual process of evaluation and assessment of existing journals
JOURNAL SELECTION: MAIN OBJECTIVES
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
We need a culture of responsibility for the
integrity of the literature… it’s not just the job of
editors. Ginny BarbourCOPE Chair, Tokyo, Japan, 2015
Prevention Is the Responsibility of All Stakeholders
*Presented by Chris Graf, Treasurer, COPE at ScholarOne User Conference 2015
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
Call to Action…
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
Call to Action…
What is the “common purpose,” exactly?
To help preserve the integrity of the scholarly literature by ensuring transparency, discoverability, and accountability of responsible scholarly services to industry norms, guidelines, and best practices, so that academic authors can make informed decisions at point-of-service when seeking publication support and when publishing their scholarly works.
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Coalition for Responsible Publication Resourceswww.RPRcoalition.org
#RPRcoalitionPotential structure for an industry-wide Coalition:
• Participants from all facets of the scholarly landscape• Publishers, journals, academic societies, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions,
author support services, consultants, freelancers, and academic authors
• A tax-exempt non-profit US-based 501(c)(6) organization under IRS tax code• Organized into an “Executive and Committee” structure, eventually reporting to an
elected Board of Directors • Establishment of a Code of Practice, and an Audit that encompasses the core and
peripheral elements, and that embodies expected norms of responsible conduct• Supported by membership fees, industry grants, donations, and other means• The mission of the Coalition is to ensure transparency, discoverability, and
accountability of responsible scholarly services• The Membership is expected to educate authors about the mission of the Coalition• One potential output for the Coalition is the maintenance of a verifiable and dynamic
badge at a “point-of-service” as the mark of membership in the Coalition• The burden of proof will always be on the Member to provide evidence to the Coalition
of sustained adherence to industry best practices, when requested.
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Coalition for Responsible Publication Resourceswww.RPRcoalition.org
#RPRcoalition
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Coalition for Responsible Publication Resourceswww.RPRcoalition.org
#RPRcoalition
Hyperlinked to a registered certificate and Web form on
Coalition server
Coalition approval of Membership; point of payment of dues
Development and adjustment of Audit
Self-report via online Audit achieves Provisional
Member status
Continued vigilance over ongoing feedback and
yearly Audit assessments
Collaboration, education, and
thought leadership
Consideration of past and current knowledge
Audit of recognized and sustained best practices
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Coalition for Responsible Publication Resourceswww.RPRcoalition.org
#RPRcoalition
Open invitation for feedback:Feedback is invited from all interested parties on this proposal.In particular, feedback is welcomed on:
• The need for the Coalition• What the Coalition could be named• What should be “in” and “out” of scope of the activities of the Coalition• The necessary stakeholders to have representation, including
recommendations of particular people and/or organisations• The concept of a verifiable and dynamic badge at a “point-of-service” as
the mark of membership in the Coalition.
Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it? #ISMTE2015
The Coalition for Responsible Publication Resourceswww.RPRcoalition.org
#RPRcoalitionQuestion Period / Open Discussion
Hazel Newton Head of Author Services, Nature Publishing Group
Donald Samulack President, U.S. Operations, Editage/Cactus Communications
Josh Dahl Head of Publishing & Associations, Thomson Reuters
Jeffrey Beall Scholarly Communications Librarian and Associate Professor, University of Colorado, Denver