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I am grateful not to be subject to this form of institutional pressure. As Aristotle said, “Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.” I am a lawyer, not an academic. While I have been privileged to have some of my articles published in respected law journals and law association newsletters, I do not suffer from the deceit, or conceit, that I am a legal academic. Nevertheless, peer review is peer review. Whether I am writing a case comment or traditional legal journal article, I am mindful that the purpose of legal writing is more than mere pedagogy. There is a method to one’s madness in devoting valuable time and concentrated effort into legal writing; applying intellectual rigour to a legal problem and trying to provide a new or different way towards a solution. It sharpens the mind and reinvigorates the psyche.
It is for these reasons that I urge fellow legal writers of all persuasions to think twice before accepting an invitation to publish with the Journal of US-China Law Review, one of a number of academic journals published by David Publishing Company a Chinese-based online publisher with offices in Libertyville, Illinois and Queen’s, New York.
“David Publishing strives to provide the best platform for researchers and scholars worldwide to exchange their latest findings and results. We admire your achievements, and we understand how important your research impact to other peers in the same interest field and other disciplines, and how delighted you would be when communicating with global professional peers. Your contribution to our journals would be very much welcome!
Requirements
1. Paper must be empirical or theoretical contributions without being published previously;
2. All other scholars’ words or remarks as well as their origins must be indicated if quoted
3. Abstract and key words should be prerequisite;
4. Paper would contain at least 3000 words (including abstract, keywords and footnotes.
5. The sample of the journal is in attachment, you can consult it.”
After a purported “double-blind” peer review process, my article was approved for publication, subject to some very minor edits:
“Dear Antonin I. Pribetic,
We are pleased to inform you that your paper… submitted for consideration for US-China Law Review, has been processed utilizing a two person referee process and upon their recommendation your paper has been accepted for publication.But there are some modification you should do.We have indicated in text,you can find it in attachment.And please send back the revision in one week.
Best regards
Journal of US-China Law Review
David publishing Company”
After some to-ing and fro-ing during the editorial process, I received a confirmatory email which began innocuously enough:
“Dear Antonin I. Pribetic,
We have received your revision. Please tell us your research field.” [emphasis added]
Well, someone must not have read the paper after all. Note to Journal Editors: read the abstract and keywords and you’ll probably surmise what the research field is.
The Journal editor’s email then continues with terms and conditions for publication:
According to the policy of the journal, if you agree to publish your paper, you need to confirm several things below and offer us definite answers:
1. All articles must normally be empirical or theoretical contributions not previously published; all other scholars’ words or remarks and their origins must be indicated if quoted;2. Confirm to authorize us to publish your paper in US journal;3. Confirm to authorize us to add your paper to Hein Online, EBSCO,CEPS, VIP, etc, after it is published;4. Confirm to authorize us to add your paper to CSA Social Science Collection of databases，PAISl database…”
So far, so good.
Until…this curve ball is served up:
“5. When your paper is accepted for publishing, you need to pay a service charge on reviewing, editing and printing your paper. The flat price is $50 per page. Your paper has 14 pages, and the total service fee is $720 (including $20 postage for hard copies of the journal after your paper is published).
Attached pls find out the payment methods.After we receive your confirmation on payment arrange, we will typeset and print your paper and inform you our process details later.
When your paper is published, the journal within your paper and invoice will be mailed to you.
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us!Best Regards,
SincerelyJournal of US-China Law ReviewISSN1548-6605，USA” [emphasis added]
Um. Yeah, I’ve got a question. Here’s my reply email:
“Are you seriously asking me to pay a service charge to your journal to have my paper published? I thought the Journal of US-China Law Review was a legitimate academic journal. The answer is a flat NO. Please do not waste my time.”
Antonin I. Pribetic
Thanks for your report. I received an e-mail from David Publishing as well, asking me to publish in the Jounral of Life Sciences. First, I am not in life sciences. Second, the text did refer to a specific presentation of mine at a conference last year, but did not cite a bit of the content. Third, the e-mail was not signed by any person with a name (only the name of the journal). After a brief search I found their homepage, which looked legitimate at first sight, and your blog with this entry. Deleted the e-mail, knowing I did not turn down an opportunity. Thanks again! – JPL
I"m glad this post saved you from wasting your time.
Thanks a lot for this information. I received an invitation as well, asking me to publish in the Journal “China-USA Business Review”. The conference presentation they are interested in has nothing to do with the field of international economics at all. But nevertheless, it looked reliable. Then I found this story.
Thanks a lot saving my time!
Oh that was a close one. It seems they’re targeting the history crowd now with a new journal. Do you mind that I put up the journal title and ISSN so that others can find their way to your story through a google search?
The tried to get me hooked onto their journal titled “History Research”, ISSN 2159-550X. They had the nice tag line “from knowledge to wisdom.”
You are welcome to link my post as a matter of responsible journalism in the public interest.
Great post. I also am a historian who was targeted by the “History Research” journal, ISSN 2159-550X. Nice scheme. It would have pulled precious time away from my dissertation work.
Thanks. I’m glad that it saved you from wasting time. Please feel free to forward the post to your colleagues.
Thanks so much for this one. I did get an unsolicited email from a David Publishing Company journal called ‘From Knowledge to Wisdom’ just today. Though flattered by the prospect of having my article published in a international journal, I googled the journal and found your blog, and shall naturally refuse. Great and very useful post!
You’re very welcome. This blawg strives to make a modest contribution in the quest ‘From Knowledge to Wisdom’…
Hi, I am also grateful for your blog on David Publishing. I’m up for tenure soon and this type of solicitation for papers looks pretty inviting. Thank goodness I din’t waste my time, but instead decided to google DP with the words “scam” and “fraud”. Odd that there aren’t more blogs and/or fraud alerts about them. Thanks again….
Another vote of thanks. I gave a paper at a conference just last weekend and already got their e-mail — these guys move fast! I’m passing the word on to both my panel mates and the organization that put on the conference, so a word to all who read this: Spread the Word!
Evangelizing the Gospel of Truth About David Publishing Company: The Bird is the Word.
Having so many confirmations helps to protect the innocent. I was flattered when asked to submit my paper. I did not present my paper at a conference this year because of personal challenges; however, my publication was still solicited by David Publishing. This would have been an unwise move.
Thanks for putting this up. They’ve changed their wording but not their methods; I received a request for my paper to be published in the Journal of Energy and Power Engineering.
You’re welcome, Steve. I’m pleased that my post saved you both time and money. I note it has been reposted on Facebook and online academic bulletin boards, as well.
I got the “History Research” email the other day inviting me to submit a paper, but it included this as well:
“Currently, we are trying to invite some scholars who are willing to join our editorial board or be our reviewers. If you are interested in our journal, please send your CV to us. Hope to keep in touch via email and can publish some papers or books from you and your friends. As an American academic publishing group, we wish to become your friends if we may.”
Perhaps I’d get to keep some of those hundreds of dollars per article if I’m an editor? Or perhaps I have to pay to be an editor?
The last line is priceless. Sound just like the emails I get from lovely ladies in far-off lands who see my profile online, and want to “become my friend.”
David’s Publishing Company is also using conference email lists to forward their scam. The Popular Culture Association’s National Conference program is being used to selectively solicit presenters. I was almost taken in by this scam. The email seemed genuine and referenced my abstract specifically (which I later learned had been published on the conference website).The journal was called The Journal of Literature and Arts Studies. Since I am a PhD student about to enter the job market, I take offers to publish my work seriously. The email made no mention of payment or suspicious publishing methods, but I had never heard of the journal or the publisher.
I immediately started checking into the journal. I checked the MLA Bibliography of Periodicals database and found nothing; however, the journal editor claimed they were very new and specifically mentioned that publication did not cost a dime in their journal. I even found David’s Publishing listed under EBSCO and Ulrich Periodicals Directory. This nearly sold me on submitting my article; however, I decided to conduct a Google search before submitting and found this online article. It seems EBSCO and Ulrich Periodicals, which are legitimate scholarly databases, have shamelessly allowed this publisher to be listed in their system, probably because the scam does actually extend to the use of peer reviewers. Colleagues of mine from the conference were sent emails asking them to be peer reviewers for the journal.
This shady publishing company is truly producing a topnotch scam. They solicit legitimate scholars for publication and the peer review process at the same time. I would have been completely fooled. I have no doubt the peer reviewer responding to my submission would have legitimate comments and would believe that they were working for a legitimate journal, probably even placing their work for the journal on their CVs. As a scholarly community, I think we should push for the Chronicle of Higher Education to produce a list of such publishers for new and old scholars. We should also encourage EBSCO and Ulrich Periodicals to take such publishers out of their databases.
Hi All,
I am a history doctoral candidate and they tracked me through a recent conference presentation… thank you for all of the warnings–I figured I would add one.
Best,
Beware
Thanks for posting these experiences. I just got an email today, but was thrown off by the fact that there was no editor formally inviting me. As a former editorial coordinator of an academic journal, I urge everyone to be weary of appeals that are not sent from an individual affiliated with the journal.
And, I agree that the Chronicle should report on these types of “phishing” emails. This is important for advanced grad students and tenure track faculty especially as we look for opportunities to publish in peer-reviewed journals.
You’re welcome. Please feel free to forward this post to any of your peers and colleagues who are considering submitting their research for publication with David Publishing Company.
[...] #1: Aspiring young scholars should know what they’re getting in to. Be wary of publishing scams from China and Libertyville, Illinois. Try to get published through conference connections and [...]
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad that my post has helped you and many of your academic colleagues avoid wasting time and expense.
Hi Antonin,
Thank you for your information. I experienced the same situation. They invited me to submit one of my papers on the “Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering”. What made me suspicious was the fact that their peer-reviewers didn’t make any comments or suggestions about my paper. I believe they don’t read the papers and just want your money.
Glad to help. Pay it forward to your colleagues.
This has also moved into the discipline of philosophy with the purported new journal “Philosophy Study.” I have only gotten to Stage 2 in the submission process, but now know what to expect. The clue was receiving emails from colleagues that the journal had provided my email address to as a fellow invited writer. The colleagues asked if a fee for publication was a “usual process.” As you all know, reputable journals NEVER charge for publication.
Thanks so much for this!! I also got the same message from Ree Rocgle, asking me for to submit a paper I presented at a Conference and to be publish at the History Research. They asked me to submit the manuscript to history_research@yahoo.com., and to join their editorial board. When I did submit the article then they asked for 360 dollars in order to published the article!!
Here more info:
History Research (ISSN 2159-550X)
David Publishing Company
Tel: 1-847-281-9826；Fax: 1-847-281-9855
You’re welcome. I’m still amazed that David Publishing Company continues to solicit articles from academics, including invitations to join editorial boards, without disclosing the author publishing fee upfront. Aside from the ethical issues, this just makes no sense from a business standpoint whatsoever.
Thanks for your blog mate.. This saved me time and energy more than just money..
Either David Publishing Company has switched names to avoid the notoriety, or an even less creative company stole their email format and scam. I just got an email today from the Academic Star Publishing Company. Same deal, same grammar and spelling mistakes. I’m not sure why they think that academics are a good population for a scam… professional scrutinizers seem like the last people you want looking at your poorly worded emails.
Here’s their info:
Journal of Modern Education Review
Academic Star Publishing Company
betty@academicstar.us，education@academicstar.us
70 West 86th Street, #CN0267, New York, NY 10024, USA
TEL: 347-230-6798 FAX: 347-426-1986
I was tipped off by some strange formatting that I’d only seen during correspondence with Chinese conference coordinators. That seemed odd because the letter I received repeatedly stressed how American the company was; certainly, a case of the lady protesting too much.
Sounds like Academic Star Publishing Company, USA has tried this before.
Thanks for the headsup. The first conference I ever attended, 4 months into my PhD and I nearly jumped at this. Brilliantly, they were soliciting for a paper I gave at a literature conference and their startling lack of command of the English language gave the game away. Bastards.
“Noli arrogantium iniurias pati.
I’m from the Philippines and have presented a paper in an international conference. I also received an e-mail from this David Publishing Co. History Reserach Journal requesting for my article.
Glad that I have search your blogsite for useful warning and information about this publisher.
Thanks.
Saved me time too, Antonin! Thanks so much. I just hope that others find this post as well.
Joe
You’re welcome, Joe. Help out your colleagues by emailing or re-posting a link to my post. Antonin
They are phishing Jewish studies scholars, too. They are using the conference program of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Oy vey!
I just received an email by “niki” from David publishing asking me to publish an article I presented at an UK conference. What made me suspicious was that my article was on German domestic law, so no connection to US, China or international law. Also they asked for any unpublished papers I may have at hand.
They claim to have the “US-China Law Review” listed in a number of databases:
“US-China Law Review is collected and indexed by the Library of U.S Congress and also retrieved by some renowned databases:
★ Database of EBSCO, Massachusetts, USA
★ Hein Online Database, W.S.HEIN, USA
★ Chinese Database of CEPS, American Federal Computer Library center (OCLC), USA
★ Chinese Scientific Journals Database, VIP Corporation, Chongqing, P. R. China
★ Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory
★ ProQuest/CSA Social Science Collection, Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), USA
David Publishing strives to provide the best platform for researchers and scholars worldwide to exchange their latest findings and results. We admire your achievements, and we understand how important your research impact to other peers in the same interest field and other disciplines, and how delighted you would be when communicating with global professional peers. Your contribution to our journals would be very much welcome!
Submitting of Manuscripts
All manuscripts submitted will be considered for publication. Please visit our website at http://www.davidpublishing.com for our automatic paper submission systems or as an email attachment to: jurist@davidpublishing.com, lawyer1658@hotmail.com, law.review1658@yahoo.com.cn“
[...] lawyer and legal scholar, writes of his experiences with David Publishing, comparing it as a good “bait-and-switch:” we’ll publish your paper, it’s so great there’s no need for peer reviews…oh [...]
And now they are targeting the Computer Science crowd:
“From Knowledge to Wisdom
Computer Technology and Application
International Standard Serial Numbers: ISSN 1934-7332″
Now they are also recorded by the Library of Congress:
http://lccn.loc.gov/2006216166
The first thing that put me off was the fact that they require submissions in M$ Word (TeX is de-facto standard in Computer Science), after which a quick Google search has brought me to your post.
Thanks a lot for illuminating their real nature!
I received an invitation in May 2011 from David Publishing Company to submit my paper, which I read at a conference 3 years ago, to its new humanities journal “Journal of Literature and Arts.” The letter was from its editor “Suky.” It had a strange attachment in Chinese at the bottom of the page for an American scholastic journal.
发件人： ***
发送时间： ***
收件人： literature.art
抄送：***
Nevertheless, I innocently took the invitation for submission at face value, reedited my manuscript, and sent it to David Publishing Company online. Soon I received its acceptance but was surprised to read I have to pay $50 a page for formatting and editing. The time one of the messages sent to me was odd: 2 am in Chicago? The company may not be located in Chicago. My suspicion grew stronger, and had web search to find this page. It appears this is a new publisher trying to fish those who want to have their articles published.
They seem to be working only outside office hours in Chicago…Surprisingly at the time the emails are sent it’s business hours in China…
I received their email at 10 pm Chicago time
Hello
I also received an email with the invitation of publishing an article. I thought that it was a spam and I didn’t take it seriously. I don’t know if the company is serious one, but I didn’t receive any other information since they sent to me that email.
I don’t know what is happening but I’m a Ph.D. professor and I think that receiving such false… information may put some people on a false road.
I had some expectations and they were false.
[Comment moderated and edited to conform with blog comment policy]
Just a comment, from someone who hasn’t had direct contact with this publishing company – though I have had solicitations from other journals and conferences, in China and elsewhere…
Several people in this discussion have stated that reputable publishers never ask for charges. This is not true! In fact, many journals owned by charitable societies ask for page charges (e.g. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and American Naturalist), while start-up journals from profit-making publishers usually don’t. But journals have to make money somehow, and those that don’t charge authors sometimes charge exorbitant rates to readers – the scandal of subscription prices (see http://octavia.zoology.washington.edu/publishing/). This is bad for accessibility in the developing world, and the Open Access movement is seeking to reduce costs for everyone.
Part of the problem is that authors and university libraries that actually subscribe don’t talk to each other enough. So incredibly bad-value journals can survive in the market alongside good-value ones. There’s an excellent database of journals across all disciplines at http://www.journalprices.com/.
I recently received the same unsolicited email from David Publishing, they asked to publish a paper I had presented in a conference in England. Since I had not polished it to submit it to another Journal, I send it to them. They replied me after two weeks that it has been peer reviewed and accepted for publishing. Shameless guys wanted me to pay 50 dollars per page for 20 pages. I wrote to them and told them, forget about stealling 1000 dollars from me. Go to Hell.
Well, I will have to expound the obvious. I got one too; and then I found this blog. Did you guys consider the possibility of the publisher publishing your papers eventually without telling you? I got a sample of US-China Law Review which is blue booked with some poor chaps on the content list. Since I have published before, my temptation was lesser than usual. I got this mail twice in 1 year, they picked from my conference presentation in Beijing. Smart scam, I must say. I am going to send the link to Nikki
Thanks Antonin, Can someone tell me if New York law school is also a scam? Not the NYU Law school, US china law review has some prof. from there fooled by them, or may be its a very smart scam.
Prabhakar
Prabhakar, thanks for your comment. I don’t know whether the New York law school you mention is also a scam, but you can easily check whether it is an ABA-accredited law school on the ABA Approved Law Schools website.
I also received an email from this Øpublisher regarding the “Philosophy Study” journal (ISSN 2159-5313). Avoid, everybody!
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for all information. I also received an e-mail after the conference in Columbus. And more over I received the invitation to be a member of their team of editors and invited to send my CV. I am just wondering how they estimate the editor’s participation in their project if for one page we have to pay $50? And actually it is very interesting that email does not signed by the anybody from the editorial staff of the journal.
You’re welcome. Please feel free to forward this post to your colleagues to spread the word. Regards, Antonin I. Pribetic
Hi!
Just to let you know that they are getting more sophisticated. I have received a message from them today (the second within one year) and they have put a name at the end. It says:
Best Regards,
Gloria
Editor Office
Maybe they are aware of this blog:) Of course that it is still suspicious because in a message that looks formal only the name is appearing and not the surname.
By the way, since this is a blawg, are their actions against the law? If so what can be done more?
All the best!
Thanks for your comment. While it appears that their server is located in China, since David Publishing states that their head office is in Chicago, Illinois, USA, then it is likely they are subject to American law. I am not licensed to practice in the United States, so all I can say is generally, any potential false advertising or marketing practices are subject to the Federal Trade Commission: See, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml
Well, they reeled me in, that is, until I was turned on to this blog. I received an unsolicited email with reference to an abstract from a conference I presented at last year.I received this email in late August and their editor had a first and last name “Karen Garcia”. The name of the “journal” was “Philosophy Study”. I ran it by my grad director and it seems shady–but legit. I sent my paper in and got a revise resubmit with EXCELLENT comments from a blind reviewer.–really good comments actually.
I then received an email from “Karen” to be a blind reviewer for a paper outside of the listed interests on my CV (but related). The red flag came up. I never sent in my revise resubmit but wondered if I should have. I then told someone of my story and they turned me on to this blog–I feel MUCH BETTER about my decision.
Thanks!!
You’re very welcome. I am pleased that you avoided this trap for the unwary. Please pay it forward to your colleagues.
Hi Antonin
Sorry to repeat what many colleagues have already told you, but… Thanks for your post. This page seems to be so popular that it could be useful me to alert that this DP Company is trying to waste the time of sociological community too: I’ve just received a proposal to submit a paper to be published on the journal ‘From Knowledge to Wisdom
Sociology Study’. Same contents and same style of the mail you mention.
Thanks, Marco, for your comment averting to another David Publishing Company pubscam offer. Best, Antonin
[...] links: ISA e The Trial Warrior Blog. Share this:CondivisioneEmailStampaFacebookTwitterDiggStumbleUponLike this:LikeBe the first to like [...]
Now they seem to be phishing among communications scholars as I have received an email from their brand new journal Journalism and Mass Communication. I did not submit a paper, I got an invitation for their editorial board and serve as reviewer. First, I seemed to be flattered. I have checked their website – looked legit at first sight (not with thorough search though), some of their publications are listed within EBSCO and are in the Library of US Congress, the clip-art styled books of David Publishing are even sold via Amazon and Kindle service. I got an invitation and welcome letter frpm them, with letter-head and illinois corporate stamp. But the Chinese connections (maybe I should submit a paper on censorship on China) raised red flags, more research showed that they are not listed in most indexes they claim. I immediately asked to remove me and do not use my credentials in any form or venue, that I do not co-operate with them on anything. Hope they got the message. Some of their Boards include very decent scholars. They are victims as well. Antonin, thanks for this must-read blogpost.
You’re welcome, Branislav. I’m glad you found this post helpful. Antonin
Thanks for the post. FYI, they are now targeting science educators.
You’re very welcome. Please feel free to share with your academic colleagues.
I got the invitation of “Journal of Literature and Art Studies” yesterday to publish my paper that was introduced in a conference two years ago. I had never seen such a magazine before, so I googled them and found their home page which was ok, but as the letter was signed by “Gloria” with no last name, I wanted to know about their background. There was nothing there under the link “About us”. The only link that worked was the link for submitting the magazine. Because I first wanted to see the magazine I contacted a librarian who had seen the warning. Many thanks!
I also was invited to work for free as a reviewer:
“Every year, editor(s)/reviewer(s) should review about 10-12 papers of the journal and fill out the reviewing form, and return the form to us in 1-2 weeks through email or fax. … Some authors or readers may contact the editor(s)/reviewer(s), then the editor(s)/reviewer(s) should answer their questions. … The editor(s)/reviewer(s) should help promote the journal at conferences and meetings that they attend… We cannot offer compensation or remuneration to the editor(s)/reviewer(s) for their work”.
I was very suspicious because they do not even know me -are all the other reviewers as “respectable”?
Right. Moving on to business. My colleague received an email from them to submit an article that we wrote together. I even checked EBSCO and some of the articles there and all seemed ok. But this journal didn’t appear in any journal ranking lists or anything, so became suspicious and further googling didn’t give any results so moved over to David Publishing and found this blog. Saved us a lot of time, since the plan was to revise the conference paper as soon as possible!
The email started “This is China-USA Business Review (ISSN1537-1514, USA) and Chinese Business Review (ISSN1537-1506, USA). We are ‘glad to know you have submitted a paper named “xxx” in xxx conference, date, place. We are very interested in your research, if the paper mentioned has not been published in other journals or you have other unpublished papers in hand and have the idea of making our journal a vehicle for your research interests, please feel free to send electronic version to us.”
Now this conference was in Denmark, we are from Finland and the topic has absolutely nothing to do with US-China relations, even though it is in the business field. So following others’ comments : thank you for this blog!
I’m glad you didn’t waste your time or money.
[...] If you receive any emails from Verlag De Muller (VDM) Publishing or any journals from David Publishing, don’t reply. VDM publishes absolutely everything they receive without fact-checking and doesn’t print any copies and charges a fortune to get any made up. (See this blog post for details.) David Publishing solicits on behalf several different journals (mine was “Journalism and Mass Communication”), and accepts everything without review before then asking you to pay $50 per page to have it printed. (Thanks to The Trial Warrior for this post.) [...]
Thank you very much. They now seem to be targeting presenters at the recent annual meeting of College Music Society. I was suspicious, due to grammatical errors in the message but looked at their web site anyway. Then I Googled them and found your article. I am going to forward a link to your article to the staff of the Society in case they want to alert other presenters from the recent conference.
You’re very welcome. Thanks for forwarding the post to the College Music Society.
You article is very interesting, I see you are a great story teller.
But just to be fair…
First, you got “someone must not have read the paper after all” from they asking for your research field? Then how come they sent you the opinion of revisions if no one read your paper?
Second, you think summarizing someone’s research field merely from the abstract and keywords of his one article is professional? Or asking the author himself?
Third, a LOT of journals charge publication fees…
Oh dear, it appears you missed the point. Please read my post again.
May I join the club? David Publishing are phishing in Austria now, too. Thank you very much for your blog post, it saved me lots of work! I took the liberty to link to your post on twitter in German language:
You are quite welcome to join the club, Sebastian. Thank you for the cross-post on Twitter and spreading the word to your Austrian and German colleagues. Regards, Antonin
This is probably the speculation. I think the author wants to be famous.
Yes, of course. I wrote this post to garner internet fame.
Here’s some further speculation; albeit more of an educated guess. Based upon your email address which you’ve used at least once before, you are from mainland China and likely work for David Publishing Company.
My experience is the same as Linda Fergusun’s above, except that they were targeting the New England Historical Association. Good thing I googled first and found this site.
Thank you Antonin for doing us all an invaluable service.
You’re quite welcome, Lisbeth. Feel free to nominate me for an honorary academic blogging award, if you feel so inclined, or at least a ClawBies 2011 award
Thank you very much, Antonin!
I appreciate a lot your effort since it saved me both time and nerves. I wonder whether this shameless freeriding on our aspirations and desire to publish could be legally prosecuted.
All the best,
Anna
You’re very welcome, Anna. I recommend you consult the Europa Commission- Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and related directives on Misleading and Comparative Advertising.
I also received an email from these guys and, had I not read this post, would’ve done the same thing.
Thanks for pointing this out and saving a lot of people the time and effort.
Don’t thank me, Thank the awesome power of the internet.
Dear Antonin,
I serve as the Chair of the Promotion Committee of my department and have recently reviewed the publication list of one of our faculty members. He got a promise from my predecessor that if he published one more paper in a respectable journal, he would be promoted. He is now claiming to have done so. The new paper’s reference is the Journal of Computer Technology and Application, published by David Publishing Company. The reference on his publication list specifies a volume number, page numbers and the year 2011. Apparently, the guy has paid the money. I wonder if you have any idea if this reference has any practical manifestation. In other words, does DP Company actually publish a journal as such, as well as all the other journals, or is it fictional? In the former case, is it published in hard copy or electronically, and how can others view it? In the latter case, does the author get a fictitious “reprint” of his paper or nothing at all?
Many thanks,
Gideon
Dear Gideon, if you Google the journal name: “Journal of Computer Technology and Application” and “David Publishing” you’ll find the following at the top page rank:
http://journalseeker.researchbib.com/?issn=19347332
http://shivksahu.webs.com/curriculumvitae.htm (listed as a reviewer).
The website address: http://www.davidpublishing.com is generic and appears up for sale.
I suggest you make your own further inquiries, including any of the academic online forums in your area of interest.
Regards,
Antonin
I’ve also been approached by them for the so-called Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering. This reminds me of some sketchy invitations to present at conferences that I’ve gotten over the years. Often when you google these publications and conferences, they come up looking reasonably good – they’re on people’s CVs at all sorts of institutions and universities.
The real surprise is that there is no push back from the publicly funded research and educational institutions that pay these fees.
And thank you again. I write this comment in the hope that Google will grace us with bringing up this post
Six months ago I attended an international conference in Poland and when I got their e-mail, I felt really flattered. But when I browsed their website, I found out that you cannot read anything about their terms and conditions and there is no information about reviewers. Thanks a lot for this blog! Now I know what to do.
Thanks a lot for this blog! Just receive the same invitation to publish to day on Journal of sociology, while my paper is purely marketing.
Thanks for this valuable blog. I, too, was sent an invitation yesterday to publish in their Journal of Literature and Art Studies after presenting at a conference a few weeks ago. It looked good at first but the website did set me wondering. It had all the usual subheadings – About Us, Terms and Conditions, list of reviewers and editors, but when you opened them nothing was there. The grammar and spelling was also outrageous for such a journal. When you look at the list of journals with their covers there are some mismatches between the covers and their titles. A very sloppy website in all.
There was a hint that the author was to pay for the service in one of the FAQ’s. It stated:
“Nornally there is no discount for each paper. Only if your achievement too excellence, you could get some discount.”
Apart from the ridiculous expression I wondered how they could determine excellence, if there was no indication of who the reviewers and editors were and also because the field is so broad – ‘art and literature’.
My impulse is to reply to them citing this blog.
I now want to get the hackneyed phrase: “Only if your achievement too excellence, you could get some discount” imprinted on a t-shirt.
[...] diversas críticas e relatos de más experiências com a revista ou com a editora (aqui, aqui ou aqui). Descobre-se, ainda, que há já quem discuta o assunto (nomeadamente aqui e aqui) e há [...]
Same for me, this morning. I found their strange email and at first i thought “cool, i am famous!”, then i checked the web and found your blog and many others. Thank you so much! I will forward to my colleagues their email and a link to this blog. Anyway their mail was quite well done, including the name of my paper sent for the convention in Kyoto and the name of the association that held it on Nov. I was only surprised about the “become friends” sentence, but i thought it was a way to show themselves nice.
Just got a solicitation today from “US-China Education Review” from David Publishing House. Immediately suspicious, I googled it up and found your blog (and others). Suspicions confirmed, Thank you for posting this.
Dear Antonin,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I received mails from this fake publisher twice, once in 2010 and another just now. But then I came across googling and found your posting. This is a very useful link. I ask your permission to share this link.
Rifqi
Dear Rifqi,
I’m glad you found the post useful and saved yourself both time and money. No permission required to share the link, but thanks for asking. Antonin