Neuroscience
Improbable Research has recently reported on some unbelievably brash copyright violations by a set of scam journals:
It's absolutely identical to an article already published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
DeWall CN, Twenge JM, Gitter SA, Baumeister RF (2009). It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion. J Pers Soc Psychol. 96:45-59 [request PDF].
Since two of the plagiarized articles were stolen from JPSP, I contacted both editors, Dr. Charles M. Judd and Dr. Jeffry A. Simpson. Dr. Simpson wrote back right away, advising me to contact the American Psychological Association, which holds the copyrights to all APA journals. I did send an email to the Copyright and Permission office and am waiting to hear back.
Since...
Click on image for a larger view and compare to abstract above.
Some other lovely tidbits from the Improbable Research post:
Let's conclude with a bit of irony from Scientific Research themselves:
There's a little more sleuthing in this October 2009 thread in the JREF Forum [James Randi Educational Foundation]. I'll post more information if/when it arrives. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The APA Permissions Office was already aware of the copyright violation, and they are currently looking into it.
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Neuroscience
Scam Journals Uncovered by Improbable Research
Improbable Research has recently reported on some unbelievably brash copyright violations by a set of scam journals:
Strange academic journals: Scam?We have discovered what may be the world’s strangest collection of academic journals. Published by a shadowy entity, it suggests — at first glance, anyway — some kind of scam. But is there a scam, or not? If there is, what’s the point of it? If there’s not, same question. Maybe you can help us find the answers. One journal is named Psychology. All its articles have been previously published in reputable journals, some almost a decade ago — but nowhere is that mentioned.The abstract for one of the articles (PDF) is shown below.
It's absolutely identical to an article already published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
DeWall CN, Twenge JM, Gitter SA, Baumeister RF (2009). It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion. J Pers Soc Psychol. 96:45-59 [request PDF].
Since two of the plagiarized articles were stolen from JPSP, I contacted both editors, Dr. Charles M. Judd and Dr. Jeffry A. Simpson. Dr. Simpson wrote back right away, advising me to contact the American Psychological Association, which holds the copyrights to all APA journals. I did send an email to the Copyright and Permission office and am waiting to hear back.
Since...
3. Permission is Not Required for the Following:...I'm reproducing the abstract below [it's 148 words long].
- A maximum of three figures or tables from a journal article or book chapter
- Single text extracts of less than 400 words
- Series of text extracts that total less than 800 words
No formal requests to APA or the author are required for the items in this clause.
Click on image for a larger view and compare to abstract above.
Some other lovely tidbits from the Improbable Research post:
The publisher, Scientific Research Publishing, has other journals, as well. Some of them ... also appear to follow the “publish things that were already published, but don’t mention that” principle.On the organization’s web site, we found barely any identifying or location information. The contact page says “Name: Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. USA” and lists an email address — but we have not found any such corporation in the USA, and email sent to that address has produced no reply. The web site is registered to an organization in Wuhan, China.Some quick Googling of "Scientific Research Publishing, Inc." turned up a link to the professional activities of Dr. Dharma P. Agrawal, which include:
- Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Communications, Network and System Sciences (IJCNS), published by “Scientific Research Publishing,” Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. 5005 Paseo Segovia, Irvine, CA.
Let's conclude with a bit of irony from Scientific Research themselves:
For AuthorsThey also had the nerve to print 'Copyright © 2009 SciRes.' on every page of the purloined PDFs.
Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Paper submission will be handled electronically through the PSYCH online system. All papers are refereed through a peer review process.
There's a little more sleuthing in this October 2009 thread in the JREF Forum [James Randi Educational Foundation]. I'll post more information if/when it arrives. Stay tuned.
via @noahWG.
UPDATE: The APA Permissions Office was already aware of the copyright violation, and they are currently looking into it.
- Belgian Study Touts Open Access Publishing For Eu
Elsevier is bad, says 112 page report. Brussels delivers blow to Reed Elsevier · Pricing of journal papers 'impedes science progress' · Internet access proposal puts lucrative trade at risk Richard Wray Wednesday April 19, 2006 The Guardian...
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The Neurocritic has been feeling reproved this past week, so it's time to post an oldie but goodie about the arbitrary nature of peer review, published in Brain (full-text available free). Might as well take up gambling. Rothwell PM, Martyn CN. Reproducibility...
- Journal Spam
I have a new term for describing excessive journal articles published by an individual that all contain the same or similar crap content: "journal spam". It seems particularly apt for describing a lot of the articles I've come across by certain individuals...
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Scientific Terrapin, the University of Maryland's undergraduate research journal, is now accepting submissions. We publish original research in the fields of life sciences, applied sciences, and social sciences. If you did work with a mentor on campus,had...
- Scientific Terrapin: Last Call For Submissions
Have you done exciting research lately? Now get it published! The University of Maryland undergraduate research journal, Scientific Terrapin, is now accepting submissions of your research findings. The journal is accepting articles...