Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it?

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



• 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



• 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



• 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.



• 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



• 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.)




• 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)

http://www.scipaper.net/about.php?part=announce#1


Fraud and Predation in Science Is Mainstream News


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


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


Call to Action…


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.


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.



#RPRcoalition



#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



#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.



#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

Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it?

Presentations & Public Speaking

Transcript of Predatory Author Services: What Can be Done About it?