https://ottawacitizen.com/technology/science/50-million-fine-for-predatory-publisher-that-swallowed-up-canadian-science-journals
[Fake science, real news.]
$50-million fine for predatory publisher that swallowed up Canadian
science journals
Tom Spears
Updated: April 4, 2019
A judge in Nevada has fined the world’s biggest publisher of fake
science journals more than $50 million, quoting evidence from this
newspaper that helped demonstrate the publisher’s deceptive practices.
Omics International, based in India, operates more than 700 science
journals. In recent years, it has bought up two reputable science
Canadian publishers — Pulsus Group and Andrew John Publishing — and
converted them to companies that will publishing anything for cash.
It tried to buy Canadian Science Publishing of Ottawa as well.
Omics claims to publish only research papers that pass peer review, or a
quality check by experts in their field.
But this newspaper has shown otherwise, by submitting papers that are
scientifically nonsensical which Omics published anyway. Twice. It also
invited a reporter to a science conference to give a lecture on flying pigs.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged Omics with deceptive trade
practices, and last week Chief Judge Gloria M. Navarro of the U.S.
District Court in Nevada made a sweeping order against Omics.
The company is ordered to pay a fine of US $50,130,810. It is also
ordered to be honest with scientists, stop distributing scientists’
personal information and social security numbers, and stop
misrepresenting the true nature of the journals. It must also stop
misrepresenting the 3,000 conferences it holds each year, which are
small gatherings of people in unrelated fields who are charged high fees
to attend.
Omics had told the court that in fact it was doing rigorous scientific
work, including peer review.
The judge didn’t agree, and she drew partly on this newspaper’s experience.
“In 2012, John Bohannon — a scientist and writer for Science magazine
—submitted two articles to Defendants’ journals with intentionally
‘egregious’ scientific flaws,” she wrote. “Defendants’ journals accepted
the flawed papers without any substantive comments or review. Similarly,
in 2016, a journalist for the Ottawa Citizen submitted an
‘unintelligible’ article containing ungrammatical sentences and invented
words. Defendants’ journal published the article without any edits and
without contacting the author prior to publication.
“After reviewing these cases, the FTC’s expert Joyce Backus concluded
that the papers were not subjected to peer review ‘as that term is
understood in the academic publishing industry.’”
The judge concluded: “The uncontroverted evidence in the record
therefore demonstrates that Defendants have made numerous express and
material misrepresentations regarding their journal publishing practices.”
The order is attracting interest in science circles, where many
researchers are plagued with endless demands for papers from illiterate
and fraudulent publishers. Those who do publish can damage their careers
through affiliation with companies that are known as fraudulent.
The Geyser, a daily newsletter dealing with academics, research and
publishing, writes: “In the District of Nevada, gambling is commonplace.
OMICS was gambling that it could continue to operate in a dishonest
manner. Last week, it lost.”
It adds that “the summary judgment indicates OMICS’ practices were
egregious enough to not require a trial. The defendants failed
spectacularly in their attempt to improve OMICS’ position — in fact, the
section responding to their defense is withering and fun to read.”
This newspaper reached out to Omics for comment Thursday, but did not
get an immediate response.
Meanwhile, Omics continues to promote its work. It has a cluster of
conferences in Toronto next week that mix unrelated topics from
metallurgy to dentistry, and more in Montreal later this month. Fees
range up to US $1,499.
Its website even has a welcome message from Montreal’s mayor, Valérie
Plante.
--
Darryl McMahon
Freelance Project Manager (sustainable systems)
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