The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Tech

Scientist exposes unethical journals with extraordinary four-letter rant

Author

By John Glenday, Reporter

November 26, 2014 | 2 min read

An irate scientist concerned by the spread of poor quality and/or fraudulent journals has exposed the unethical practices which drive parts of the industry with an extraordinary four-letter diatribe.

Peter Vamplew, associate professor at Federation University, Australia, penned a concise paper to the impressive sounding International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology consisting entirely of the repeated phrase ‘Get me off your f***ing mailing list.’

Surprisingly this effort passed whatever stands for peer review at the spam journal, whose editor responded with ‘Your manuscript has been accepted with minor changes,’ having been judged as ‘Excellent’. Of course publication carried a $150 fee.

Vamplew said: “I just snapped. I was just frustrated at the amount of spam emails I was getting, and sending this seemed appropriate. When the acceptance came, my first reaction was laughter. Then there was concern — it wasn’t even my paper.”

In fact the spoof paper was first written by two UCLA scientists in 2005 although upon hearing of Vamplaw’s ‘success’ congratulated him on his feat.

There is widespread concern within academia at the spread of disreputable journals, driven by scientists need to be published in order to bolster their reputations.

Tech

More from Tech

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +