Thursday, 4 October 2012
"The Hindu" is a respected Indian newspaper.
When it reveals on its front page what amounts to a big scam, it must
attract the attention of many readers. The report is shocking to say the
least. Scholars are being tricked into publishing their research work as papers
in dubious "International@ journals, who would print anything for a fee.
And many genuine work has appeared in such journals, which make a mockery of
the peer reviewed system being followed by genuine scientific journals
published by genuine universities, institutions, scientific societies all over
the world. Earlier I had published a blog on how PhD scholars in India indulge
in outright robbery, stealing parts of published work and pasting them
into their own papers. Even a respected scientist of repute was in the dock
when his name was associated with a paper published by a scholar he was
guiding, who took the illegal shortcut of snitching large portions from
published work. To get a number of papers in their name, unscrupulous
researchers now pay to get their papers published by unknown publishers of
journals that have come up like mushrooms after a monsoon. They publish
everything, from science to economics in one journal without editing or
peer review. They falsely associate reputed scientists and other scholars as
being on their editorial board or as "honorary" reviewers. They
even mange to get DOI for the papers and a surfer hits these papers thinking
they are genuine publications. Perhaps organized criminal gangs operating out
of Easter Europe or South America or Somalia may be behind this scam.
However, real papers are appearing in these false journals which have
zero impact factors, uploaded by foolish scholars attracted by the offer of
seeing their precious papers published abroad. The only way scholars in India
can save themselves is to publish their work only in Indian journals of repute,
published by institutions or organizations like NISCAIR or Universities and
long established Societies etc. It is very difficult to get papers
published in reputed journals in USA or Europe as peer reviewers thoroughly scan
the work and reject them if they do not come up to the exacting standards set
by the journals or the institution which publishes them. Millions of dollars
are being spent by scholars which could have been used for better
purposes. It is about time, all Universities, Institutions and Societies
with the UGC and the HRD Ministry put a stop to Indian scientists paying
for publishing their work in journals which are big frauds. And scholars
should not quote references in their papers to such inferior papers published
in unknown journals who claim to be "international".
"The Hindu" is a respected Indian newspaper.
When it reveals on its front page what amounts to a big scam, it must
attract the attention of many readers. The report is shocking to say the
least. Scholars are being tricked into publishing their research work as papers
in dubious "International@ journals, who would print anything for a fee.
And many genuine work has appeared in such journals, which make a mockery of
the peer reviewed system being followed by genuine scientific journals
published by genuine universities, institutions, scientific societies all over
the world. Earlier I had published a blog on how PhD scholars in India indulge
in outright robbery, stealing parts of published work and pasting them
into their own papers. Even a respected scientist of repute was in the dock
when his name was associated with a paper published by a scholar he was
guiding, who took the illegal shortcut of snitching large portions from
published work. To get a number of papers in their name, unscrupulous
researchers now pay to get their papers published by unknown publishers of
journals that have come up like mushrooms after a monsoon. They publish
everything, from science to economics in one journal without editing or
peer review. They falsely associate reputed scientists and other scholars as
being on their editorial board or as "honorary" reviewers. They
even mange to get DOI for the papers and a surfer hits these papers thinking
they are genuine publications. Perhaps organized criminal gangs operating out
of Easter Europe or South America or Somalia may be behind this scam.
However, real papers are appearing in these false journals which have
zero impact factors, uploaded by foolish scholars attracted by the offer of
seeing their precious papers published abroad. The only way scholars in India
can save themselves is to publish their work only in Indian journals of repute,
published by institutions or organizations like NISCAIR or Universities and
long established Societies etc. It is very difficult to get papers
published in reputed journals in USA or Europe as peer reviewers throughly scan
the work and reject them if they do not come up to the exacting standards set
by the journals or the institution which publishes them. Millions of dollars
are being spent by scholars which could have been used for better
purposes. It is about time, all Universities, Institutions and Societies
with the UGC and the HRD Ministry put a stop to Indian scientists paying
for publishing their work in journals which are big frauds. And scholars
should not quote references in their papers to such inferior papers published
in unknown journals who claim to be "international".
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