A court in the U.S. has slapped a $50 million fine on Hyderabad-based OMICS International, which publishes over 700 questionable scientific journals, many of which appear predatory, for “unfair and deceptive business practices”. The fine comes along with permanent injunctions against most of its activities that are highly objectionable. The company says it will go … Continue reading Hyderabad-based OMICS fined $50 million for ‘unfair, deceptive business practices’
Bogus journals
UGC removes 4,305 journals from White list, including the Lancet Public Health
Following widespread criticism, the UGC has removed 4,305 journals that are either predatory or low quality. Another 191 journals are under scrutiny. Unwittingly, even the Lancet Public Health journal has been axed. Many journals published for a long time by societies have been removed as well. In a major crackdown, the University Grants Commission (UGC) … Continue reading UGC removes 4,305 journals from White list, including the Lancet Public Health
897 predatory journals identified in UGC’s white list
Only 112 of the 1,009 randomly chosen university-recommended journals included in the UGC white list were found to be standard. The remaining 897 journals were found to dubious or predatory. About 350 (34.5%) journals examined either did not provide verifiable postal address or email address of the chief editor and editors, the basic criterion to be included in … Continue reading 897 predatory journals identified in UGC’s white list
OMICS to translate all Open Access journal papers to Indian languages
The Hyderabad-based "predatory journal" publisher OMICS International's venture to translate papers to a few Indian languages will not be restricted to OMICS and Pulsus Group of journals it owns. Plan is to translate all Open Access papers to Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam. Less than a month after Srinubabu Gedela, CEO of the … Continue reading OMICS to translate all Open Access journal papers to Indian languages
Predatory journals: UGC’s greyish white list is a curse to science
The Academic Performance Indicators (API) system introduced by the UGC is singularly responsible for the sharp growth of predatory journals in India. The white list it introduced to stem the rot has not helped with the inclusion of predatory journals. The vague and loose criteria for inclusion of a journal in the list has only … Continue reading Predatory journals: UGC’s greyish white list is a curse to science
Indian scientific community should act now to stop the journal paper translation centres
Starting centres employing thousands to translate into Indian languages the papers published in "predatory" journals is singularly aimed at gaining legitimacy for a fraudulent practice. Keeping the predatory journal industry in India under check will be impossible unless the scientific community acts swiftly and in full force to stop the first translation centre from becoming operational. Predatory … Continue reading Indian scientific community should act now to stop the journal paper translation centres
Hyderabad-based OMICS group to translate their journal papers to Indian languages
Predatory journal publishing in India is gaining more ground, legitimacy, and credibility. The CEO of OMICS Group, a “potential, possible, or probable” predatory journal publisher, has signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government to establish a centre to translate papers published in their journals to Indian languages. Brace, brace, brace. Predatory journal publishing in India … Continue reading Hyderabad-based OMICS group to translate their journal papers to Indian languages
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