Re: 'History Research' journal scam - warning (multiple responses)

From: "Michael Fitzgerald" <[email protected]>

I had the exact same experience. They wanted something like $500 to publish
a paper. Michael Ray Fitzgerald, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Fla.

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From: "Dellmann, S. (Sarah)" <[email protected]>

Dear Leo Enticknap and others,

when you receive strange invitations to publish articles in Open Access journals, it is worth doing a two minute web research. Also, checking out David Beall's list of predatory publishers makes sense:

http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/

And, not surprisingly, you can find an entry for David Publishing Company.

http://scholarlyoa.com/?s=David+Publishing+Company+

This very informative website also gives background information on the marketing strategies of predatory Open Access publishers.

So, here as always: check before you submit! 
Wish you better luck with your next publication project,

All the best,

Sarah Dellmann

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From: "James Ward" <[email protected]>

Thanks, Leo.

Over the last two or so years, I've received at least a half dozen "invitations" to submit papers to one or another "open access" journals. Some have been in my own discipline, history (although quite afield from my teaching and research interests), others well removed even if still (generously) defined as in the humanities or social sciences.

A couple of these solicitations specifically addressed recent conference presentations, one at the 2012 Popular Culture Association meeting, another (if I remember correctly) at last fall's Film and History conference. Others simply inquired whether I had a recent or new article I would like to submit for peer review. Clearly some of these publications scour online conference programs to see if they can attract business.

A quick click on "Rules for Submitting Manuscripts," "Information for Authors," or something similar will turn up the incriminating evidence, usually involving some hundreds of dollars/pounds to see your article published online, provided that it passes the much-touted "peer review." Transfer of copyright is a given.

Another tip-off is to scan the editorial board, which will boast an impressive number of scholars at named institutions--although I've never found anyone whose work I had encountered. I suspect there's an invitation to "join" the editorial board that parallels the invitation to submit a paper. There are some other clues that can be gleaned from these lists, but for caution's sake I'll not enumerate them here.

The come-on is so obvious that I don't even bother opening such e-mails anymore. I treat them as the equivalent of all those e-mails I get addressed "Dear One."

Definitely a case of caveat emptor.

James J. Ward

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From: "James Ward" <[email protected]>

Follow-up:

Here's the link to a Chronicle of Higher Education article a year ago about "Predatory Online Journals":

http://chronicle.com/article/Predatory-Online-Journals/131047/

Ironically one of the journals and articles mentioned in the piece is a quality one that I have cited in my own work. Just goes to show, as Roseanne Roseanneandana was wont to say, "There's always something..."

James J. Ward