Flint, SW

Stuart W Flint

Crossref

Young researchers and students receive spam a lot too

Leeds Beckett Repository

WE READ SPAM A LOTYoung researchers and students receive spam a lottooStuart W Flint senior research fellowFairfax Hall 230, School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Headingley Campus, Leeds LS6 3QS, UKGrey and colleagues identify the frequency and breadth ofacademic spam received by mid-career academics.1 These emailsaim to deliberately mislead academics and to earn moneythrough unethical practice.The concern goes beyond mid-career academics: manyresearchers early in their career and even postgraduate studentsreceive such spam. In recent years, colleagues and students havetold me that they have received academic spam and wereunaware that it was from a fake journal. One young researchertold me that, after invitation, they were going to submit an articleto a journal. I searched for the journal and told them that theoutlet was a scheme for making money. They were shocked:“Wow—thanks for reading the small print! What a cheek to askfor money.” This is only one of many unfortunate examples ofacademics being duped into submitting to fake, predatoryjournals that hide publishing costs until an article is submittedor even accepted.The rise in journals targeting academics is concerning,particularly given the pressures of publishing among early careeracademics and sometimes students. These predatory journalsthat offer quick turnaround of articles are often not indexed,have questionable review processes, have fake websites andpublishers, and hide the cost of publishing. Receiving invitationsfrom these outlets has become a daily occurrence. Universitiesshould highlight the dangers of predatory journals to ensure thatresearchers use outlets that are reputable and ethical.Competing interests: None declared.1 Grey A, Bolland MJ, Dalbeth N, Gamble G, Sadler L. We read spam a lot: prospectivecohort study of unsolicited and unwanted academic invitations. BMJ 2016;356:i5383. doi:10.1136/bmj.i5383 pmid:27974354.Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not alreadygranted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissionss.w.flint@leedsbeckett.ac.ukFor personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribeBMJ 2017;356:j773 doi: 10.1136/bmj.j773 (Published 2017 February 13) Page 1 of 1LettersLETTERS

Young researchers and students receive spam a lot too.

http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/3968/1/Stuart%20Flint%20letter.pdf

Young researchers and students receive spam a lot too.

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

Leeds Beckett Repository