Cuckoo for cocoa puffs? -- pure gibberish

[jts]

This is the article submitted to 37 medical journals to be published, accepted by 17, or at least so goes the story.

cuckoo for cocoa puffs

It is pure gibberish.

Here is the story.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3041493/body-week/why-a-fake-article-cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs-was-accepted-by-17-medical-journals

Here is one paragraph from the above linked story.

Shrime decided to see how easy it would be to publish an article. So he made one up. Like, he literally made one up. He did it using www.randomtextgenerator.com. The article is entitled "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?" and its authors are the venerable Pinkerton A. LeBrain and Orson Welles. The subtitle reads: "The surgical and neoplastic role of cacao extract in breakfast cereals." Shrime submitted it to 37 journals over two weeks and, so far, 17 of them have accepted it. (They have not "published" it, but say they will as soon as Shrime pays the $500. This is often referred to as a "processing fee." Shrime has no plans to pay them.) Several have already typeset it and given him reviews, as you can see at the end of this article. One publication says his methods are "novel and innovative"!. But when Shrime looked up the physical locations of these publications, he discovered that many had very suspicious addresses; one was actually inside a strip club.

I don't know what to make out of this story. Maybe the whole story is made up. Maybe it's their policy to get the $500 before reading the article. I don't see the names of those medical journals. Maybe they are fake medical journals. Maybe the journal editors recognized the joke and played a joke back.

Hmm. I have an idea for making money. If I invent a fake medical journal and give it an impressive sounding name and collect $500 per article, by jeez I might make some money.

[william.scherk]

I don't know what to make out of this story. Maybe the whole story is made up. Maybe it's their policy to get the $500 before reading the article. I don't see the names of those medical journals. Maybe they are fake medical journals. Maybe the journal editors recognized the joke and played a joke back.

The article uses the concept "Predatory Journals." They are as-if journals. Read the last part of the article again and you will be able to get over your puzzlement, I think.

If Harvard-trained researchers are sometimes not able to spot a real journal from a fake, what chance do the rest of us have? Journalists, for instance, often cite medical research in their articles without the expertise to know whether their source is credible or not. The good news is that there are tools available to navigate the process. Jeffrey Beall, an academic librarian, has compiled a list of predatory publishers that he updates every year. Shrime recommends that people who cite medical research cross-reference journals with this list, but keep in mind that brand-new predatory journals pop up every day and Beall may not have found them yet.

So, the next time you read an article that references a new weight loss study or cutting-edge research about dieting, it’s worth taking it with a grain of salt. It may very well be legitimate, but it might also be quack science. Or entirely made up.

"If the source is not on PubMed or on Beall’s list, the only real way to tell would be to speak to the leading scholar in that field," says Shrime. "And who has the time to do that?"

Also, do a search on the two journal names that were included in the links you gave above, viz Global Journal of Agriculture and Agricultural Sciences -- and Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, At the first link, they promise to have your article 'in print' biff bam boom: "The average time between submission and final decision is 7 days and the average time between acceptance and final publication is 7 days."

And if you really want to publish your own predatory journal (say, "International Journal of Shelton Studies"), there are easy criteria. This is from the 'food and nutrition' link:

Launch a New Journal

If you wish to launch a new journal, you need to browse and know the requirements of SciencePG Journal first. On the left menu, you can see detailed information about the journal under "Browse This Journal".

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1. Peer Review: Effective and professional;

2. Frequency: Bimonthly/Quarterly;

3. Open Access: Freely accessible to all the articles.

Process of Launching a New Journal:

1. You complete the journal proposal form;

2. SciencePG evaluates and reviews the journal proposal form within a month;

3. Both sides sign an agreement;

4. SciencePG publishes the new journal on the website.

Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief:

1. The Editor-in-Chief should organize a review team to do the review work if there are submitted manuscripts to the journal;

2. The Editor-in-Chief should post new hot topics about his/her proposed journal invite authors to submit manuscripts;

3. The Editor-in-Chief should make decisions on the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts;

4. The Editor-in-Chief should cross-check the manuscripts and ensure their quality.

Benefits of the Editor-in-Chief:

1. The Editor-in-Chief could get the latest information of SciencePG;

2. The Editor-in-Chief could cooperate with a group of experienced researchers from all over the world;

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4. The Editor-in-Chief could have his/her name and personal webpage displayed on the journal website as the founder of the journal;

5. The Editor-in-Chief could have his/her name shown in the published papers of his/her journal.

Please click here to download the journal proposal form and send messages together with your CV to the email journal@sciencepublishinggroup.com