Hindawi publishing -- a scam? [Archive]

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drkitten

9th July 2009, 05:52 AM

Dear Professor drkitten

I am writing to invite you to submit an article to "Journal of Stuff," which provides a rapid forum for the dissemination of research articles as well as review articles related to all aspects of stuff.

Journal of Stuff is published using an open access publication model, meaning that all interested readers are able to freely access the journal online at [Hindawi Publishing site]

I just got this in e-mail. I have nothing against open access publishing and I understand the need to push journals. On the other other hand, I'm also familiar with groups like Bentham (http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0804/msg00027.html).

So this journal -- details anonymized, obviously -- is run by "Hindawi Publishing." Is this Bentham or Bentham-lite in disguise, or is it a legitimate e-publisher?

Anyone?

Mangoose

9th July 2009, 09:24 AM

Looks like they're partnering with SAGE Publishers:

http://www.sage-hindawi.com/faq.html

Meridian

9th July 2009, 11:44 AM

I suspect it's at most semi-legitimate. Note that you have to pay if you have an article accepted. Also, they seem to have launched lots of journals in all sorts of subjects. I received a similar e-mail in my subject area, and the editorial board looked extremely weak (I suspect the few good people on it didn't know what they were agreeing to). The journal so far has only one article, which is of extremely poor quality.

In my opinion the impetus to launch a journal should come from the editors; this is clearly not the case here!

logical muse

10th July 2009, 01:25 AM

Rolfe

10th July 2009, 02:27 AM

Yeah, I've had something similar too. I deleted the email.

Rolfe.

drkitten

10th July 2009, 06:34 PM

Yep, I got one too. It's so funny being called "Professor". I don't even have a degree. :)

OK, so I have one published paper, and a GradDip (even though I'm not a graduate), but still... Professor???

Actually, that's fairly standard procedure. If I don't know how to address a random academic, I will call her "Professor," just because it flatters the graduate students and lecturers while failing to anger the actual professors. Even the "mere" doctors who work in industry and don't lecture are usually flattered.

It helps, of course, that in the States, all full-time faculty are typically called "Professor" so it's not nearly as prestigious a title.