[The Federal Trade Commission accused Omics
International, a publisher in India, of operating hundreds of fake research
journals with deceptive business practices.]
By
Gina Kolata
 |
|
Following a complaint by
the F.T.C., a federal judge has ordered a large publisher
of online scientific
journals to change its business practices -- and to pay
an enormous judgment.
Credit Alex Brandon/Associated Press
|
In the world of scientific research, they are
pernicious impostors. So-called predatory journals, online publications with
official-sounding names, publish virtually anything, even gibberish, that an
academic researcher submits — for a fee.
Critics have long maintained that these
journals are eroding scientific credibility and wasting grant money. But
academics must publish research to further their careers, and the number of
questionable outlets has exploded.
Now the Federal Trade Commission has stepped
in, announcing on Wednesday that it has won a $50 million court judgment
against Omics International of Hyderabad, India, and its owner, Srinubabu
Gedela.
Omics publishes hundreds of journals in such
areas as medicine, chemistry and engineering. It also organizes conferences.
The F.T.C. claimed that Omics violated the agency’s prohibition on deceptive
business practices.
In addition to the judgment, a federal judge
in Nevada — where Omics has mail drops — ordered the company to cease its deceptive
business practices, including failing to disclose fees, misleading authors
about the legitimacy of its journals and marketing conferences with star
speakers who never agreed to participate.
Mr. Gedela’s attorney, Kishore Vattikoti,
wrote in an email:
‘It’s quite surprising for us that court has
passed an order against defendants in this case without calling for a trial
which is unjustifiable and violation of natural justice.’
Mr. Vattikoti said the publisher would
appeal.
Gregory Ashe, a senior staff attorney at the
F.T.C., noted that the court had granted summary judgment because “there are no
material facts in dispute that warrant a trial.”
Critics of the journals hailed the decision.
“It’s great news,” said Jeffrey Beall, a former scholarly communications
librarian at the University of Colorado Denver who has studied questionable
scientific journals. “There are hundreds of predatory publishers, but Omics is
the evil empire.”
Predatory publishers pepper academics with
pleas to submit papers or speak at conferences. When they receive papers, the
journals often accept and publish them immediately, with a perfunctory review
or none at all.
In return, the journals demand fees they had
not previously disclosed that can be as high as several thousand dollars, the
F.T.C. said. When authors ask to withdraw their papers, they often are refused.
And some academics who are described as editors on the journals’ websites in
fact are not editors, and are not even aware that their names are being used.
These practices stand in sharp contrast to
those of legitimate scientific journals, where editors send papers to experts
for review, a process that can take weeks or months, and often ask for
extensive revisions. Those that charge authors clearly publish their fees.
And no editors are listed without their
knowledge. Legitimate journals also are indexed — listed in places like PubMed,
run by the National Library of Medicine — giving them a stamp of approval.
Predatory journals claim to be indexed but are not, the F.T.C. said.
Over the years, academics have tracked
predatory publishers with a blacklist, first published by Mr. Beall and now
published anonymously. In one sting operation, a fictitious researcher with
fake credentials applied to be editor at a list of journals. She was accepted
enthusiastically by many predatory journals, and spurned by legitimate ones.
Academics often get daily solicitations from
these journals. On Wednesday, James DuBois, director of the Center for Clinical
Research Ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, forwarded to The Times
an email he had just received.
“It is learnt that you have published a paper
titled ‘The Role of Culture and Acculturation in Researchers’ Perceptions of
Rules in Science’ in SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ETHICS and we are impressed by the
subject,” the email said. “So we wish to invite you to contribute other
precious papers of related topics to the journal.”
Many such emails are laughable, Dr. DuBois
said, but they also are a constant irritant. And the publishers are persistent.
“If you ignore them, you get follow up, even after blocking the sender,” he
said.
He and others doubt the solicitations will
stop — the publishers usually are in other countries, and the business can be
lucrative.
It was the huge amount of money rolling into
Omics that led the F.T.C. to request a $50 million judgment. That is the amount
that Omics netted from its customers between Aug. 25, 2011, and July 31, 2017,
the agency said.
“The court agreed with us that their
deceptive practices are so widespread that this represents full consumer
redress, and the court did not dial it back,” Mr. Ashe said.
Whether the F.T.C. can ever collect is
another question. “We will be as aggressive as we can to track down assets in
the U.S.,” Mr. Ashe said. The agency has begun contacting Omics’ American
banks, he added.
If Omics does not change its practices, the
F.T.C. will move to have the journals taken offline, and will contact hotels or
other venues where the company holds conferences.
“We will tell them, ‘You are helping this
company violate a court order,’” Mr. Ashe said.
Some researchers doubted that the verdict
would stem the flood of questionable journals.
Omics is “the Walmart of predatory publishers
and conference organizers,” Derek Pyne, an associate professor of economics at
Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, said in an email.
“However, there are hundreds of smaller
publishers. Too many, I think for the F.T.C. to go after.”
Gina Kolata writes about science and
medicine. She has twice been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and is the author of six
books, including “Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic
Destiny, and The Science That Saved Them.” @ginakolata • Facebook
