Danger: OMICS
It appears that Hyderabad, India-based OMICS International has bought another Canadian scholarly publisher, but in this case, they have bought up a very low-quality, Saskatoon-based, open-access publisher and expanded it from three open-access journals to nine.
I blogged about the publisher — then called Intellectual Consortium of Drug Discovery & Technology Development Incorporation (ICDTD) — in May, 2015. It has been on my list since then. OMICS International has changed the name to CONSORTIUM Intellectual Consortium of Drug Discovery and Technology Development, Inc., and it also uses the names Consortium Publisher and ICDTD Inc.
OMICS International is on a buying spree, snatching up journals and publishers around the world, especially in Canada. It recently purchased Pulsus Group, a firm that publishes (or used to publish) journals for several Canadian medical societies, sending shockwaves through the Canadian medical publishing community.
OMICS International purchases and converts respected journals into rubbish journals, trading on their good reputations to profit from researchers unaware of the change in ownership.
Advanced humanities?
The publisher is now spamming, soliciting editorial board memberships. One spam email, for its Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology, is appended below. It is written in what has come to be called “OMICS English.” The email header indicates it came from “Susan Coleen,” another fake OMICS name.
The strategy of OMICS International is to saturate scholarly publishing with its own journals and those it purchases. I recommend avoiding all journals and publishers owned by OMICS International and also recommend avoiding those whose business practices match those of OMICS.
Hat tip: Jake Bundy
Appendix 1: List of journals published by CONSORTIUM Intellectual Consortium of Drug Discovery and Technology Development, Inc.:
- Advance Business and Finance
- Advanced Calculations and Analysis
- Advanced Geology and Geography
- Advanced Humanities and Social Sciences
- Canadian Journal of Applied Sciences
- Journal of Applied Engineering and Technology
- Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology
- Journal of Applied Pharmacy
- Teacher Research Journal
Appendix 2:
Spam email from CONSORTIUM Intellectual Consortium of Drug Discovery and Technology Development, Inc., written in OMICS English:
From: Susan Coleen <[email protected]>
Subject: Editorial Request for Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology
Date: 12 November 2016 at 04:47:15 GMT
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Dear Professor/ Researcher,
Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology seeks to publish peer -reviewed expert review/research articles on all aspects of journal’s aim. The journal aims to be the leading forum for expert review and research articles in the field.
In recognition of your outstanding reputation and contribution in your field, we would like to nominate you as a possible Editorial Board Member (EBM) for the journal.
Your role as Editorial Board Member will be to submit/solicit papers for the journal, arrange occasional peer reviewing, and help promote the journal among the relevant scholarly community. Please note that the journal is Open Access so we would not be making your task onerous through seeking your efforts too frequently for the journal. However, we do genuinely intend to have a committed EBM with a vision to expand the journal and build upon its success.
Moreover, you may provide advice on how best to develop the journal and invite new editorial board members for the journal who wish to play an active editorial role. Your term as the Editorial Board Member would be initially for two years which is renewable by mutual agreement.
We do hope that your association will be conducive to further success of the journal. In case of your inclination to accept the invitation to serve as an Editorial Board Member for Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology, kindly send your current bibliography (or resume) and recent photograph at [email protected] for perusal.
You early and positive reply will be appreciated.
Looking forward for having on the board.
Editorial office
Journal of Applied Molecular Cell Biology
E.: [email protected]
W.: http://www.icdtdi.ca/jam.html