A ResearcherID profile for a predatory journal.
ResearcherID is a unique, persistent identifier for individual researchers set up by Thomson Reuters. ORCID, which came later, has made it mostly obsolete. Moreover, ResearcherID is also being colonized by predatory journals, who are registering as if they were individual researchers and polluting the database with spam.
It appears that Thomson Reuters’ successor, Clarivate Analytics, is not maintaining the integrity of the ResearcherID database.
Part of a spam email claiming a predatory journal is “indexed” in ResearcherID.
Moreover, predatory journals, such as the bottom-feeding International Journal of Innovations in Engineering and Technology (IJIET) are using their ResearcherID numbers to make themselves look legitimate to unsuspecting researchers.
In the screenshot from a spam email above, the journal says:
Thomson Reuters ReseacherID indexed Journal
ReseacherID: P-8165-2015
All Published papers will be indexed on Thomson Reuter ReseacherID with above reseacherID
This is complete nonsense. ResearcherID is not an academic index, and it was never intended that journals register for a ResearcherID number.
If you see a journal advertising its own ResearcherID number, — or any other identifier designed for individual researchers — let this automatically disqualify the journal from all consideration.
The use of ResearcherID numbers for journals is deceptive and wrong. The best solution to this abuse may be to retire ResearcherID altogether.
Hat tip: Dr. Kathryn H. Jacobsen
Appendix: Selected additional journals that also advertise using ResearcherID
- Journal of Biospectracal
- International Journal of Advance Computing Techniques and Applications (IJACTA)
- International Journal of Advance Foundation and Research in Computer (IJAFRC)
- International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science Archive (IJPBA)
- Journal of Biological Sciences and Medicine (JBSM)