Matan Shelomi is out having fun:<\/p>\n
On March 18, 2020, the American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research<\/em>\u00a0published my paper claiming that eating a bat-like Pok\u00e9mon sparked the spread of COVID-19. This paper, \u201cCyllage City COVID-19 outbreak linked to Zubat consumption<\/a>,\u201d blames a fictional creature for an outbreak in a fictional city, cites fictional references (including one from author\u00a0Bruce Wayne<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Gotham Forensics Quarterly<\/em>\u00a0on using bats to fight crime), and is cowritten by fictional authors such as Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s\u00a0Nurse Joy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0House, MD<\/a>. Nonetheless, four days after submission, editor Catherine Nichols was \u201ccheerful to inform\u201d me via email that it had \u201creceived positive review comments<\/a>\u201d and was accepted for\u00a0publication<\/a>.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the only\u00a0fake paper<\/a>\u00a0on Pok\u00e9mon I\u2019ve had published or\u00a0accepted<\/a>\u00a0for publication<\/a>, covering creatures from\u00a0Pikachu<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Porygon<\/a>. Some would argue that editors cannot recognize Pok\u00e9mon names, but lines in the text such as \u201ca journal publishing this paper does not practice peer review and must therefore be predatory<\/a>\u201d or \u201cthis invited article is in a predatory journal that likely does not practice peer review<\/a>\u201d would have tipped off anyone who bothered to read the articles. These papers did not slip in under the radar; they were welcomed in blindly.\u00a0[TheScientist<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
How do they make money? By billing the authors for publishing their papers, for one thing. If they’re smart, they won’t pay. But I wonder if they pay those who cite their paper. You’d think no one would do that, yet …<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, my Pok\u00e9mon-inspired paper on the novel coronavirus has already been cited. A physicist based in Tunisia published \u201cThe COVID-19 outbreak\u2019s multiple effects<\/a>,\u201d which claimed that COVID-19 was human-made and is treatable with \u201cprovincial herbs,\u201d in another predatory journal,\u00a0The International Journal of Engineering\u00a0<\/em>Research and Technology<\/em><\/a>. He not only cited my article, but also cited one of my made-up references, \u201cSigns and symptoms of Pok\u00e9rus infection,\u201d as the paper that first identified SARS-CoV-2. When I asked the author how this happened, he failed to see any problem with citing a paper he never read while writing a paper outside his field, and was unaware of\u00a0the difference between open access and predatory journals<\/a>. The difference\u2014editing and peer review\u2014is critical: when it comes to public health, fake journals are a real danger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Of course, if the person doing the citing thinks they can turn their little scam into a profitable venture, then the fee for citing – if it exists – is merely a one-time fee for buying credibility.<\/p>\n
I wish I could say this is all delusional, but seeing industries such as homeopathy and acupuncture fleecing their customers of their wealth year after year after year, I am not surprised.<\/p>\n
Wolves and sheep. That’s our nature. Which are you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matan Shelomi is out having fun: On March 18, 2020, the American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research\u00a0published my paper claiming that eating a bat-like Pok\u00e9mon sparked the spread of COVID-19. This paper, \u201cCyllage City COVID-19 outbreak linked to Zubat consumption,\u201d blames a fictional creature for an outbreak in a \u2026 Continue reading