Got asked to contribute to edited book: genuine request or predatory publishing?

[martijnboersma]

A few days ago I got a random email from an academic in Poland, asking if I wanted to contribute a chapter to their edited book on sustainable finance (with Palgrave MacMillan). I had not previously messaged with this academic, nor had I heard from them. They seemingly had stumbled on my research on Academia.edu and decided to send me an email.

I am always wary about these kinds of requests, as many academics regularly get emails from predatory journals.

Anyway, the email address was xxxxxxxx@usz.edu.pl, and the associated domain seems to be a legit university.The person sending the message has a seemingly reputable online presence, and their google scholar account shows quite a few citations (704), although none are in recognised journals. They also published an earlier edited book with Palgrave MacMillan.

I decided it seemed legitimate enough to respond, so I asked:

Dear xxxxxx,

Thank you for your email. This sounds interesting.

I am however always a little sceptical when approached out of the blue to contribute to something.

Can I firstly ask why me? And secondly, which other authors have committed to contribute a chapter?

Thanks,

Martijn.

The response I got:

Dear Martijn,

thank you for your kind response. I am looking for enthusiastic people that like research work and new challenges.If you don't feel the project and you aresceptical it make no sens to discuss about it.  I am not suppose to keep pushing you.

Best wishes,

xxxxxxx

I would appreciate to hear people's thoughts on this. Is it legit, should I pursue it, or does it have the makings of predatory publishing? What else should I be looking for, or asking.

Thanks in advance.

[Hegemony]

It doesn't sound like predatory publishing to me.  Palgrave Macmillan is not a predatory press.  When I edit volumes, I often send emails out of the blue to
scholars in the field. Some of them never reply (which is actually a bit annoying), so I assume some of them think I'm a scammer.  But numbers of them do
sign on, which is helpful.  However, since you don't know this guy, you don't know whether he has a good reputation for getting things done on time, so that
might be a reason not to get on board.  But I don't see any signs that any of it is a scam.

[saramago]

Different point of view: to me, his response to your queries seems a little bizarre. I think (could be wrong) that a more serious person would be much more specific in terms of "why you", would clearly refer to your expertise and its relevance to this book. New challenges, that doesn't sound very academic to me.

[Wahoo Redux]

Publisher seems legit.  Scholar seems legit.  The only worrisome thing to me is that the editor's English is pretty sketchy----how is he/she going to edit a manuscript?  The minute he asks for a subvention I'd boogie out of there, but I have received emails out of the blue asking for contributions and so far I have not been preyed upon (that I know of).  I suppose you could contact the acquisitions editor at Palgrave to make sure the project is, in fact, legit.

[pedanticromantic]

Different point of view: to me, his response to your queries seems a little bizarre. I think (could be wrong) that a more serious person would be much more specific in terms of "why you", would clearly refer to your expertise and its relevance to this book. New challenges, that doesn't sound very academic to me.

Can we stop assuming every academic is a man? I believe we moved on from that. 

Personally, I'd be more concerned that someone who has only a basic grasp of English is editing the volume and I'd move on. A book chapter isn't worth  much anyway, so focus on a good journal instead. 

[ergative]

Is it possible that the first round of communications is being handled by a student assistant? That doesn't speak terribly well for the prospective editor's judgment, but it would explain the odd language.