The best predatorial journal come-ons

[Phydeaux]

I got this gem the other day. The article in question appeared in an open access journal and is also available via my institutional repository. I'm guessing that the market for a paperback edition would be pretty much nil.

Dear [Me],

I am [redacted] from [redacted] Publishing.

Would you be interested in publishing [title of recently-published article] as a paperback edition?

At [redacted] Publishing, we have worked with more than 250,000 academic authors, offering them international, free-of-charge publishing.

Can you imagine your work as a book?

Just send me a short reply and I will gladly provide you with some details.

[ab_grp]

I'm not sure it counts as a predatory journal, but I'd be interested to hear if others have been contacted by "Research Outreach" (https://researchoutreach.org/).  I received an email recently from a gentleman there to see about publishing a brief take on my recent article in what appears to be a magazine of sorts.  I guess they have some team of folks who will pare down scientific articles to about four pages (at a high level) and then they publish about 28 of these in each edition of their publication.  The original researcher gets full sign off on the research brief, retains copyright, and gets other accouterments (e.g., PDF to use on a website), for a fee.  It seems pretty transparent about what it is, but from what I've read a lot of researchers are hesitant.  A potentially useful new way to share research results to a larger audience or something to avoid? I think it might be fairly new given the number of editions out (about 8), but it is strange to me that its twitter is not followed by anyone I follow (and I follow a lot of researchers in different fields).  I guess that's a modern-day red flag of some sort.  In any case, I wouldn't publish a brief of the article they contacted me about there because I don't think anyone would want to read it anyway, and my institution has its own outlets for sharing this kind of stuff for free. 

[phattangent]

Not a journal but still funny.

Dear phattangent

Greetings for the day!

I am the Program Director for Really Long Basket Weaving, Some, Place.
I am happy to share a piece of important information about our "Really Long Basket Weaving and Applications (Long Baskets 2019)", scheduled in Some, Place. on Month DD-DD, 2019.
The theme of this event: Future is all about basket weaving
Visit website for more details: https://www.google.com/search?q=future+basket+weaving
This will be a big amalgamation of research-minded professionals and company heads, dealing with the field of Basket Weaving and any of its related fields.
Let us know your availability on those dates, so that I will be glad to provide you with the further details.

If you have any queries message us on business what's app: +1(555)-555-5555

Thanks and Best Regards,
B.W.

I receive conference emails like this all the time.

[drbrt]

Greetings from Editorial office of [Redacted, Foreign Country].
We are writing to invite you to join the Editorial Board of our newly established Journal of Not Your Field (JNYF) in view of your expertise that learned from your  published research papers named: A* Journal
About JNYF:
[Overly broad scope]
Roles and Duties of Editors:
1. Make efforts to ensure the high quality and visibility of the journal.
2. Review assigned manuscripts and solicit reviewers.
3. Recommend or submit manuscripts to the journal.
4. Promote JNYF in the areas of your professional influence and interest.
Benefits for Editors:
A. Manuscripts from editors and approved by reviewers can be published for free within 12 months after joining the editorial board. Manuscripts recommended by the editor, discount will be given.
B. For editors' articles published on our journal within 3 years and cited by SCI journals, rewards will be granted to editors.
C. By interacting with peers from editorial board and reviewing manuscripts, the editors can keep informed of up-to-date dynamics in study field.
D. Editors can increase visibility in scholarly community and improve academic profile by adding editing experience for this journal on Publons.
E. In return for the devoted time and expertise, we will send editors the complimentary subscription to the journal.

We are looking forward to receiving your earliest reply and your willingness to join our editorial board by sending an acceptance letter along with your CV.
We will greatly appreciate you for your contribution made for the international scientific community.
For more details about Universal Wiser, you are welcomed to visit official website [link]
Remarks: Our online submission system OJS is under upgradation and maintenance, so journal page currently may be not accessible.

[science.expat]

Why?

I understand that spammers only need a very low response rate but would anyone respond positively to that email?

[phattangent]

[...] under upgradation and maintenance [...]

I just spat out some of my coffee. This is great!

[polly_mer]

Why?

I understand that spammers only need a very low response rate but would anyone respond positively to that email?

Possibly people mentored by wolves don't know how odd the email is.  I was reading it to my husband last night and he didn't know how odd it was until I started explaining how academic publishing works in my areas.

[mamselle]

I feel so special.

I got one, too....

*****
Header:

    Ms. [Mamselle]'s work at the [xxxx] University

Text:
Dear Ms. [Mamselle],

I am Akshay Roopun from Lambert Academic Publishing. Your work « topic I did a paper on two years ago » from [xxxx] University {where I occasionally adjunct in French and Art History} would be of interest to an international audience, and that is why I am writing to you.

We know it is not conventional for a publisher to pro-actively reach out to authors, but we are not a conventional publisher.

Here is what it means for you:   
- free of charge publishing     
- simplified and fast publishing process
- worldwide sales of your work     
- no commitments - you and only you remain the copyright holder of your work
- access to eco-friendly Print-on-Demand technology     

We are looking for authors in the field you have researched and your work has caught our interest. We are interested to publish it as a printed book.

Let me know how this sounds to you and I can get back to you with a detailed brochure.

Sincere regards,
Akshay Roopun
Editor

e: aks.roopun@lap-publishing.com
w: www.lap-publishing.com
Like us on Facebook  Follow us on Instagram  Follow us on Twitter
LAP Logo

Submit your book proposal for review:
Upload manuscript file here ⇪
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
MoreBooks! Marketing SRL
Business registration no. 1011602004108

Founded in Germany in 2002
Now in whole Europe, Africa, Asia and South America

*****

I was especially impressed that they were in "whole Europe, Africa, Asia and South America"
   (s/b "throughout," perhaps; surprised they didn't claim Antarctica while they were at it!)

It also solved a mystery:
   Now I at least know what that hit on my Academia site from Delhi was about....

M.

[Phydeaux]

Dear Ms. [Mamselle],

I am Akshay Roopun from Lambert Academic Publishing.

Now that Lambert has been outed, I'll go ahead and say that the "come-on" I posted upthread came from them as well.

[Thursday's_Child]

Here's a recent one for your entertainment.


Dear Dr. Thursdays Child,

Hope you are having a great day!

We are in shortfall of articles for successful release of Volume 3 Issue 3. Is it possible for you to support us with your 2-page Opinion/Mini Review for this issue?

We are confident that you are always will be there to support us.

Await your optimistic response.

[mamselle]

Let me guess...it's Parapsychology Review.

If you correctly predict the issue topic and article title they want, you get published in it.

M.

[Scout]

I like this one: The Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health (not my field...)

We have communicatedyou earlier, but there is no response from you, so we would like to contact you another time! In view of your previous contributions and research interests, we are contacting you again to submit the manuscript which is useful for the journal growth.

We need your support by sharing your valuable manuscripts towards our Journal. I welcome you to submit the articles to this email as an attachment (If your manuscript is going to be ready for publication).

If you don't have any material in your hand, please allow us to know the feasible date of your submission. An early confirmation from your side is very much appreciated as it really helps to provide quality research to the scientific community.

I would appreciate if you will respond to this email. Your manuscript could contribute a lot to Science.

[secundem_artem]

Today's spam:

Dear Dr.Artem,

I hope your day is as positive as you are.  Blah blah blah.  Hope you encourage our journal.

That's me alright.  Positive as the day is long.  Little Artem Sunshine.  I swear these things suffer from using Google translate to render the original Klingon into English.

[the_geneticist]

Today's spam:

Dear Dr.Artem,

I hope your day is as positive as you are. Blah blah blah.  Hope you encourage our journal.

That's me alright.  Positive as the day is long.  Little Artem Sunshine.  I swear these things suffer from using Google translate to render the original Klingon into English.

Awww!  Making me blush!  That's like a line from a really mushy love poem.

Alternately, they know what we are like before we've had our morning caffeine.  Does that mean my day is going to be wretched if I'm in a bad mood?

[saramago]

Here's a new twist (at least new to me): not only will they not charge publishing fees, but they're going to give me $200 if my paper is accepted!