At least, the publisher and the journal are not mentioned in https://beallslist.net/ and https://www.openacessjournal.com/blog/predatory-journals-list/.

Dear Ann Murray ,

As indicated by Wolfgang R. Dick it is always a good thing to check the Beall's list first. Because people do this routinely when it comes to new/unknown publishers this 'publisher' tries to outsmart 'us'.

Be careful with this one. This relatively new player in the scientific publishing business “AccScience Publishing” is linked to suspicious partners. They more or less hide this. See for example:

-“INNOSC Theranostics and Pharmacological Sciences” https://accscience.com/journal/ITPS download for example https://accscience.com/journal/ITPS/4/1/10.36922/itps.v4i1.966 (a volume 4 paper) it is published by “InnoScience Press” or download this volume 1 paper https://accscience.com/journal/ITPS/1/1/10.26689/itps.v1i1.438 which is published by “Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing”

-“International Journal of Bioprinting” used to be published by “Whioce Publishing Pte. Ltd.” see their own announcement https://accscience.com/journal/IJB/about/announcements

The thing is that both Bio-Byword and Whioce Publishing are mentioned in the Beall’s list (https://beallslist.net) of potential predatory publishers. So, this is an obvious attempt to cover up/‘muffle away’ their link/mentioning in the Beall’s list. This is a red flag and the three mentioned (in bold) ‘publishers’ are discussed not that positively here on RG:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Joint_letter_from_Asia_Pacific_Academy_of_Science_Whioce_Publishing_and_Academic_Publishing_to_be_EDITOR_in_CHIEFWhat_to_do

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Looking_for_advice

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Innoscience-Research-Sdn-Bhd

So, personally I would stay away from this one (no matter how misleadingly professional the website and edited papers look like).

Best regards.

Wolfgang R. Dick

Rob Keller

Thanks so much for these helpful answers. Re. Beall's list, I wondered how quickly a suspicious publisher might be added, and I'll keep an eye on it. I'm choosing to stay away from it for now. If it's a fake/predatory, they really seem to be getting their act together in disguising who they really are. Rob Keller thank you the additional information and links, I appreciate it.

I just saw the updated list and it is not on there as well

Thanks so much Udo. Your post prompted me to go back into AccScience's site just now, and I see that it seems to be growing in the amount of academics publishing with them. Thanks again.

Dear Ann,

That is very reassuring, thank you very much as well!

I served as an editor for Cogent Open Access Medicine for several years and that was published by Taylor & Francis a very old reputable publisher (1852) and I know how hard it is to get into the market. If we only allow established publishers, no competition will arise and the effect is that break through innovation is becoming less and less as highlighted in a Nature article at the beginning of the year. The scientific system gots sclerotised.

Best wishes

Udo

I completely agree. Like most of us, I get a lot of academic spam, and have encountered at least one very convincingly put-together website that could pass for an academic publisher website if one didn't dig deeper. So I guess that made me worry. But on the other hand, as you say, there are much less known presses who help broaden scope for new researchers, who do peer-review responsibly (with at least two suitably qualified reviewers) and help new research deservedly make it to publication (and somewhat faster). The few 'big' journals in each discipline cannot serve all excellent research with their few issues per year.

Dear Ann,

I agree again. I got an invitation from Cancer Plus from this publisher. This journal is jointly published with The Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hence, I think it is highly unlikely that they are predatory.

Best wishes

Udo

Dear Udo Schumacher ,

As indicated in my reply of July 3rd, 2023, there are publishers behind this ‘publisher’. Have a look at one of their papers that is published by the journal “Cancer Plus” https://accscience.com/journal/CP/5/1/10.18063/cp.397 you can see that it is published by “Whioce Publishing Pte. Ltd.” a publisher mentioned in the Beall’s list (https://beallslist.net) of potential predatory publishers.

I don’t believe a word of what they claim about their joint publishing with The Chinese Academy of Sciences, have a look at the real journal titles that are co-published with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) here https://english.cas.cn/publications/

So, again despite their rather professional look I would say: stay away from these people.

Best regards.

Hi Udo, Rob,

I've been invited to publish with AccScience again (just yesterday, after when I had a look at their site. This seems to be a rather difficult one but I'm going to have a very careful look around in their journal 'Art and Communciation' as this is the journal they've invited me to publish in, and my research area, where I can work out - hopefully much faster - if they are fake. I'll know names and can verify if they did actually publish there. I hope to be able to provide solid feedback.

Hi Rob,

many thanks! A real eye opener to me. I will stay away. You prevented me from acting foolish!

Best wishes

Udo

I got an invitation to publish with a medical journal of the same publisher. The language was very professional and the editor in chief is a professor at King’s College London. When I checked the website, he actually speaks himself on a video on the anniversary of the journal, and the published articles seem to be of very high quality. I thought all these suggest this is very unlikely a predatory journal, and I submitted to them and my article is under review for over a month now. A new publisher, yes, but predatory? No

Udo Schumacher Rob Keller Loay H Abdelnour Udo, Rob, Loay, I've had a good look around the journal that I was invited to submit to, and I've checked out some of the newer members of the editorial board. I can say now that their emails are real, not fake - I even went to the university websites to check them out. With this newer 'evidence', it would seem that the journal is real, just very new and as yet not established. I've not yet had time to read the available articles in my area, and therefore cannot comment on the merit of the editing process. Perhaps the approach to me and others to submit in this case is a way of getting the journal's name around, as the press is very new. I'd still be grateful if anyone had an experience to share on this press, and if the peer review process was sound, etc. Thanks again for your insights.

Ann Murray; I am glad we are on the same page. I agree the journals are just approaching researchers because they are fairly new. My journal publishes high quality research and my manuscript is under review for over 5 weeks, which is not the case with predatory journals. Please keep us posted with how you go witj yours

Many thanks Ann,

Best wishes

Udo

Udo Schumacher thanks Udo, Loay H Abdelnour Loay, thanks for your input, the more we share our experiences in this digital publishing environment, the better! I guess the next question could be - how do we cope with the cost of open access. Thanks again.

Just to share experience - at least this publisher uses questionable advertisement practices (AKA spam), sending me an unsolicited invite to publish in a journal way far from my field. I'd keep away from them.