Hello Andrew Bradford

This sounds bizarre to me. Nothing like this has happened to me before.

Is there something else for that/those page reference(s) now? Or it totally empty? Both would be totally bizarre, as I say.

The link I have always used for the paper comes back with error 404 File not found. The entry for the paper no longer appears in the contents for the Volume / Issue published in. As if it was never there.

There doesn't even seem to be a facility for searching for content in the journal.

https://www.tsijournals.com/journals/journal-of-physics-astronomy.html

Unfortunately if we used to have bad info regarding problems in the world of science publications sporadically, now it has become a norm to have it day by day!

The entire publisher Trade Science Inc which the "Journal of Physics & Astronomy" is a part of it is, in Beall's List of Predatory Journals.

https://beallslist.net/

What is very alerting is that many questionable publishers have "something in common", unseen or ignored by the world of academia.

I am sure, if you investigate carefully you will find out the answers you are looking for.

"That something in common" is visible in this URL

https://www.tsijournals.com/contactus.html

Rahim Alijani That is very worrying. As a non academic with no academic experience more than a graduate degree nor any academic connections it became apparent soon after publication that TSI journals are very much a pay to publish production. But I never anticipated that my paper could just disappear from the publication altogether.

What I do not understand is why, when the paper has been available for so long, there is no on-going cost to them to keep the paper available and other papers in that issue are still available, why this paper specifically has been removed.

Dear Andrew Bradford ,

The good news is that your paper:

Andrew Bradford, A Universal Physics Model based on Spherical Dimensions. J Phys Astron.2021;9(8):226. ©2021 Trade Science Inc. has not disappeared entirely:

https://www.i-scholar.in/index.php/JPA/issue/view/20390

A quick search identified the following examples that (like your paper) mysteriously disappeared from RG (no idea why, did you try to upload the paper yourself?):

El-Bediwi, A. B. (2022). UVA Radiation Studying Effect on Morphological Structure, Biochemical and Antioxidant Properties of Yellow Mustard. J Phys. Astron., 10(2), 262.

Alileche, A. (2021). Newton and the Big Bang. J. Phys. Astron, 9(7), 1-3.

Alileche, A. (2022). Further Mathematical Exploration of Newton’s Gravity Law and Coulomb’s Electrostatic Law. J. Phys. Astron. 10(3):265.

The second example cannot (like your paper) be found on their own Trade Science website. Indeed, a mystery and yet another example of the poor quality these type of publishers provide.

The sad news is that indeed as indicated by Rahim Alijani the publisher “Trade Science Inc.” behind the journal is listed in the Beall’s list as potentially predatory. If you Google the Indian contact address you end up with for example Pulsus Group which is nowadays owned by OMICS (one of the most notorious predatory publishers around) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5088087/#:~:text=Pulsus%20journals%20are%20now%20owned,publisher%20based%20in%20Hyderabad%2C%20India.&text=When%20Robert%20Kalina%20decided%20to,takers”%20for%20the%20remaining%20journals.

Sad but as said not uncommon in the scientific publishing world nowadays.

Best regards.

Many thanks Rob Keller for your efforts, investigations and comments. Interestingly Alileche, A. (2021). Newton and the Big Bang. J. Phys. Astron, 9(7), is from the exact same issue which my paper has disappeared from. Hopefully there is the possibility that this is just a technical glitch and original content will be restored at some part. I understand they are predatory and desperate to get papers to publish (well desperate to get your money to publish your paper) but I can't see any real benefit in them just removing already published papers. Fingers crossed and I'll just keep sending the emails....

Best regards.

Andrew Bradford Like you, I do not have any idea, may be they have found serious problems with your article (reliability of content) and silently retracted it without any notices (in their own thought to keep their own reputation!, may be some one has contacted them and claim for all or some "big" part of your published paper (therefore force them to remove it to keep that person silent).

Technically on paper, we can talk of other issues. They have lost the track of your paid money, thinking you have not paid for it. Or, thinking that you are away from the world of academia (as you your self said) removed it and may be later be published with others names (Plagiarism), Or maybe technical issues (of course very far from reality, but it is a matter of probability and statistics any way).

Other less known issues may apply, but lets be optimistic. It is very good to weigh the issues I briefly described here, read more sources about them and see which one(s) may occupy your thought, then concentrate on it/them.

I think you do not need to be worried. That was just one paper, but from now on you are on very high alert about predatory journals. And even you will go to learn more about them, you certainly will give awareness about these journals to others ( the youth, your friends, family or who ever need to know...).

See how powerful is this word "PREDATORY". The researcher who first chose this word for such publications, knew certainly many things, that even I think now after many years yet we do not know and we have to learn more and more, as the fate of your published paper dictates us.

(Please take it into considerations that what I shared here are just assumptions, and I have no judgement at all)

I sent an article to nth "Journal of physics and astronomy" I was invited by the journal) and now I just ask myself, if I should pay the price (1200 €) they demand for publication of the paper.

Robert Lauter, The Journal of Physics and Astronomy is, like many of these types of publications, a pay to publish journal and I am afraid to say that in my experience they do not appear to be read / considered very often by academics nor held in any academic regard by many. No scientific journal with an academic pedigree will invite you to submit a paper for publication.

If you are looking to be able to say "Look, I had a paper published" then pay the E1200 but if you are looking for academic feedback or consideration of your paper then save it for a recognised publication who will provide a meaningful peer review process worth any money they may charge.

Best of luck.