Dear colleagues,
I would like to point out one thing, which I may not have insisted enough on, which explains a lot of criticisms that may be made of the Dolos list and other efforts against predatory publishing. These criticisms also go to threats and public attacks (but I'll come back to it another time, meanwhile you'll see for yourself that the Dolos list can cost me my image on the internet - fortunately, on non-scientific websites).
Please read the entire text before answering, the title question serves as an introduction to the topic.
First, the usefulness of a scientific publication
I may not be exhaustive, but for the moment I think of three main objectives:
- The ability to quickly share research results that can help other research teams in their work.
- The professional benefits generated by these publications (we will not lie to you, the career of a researcher is measured as much by the quality as by the quantity of his publications, not to bet on one or the other) .
- The opportunity to leave to Humanity a better knowledge of the Universe, of Life, of its own technological capabilities, ...
And these are the last two points that interest me here.
What the Dolos list has already done
I have often heard that once an article is in the hands of a pseudoscientific journal, nothing can be done.
First of all, be aware that one of my articles has already been hijaked by OMICS, which I was able to bend, at the cost of a long wait which considerably slowed down the publication of my article on the evaporation of black holes (thanks to my lawyer).
Then, I would like to share with you a news recently reached to me: Our team managed to fold a thirtieth journal in favor of a researcher (you know how much I care about the safety of the researchers who contact me, you will not have his name). I also thank the authorities of his country, who are strongly concerned by this type of case, which enabled us to make it clear to the journal that, in the event that we could not get it to bend, the authorities concerned had already confirmed to us that they are able to prosecute this journal. This was of great help to the scammed researcher, whose article was removed more quickly, even though it had already been published. I think the law enforcement authorities are well informed about the problems posed by predatory publishing. We assured the administration involved that we would not specify the nationality of the researcher or journal. The Dolos list is not there to convey the bad image of a country or a researcher in terms of scientific rigor. In this regard, we will remain in less precise geographical observations and will try as much as possible to remain benevolent in the use of these results.
Finally, I would like to give you a personal point of view: I think that the greatest weakness of these pseudoscientific journals is their bad publicity. They will always prefer to sell an article, rather than go public for petty and fraudulent businesses.
Why was it important?
The three main objectives of the Dolos list are:
- Identification of sources of false scientific information.
- The defense of scientific rigor and ethics.
- The protection of the individual and collective interests of researchers.
In this context, so that quality articles do not fall into the "lost science", because they are ignored because of the journal in which they are published and because these journals do not have a very long life expectancy long (for many), and so that the reputation of the researchers does not suffer from these publications, it is important that the Dolos list helps the researchers in their procedures of suppression or interruption of the publication process.
And now, what should we do?
Since it is possible to unblock an article so that it is submitted in another journal, I propose you to provide me with methods that would allow to massively and legally empty these predatory journals of the quality articles which are there. This method should make it easy and fast for a researcher to unblock his article so that it can be published elsewhere.
This method will remain, of course, complementary to the initial objectives of the Dolos list. Naturally, if your solution involves the Dolos list, it will be my legal and financial responsibility.
I would like to remind you that these procedures for deleting and interrupting publication are free for researchers and that you just have to contact my team to benefit from them.
I remain very open to your solutions. For the moment, I do not have one. It must be massive, effective, and free for researchers.
Extending the frontiers of knowledge.............to let truth prevail in all its forms........
So that researchers from different parts of the world know from where they should start in tackling a topic or problem.
To Bing possible solutions to problems in the immediate society.
To contribute meaningfully to the body of knowledge in that research area.
1. To disseminate scientific information quickly to the community
2. To contribute to the wealth of knowledge in a particular area so that it would benefit humanity.
3. To gain visibility among peers
4. To satisfy funding sources' requirements.
I want to suggest that what many people consider the objectives of academic publishing are really the objectives of academic research. Publishing's main objective should be to communicate with other academics, to find out novel results, to express concerns about the state of the field, and so on. Unfortunately that's largely not the case anymore, as I suggest in my paper on the call to research format: Preprint Call to Research: A need for a new paper format
That's why I'm happy to see ResearchGate, Open Science Framework, and other technologies that are helping us freely and quickly exchange ideas on a wide array of topics.
Now there are too many poor scientists around the world. They are struggling to publish their poor papers. They are cheating in all ways they can. You already can see cheaters on this thread. Predatory journals? They love them.
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