Greetings for the day! I am writing this blog post as yet another reminder that the open-access publisher OMICS International completely sucks. The stark language here is justified, I believe, by the abusive, exploitative, and unethical actions that OMICS International has engaged in against honest researchers. Here are more stories that give evidence of the nature of this publisher.
I want to draw attention to the abusive practices of the Hyderabad, India-based publisher OMICS International (former name: OMICS Group) in order to alert researchers to avoid this publisher. Each week, I receive emails from researchers who have been victimized by this exploitative publisher. Below is a selection of five recent emails I received from both the Global South and the Global North. I’d say that OMICS International is a global parasite.
1.
Hi Sir, Hope you are doing well.
I am From Algeria and I have a question concerning OMICS group.
I submit my research article in the journal from OMICS.
In the first time, they do not ask me about fees, it means: it is free.
After two revision required from them, they send me an e-mail: “I am pleased to tell you that your work has now been accepted for publication in Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications. It was accepted on Jun 18, 2016”
Then after a few hours, the send me a SPAM e-mail, and they ask me about payment it is about 1590 dollar USD.
Sir, I feel very bad.
I ask them, about that I don`t want a hard copy, just online publication, but they always ask me about payment.
Sir can I submit my paper in another journal??.
Thank you
2.
Hello Jeffrey Beall,
I hope you’re doing well. My name is [Redacted], I’m an undergraduate student studying at the University of [Redacted] in Canada. Last year, I’ve started independent research in hopes to be published one day. My independent research looks at the [Redacted].
Fast forwarding a year (a couple of weeks ago in fact), I have finished my manuscript in which I was planning to submit it to an open access journal called Journal of Emerging Infectious Disease with OMICS. At the time, I did not know that OMICS was a predatory journal (after seeing your list) and I’m at the final stages before it get published. To clarify, my manuscript has been accepted for publishing BUT during that time, I found out that it was a predatory journal and requested that I retract my manuscript from this journal. They advised me that they have made the DOI and it is impossible for them to retract. At this point, I did advise them that I will not approve anything going forward and that they appreciate my request to retract from the journal.
Given the story that was mentioned above, I was wondering if you have any advise on going forward and if possible, see if there is a possibility that my manuscript will not be published in this predatory journal? I was extremely shocked that these type of practices by journals existed and extremely glad I caught this before accepting anything to be published. I greatly appreciate any advise you will give and hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
[Redacted]3.
Hello Mr. Beall,
After many months of issues trying to get a manuscript published with the Journal of Primatology (published by OMICS International), just today I found your Nature column and blog about the predatory publishers, on which OMICS International was included. It is quite disheartening to have our fears confirmed – but in hindsight, it seems obvious that we’ve likely been scammed. We’re all kicking ourselves now thinking back about the red flags…
Is there a resource that other authors have taken or reports to file someplace? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for your efforts on this issue as a means to warn fellow researchers.
Sincerely,
4.
Dear Mr. Beall,
My name is [Redacted] and I am writing to you to ask you about a problem with a predatory journal. I am in the situation that I submitted a paper in a journal of the omics group and then discovered the true nature of them. After they accepted the paper very fast, we saw it was not correct and decided to withdraw the paper. After seven days we have not got an answer from them. We would like to publish our paper in another journal but we don’t know how to proceed because our paper is still cited as “in the press” on their website. What do you think one can do in such a situation? Should I just go and publish somewhere else? use another paper name? Ignore their emails (if they answer someday) and don’t pay anything?
Thanks in advance!
5.
Dear Jeffrey,
First, thanks for your fight against predatory publishers, I wish I had read about it before…
I am yet another countless victim of the OMICs scam.. and I know you must get regular similar emails, but I’d really like to seek your advice.
I am a medical doctor from [Redacted], Switzerland. I have been requested a case report by one of OMICs journals. Rather flattered, I sent them a paper they have “peer-reviewed” and sent me an invoice for (1200 USD).
I have asked them to withdraw my publication and have not paid them a single dollar, and waiting for their answer.
What happens if I don’t pay? can they take any legal action?
Thank you very much for your help, I admit I feel really foolish to have been scamed.
Best Regards,
[Redacted]Conclusion
I call on the Indian Government to take action against OMICS International and all India-based publishers who exploit and victimize researchers. Not carrying out a bona fide peer review in journals claiming to be peer-reviewed is an act of publishing misconduct, a breach of publishing ethics.
