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How does the Bair Hugger Work?

Published on February 3, 2016

Surgery with Bair Hugger by 3M

Surgery can be pretty intimidating and is very serious business. Most people heading into a surgery are worried about potential complications and a long, painful recovery. Although complications are rare, they can happen. For example, sometimes there can be excessive bleeding during surgery, delayed healing after the surgery, and patients can get infections during surgery. There are certain factors that can exacerbate or lead to these complications. But thankfully, modern science has helped to create a device that helps reduce the risk of complications during surgery. The Bair Hugger is a forced-air warming system owned by 3M to prevent and treat hypothermia and to help prevent other complications in patients during surgery. The Bair Hugger has become an integral addition to thousands of operating rooms in hospitals all over the United States.

No matter how safe or commonplace a surgery might be an individual undergoing any surgical procedure is bound to face complications. There is a reason why patients must sign release forms previous to a surgery. In the late 80’s, a certain device was introduced in surgical rooms that helped to greatly reduce the potential side effects and complications from surgery. The Bair Hugger system includes blankets, warming units and accessories and has been used on more than 180 million patients in more than 80 percent of the hospitals in the United States. The inventor of the Bair Hugger was focused on trying to solve the common issue of hypothermia during surgery. The body while under anesthesia has a difficult time maintaining its temperature. Almost all patients become hypothermic during surgery. When a person becomes hypothermic, their body expels heat faster than it can produce it.

Hypothermia is very common during the first hour of surgery and the longer the patient’s body remains hypothermic, the more likely they would be that they would have to receive a transfusion. Dr. Daniel Sessler, of the Department of Outcomes Research at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, told Reuters Health that, “Most patients become hypothermic during the first hour of anesthesia and then temperature slowly returns toward normal, so that by the end of the surgery most patients are normothermic,” Dr. Sessler told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. “But the amount of hypothermia that we saw and the number of hypothermic patients was fairly high, and the amount of hypothermia was significantly associated with the need for blood transfusion.”

Dr. Sessler also has spoken out about the benefits of forced air warming during surgery. He said that, “One approach you could use is to pre-warm patients, say, for a half hour before surgery. That effectively loads the body with heat, and then their core temperature decreases less.” The pre-warming will help to reduce the risk of the body temperature dropping during surgery hence helping to greatly reduce complications from hypothermia. This is why the Bair Hugger is so important. This forced-air, warming system is the best way to help maintain the temperature of an individual during a surgery.

The Bair Hugger warming unit is a very straightforward system. It consists of a warming unit and a disposable blanket. The disposable blanket is connected to the warming unit via a tube. The blanket is placed on top of the patient and warm air is gently forced into the blanket and then it circulates through the blanket. The blankets are designed to use the pressure points on the body to prevent heat from reaching areas that are at risk for pressure sores or burns. The blankets also include drainage holes where the fluid can drain from the surface of the blanket to a piece of linen underneath. The drainage system is to help reduce the risk of skin softening and also reduce the risk of heat loss from evaporation. The blankets are disposable in order to help prevent the chance of infection transmission from patient to patient.

Currently 3M is the owner of the Bair Hugger. A company named Arizant originally owned the Bair Hugger until Arizant was bought by 3M. The company that is best known for the post-it note, also has products for sale in a variety of fields including healthcare. They also offer a variety of infection prevention products that include casts and splints, fluid warmers, hygiene monitors, drapes, masks and respirators, sterilization monitors and temperature monitors.

The popularity of the Bair Hugger is undeniable. Doctors and hospitals all over the United States use the Bair Hugger every day to help prevent hypothermia. However, there is an outspoken critic to the Bair Hugger and it happens to be the individual who invented it. The doctor that invented the Bair Hugger has publically stated that he believes that the Bair Hugger can cause surgical site infections. However, numerous studies were conducted that have proved those claims to be incorrect. Both internal and external studies were conducted and over 60 clinical trials proved that the Bair Hugger is safe and effective. Dr. Javad Parvizi, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University, analyzed the evidence presented that FAW increased infections. He said, “There is no scientific proof that the use of forced-air warming blankets lead to an increase in surgical site infection regardless of the type of surgical procedure and the type of operating room.”

The Bair Hugger system is the preferred patient warming device in 8 out of the top 10 orthopedic hospitals in the United States. Regardless of 3M backing the product, hospitals have been using the system for decades now and have the scientific backing to prove that it is the best system on the market. Numerous studies have been conducted and numerous clinical trials have taken place that help bolster the claims that the Bair Hugger is the best product on the market.

Resources:
http://www.fawfacts.com/
https://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/patient-warming/-/

The History of SpaceX & Elon Musk

Published on February 2, 2016

SpaceX

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Entrepreneur Elon Musk. The company headquarters are located in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company vision is to revolutionize space technology, with the goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Musk wants humans on Mars–to flourish, live, and create an ‘Earth-like’ planet over time. But why Mars? The reason to go is that we have two paths as humans, Musk said: One path is we stay on Earth forever and eventually face an extinction event. The alternative is to become a space-faring and multi-planetary species, “which I hope you would agree that is the right way to go.” The goal then is to create a self-sustaining city that isn’t just an outpost, he explained, but that “can become a planet in its own right.” Mars makes sense for this because of several reasons, including its size similarity to Earth. If you want to read more about Elon Musk, check out the exclusive article on the Emerald City Journal about how he is the 21st century Father of invention.

The journey to Mars began in 2006 when Musk invested 100 million dollars into his start-up with the goal of building rockets. SpaceX has focused on three rockets, the Dragon, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010. The company made history again in May 2012, when its Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth—a technically challenging feat previously accomplished only by governments. Since then Drago has delivered cargo to and from the space station multiple times, providing regular cargo resupply missions for NASA.
SpaceX has a busy future ahead, as a contract with NASA will fund its work. Under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, SpaceX is flying numerous cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, for a total of at least 20 flights under the Commercial Resupply Services contract. In 2016, NASA awarded SpaceX a second version of that contract that will cover a minimum of 6 additional flights from 2019 onward. Soon, SpaceX will carry crew as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program as well. Dragon was designed from the outset to carry astronauts and SpaceX is in the process of upgrading Dragon to make it crew-ready. SpaceX is the world’s fastest-growing provider of launch services and has over 70 future missions on its manifest, representing over $10 billion in contracts. These include commercial satellite launches as well as NASA and other US Government missions. Currently under development is the Falcon Heavy, which will be the world’s most powerful rocket. SpaceX continues to work toward one of its key goals—developing reusable rockets, a feat that will transform space exploration by delivering highly reliable vehicles at radically reduced costs.

Elon Musk official SpaceX biography below:
http://www.spacex.com/elon-musk

Musk believes that there are certain roadblocks to the colonization of Mars- the big issue being who wants to go and who can afford to go. Currently, the cost numbers about $10 billion per person. Musk is working to achieve overlap between people who want to go and people who can afford to go. His goal is to get the cost of moving to Mars around $200,000. The idea being that is people saved up and this was their primary goal, they could make it work. So how does Musk plan to make the cost reduction? Musk noted that this is where it gets tricky. How does one improve the cost of trips to Mars by 5 million percent? The key ingredients are full re-usability of ships and vehicles, and the rest is made up by refiling in orbit, producing more propellant on Mars for return trips, and choosing the right propellant to make that possible and efficient.

Musk said the more frequent the flights, the more the trip on a terrestrial aircraft goes down. He used an example to illustrate saying, “It cost $43 for LAX-to-San Diego flights, for instance, versus $1 million for single use trip if the aircraft were turned every time it made a run.” The number of times it’s feasible to re-use craft for Mars verses flying commercial on Earth, is less, since you can use the spaceship part only every two years. But the booster and tanked can be “used as much as you like,” letting you refill the spaceship in orbit and giving you a large payload capability for that spaceship’s trip to Mars.” The re-usability of ships back and forth between Mars is another key cost reduction ingredient, and that requires building a propellant plant on Mars, Musk said. Mars happens to work out well for that because of CO2 atmosphere and water ice in the soil. Managing fuel type also influences the cost and there are three main choices. These include kerosene, hydrogen/oxygen, and deep-cryo methalox. Musk’s target sustainable population is 1 million people for a Mars colony, and that means 100 people per trip is 10,000 trips. At that rate, it will take 40 to 100 years to colonize Mars. Musk notes how he wants the journey to Mars to be experienced. According to TechCrunch, “It has to be really fun and exciting, and can’t feel cramped or boring.” This means ships would include movies, cabins, restaurants, zero-gravity games, and whatever else is thought up.

Between the testing funded by NASA and the cost-reduction problem, getting to Mars will take time? But the question is, how much time? Musk said that SpaceX is looking to compete the first development spaceship in about four years, and to starting doing server like flights within that time. Musk said he would probably name the first ship that goes to Mars Heart of Gold, referencing the ship from Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. “I like that it’s driven by infinite improbability because our ships is also infinitely improbably.”

SpaceX Secures Mars Rocket Factory in Los Angeles

A true entrepreneur, Musk founded his third company, in 2002 called Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX with the intention of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. The company has excelled in the past two years, and just hit another important milestone. The factory for the Big Falcon Rocket, produced by SpaceX, will be built in the Port of Los Angeles, according to media reports. SpaceX has secured the necessary approval from the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners to proceed with the factory.

CEO Elon Musk expects the new rocket to be around 350 feet high and around 30 feet in diameter. This size will require the space vehicle to be transported on an ocean-going barge to Cape Canaveral, Florida, via the Panama Canal. The location of the factory near a waterfront will make it easy to transport the rocket for testing and its consequent launch. The launch vehicle’s design makes it reusable, and it will be built in two different parts, the booster stage, and the upper stage. The booster will handle the operations related to the landing capacities of the Falcon rockets, while the upper stage will be built to transport satellites, supplies, as well as people. According to a Port executive, Florida, Texas and Louisiana were considered as alternatives for building the BFR, whose 30-foot diameter is too large to transport by a truck like Falcon rockets and requires that it be barged. The Port of Los Angeles will charge SpaceX $1.38 million per annum. “This is the perfect spot to build our big rocket,” said Bruce McHugh, SpaceX’s director of construction and real estate, during a public meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. Based on the necessary land surveys, the waterfront of the Los Angeles port appeared as the most suitable site. The new rocket manufacturing facility is expected to be built on a 19-acre plot on the mostly artificial island that’s part of the port.

SpaceX has made its mark in the space industry and has emerged as a competitor among other successful companies. One of their major milestones can be marked on Feb. 6, 2018 when SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon Heavy which is the most powerful operational rocket in the world. While the launch is a technical and style feat in itself, SpaceX has also achieved a business feat. The company has radically reduced the costs of launching a rocket. Musk has talked about the reusability of technology being a contributing factor to colonizing Mars. The first trip in 2022 would drop off equipment made to harvest water and carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into methane using solar energy. That fuel would be stored in depots to refill Earth-bound BFRs. The second trip in 2024 which would be crewed by astronauts. The company is building this craft to take people to the Red Planet and other destinations throughout the solar system. The spaceship will likely accommodate 100 or more passengers at a time. SpaceX has said it plans to use the BFR to help establish a million-person city on Mars, ideally in the next half-century or so.

The first crewed Red Planet mission could come in the 2020s, according to Musk. Musk has said, “People have told me that my timelines, historically, have been optimistic,” Musk said at SXSW. Between Tesla release dates and SpaceX launch delays, Musk has a sense of humor about the process of being an innovator and entrepreneur. Key to his thinking is the concept of reusability, part of the reason the Falcon 9 mission was such a milestone for SpaceX. The same vehicle could fly again and again. Musk knows that future technology must also be sustainable. This is his whole outlook, not to just advance society, but to sustain one. In 2012, SpaceX advertised a launch price of $57 million for Falcon 9, a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by the company to transport satellites. At that point of time, the market for rocket launches was dominated by Arianespace, a French company that had a head start of more than three decades over SpaceX. The ultimate goal of SpaceX is to colonize Mars. Human civilization faces many grave threats over the long haul, from asteroid strikes and climate change to artificial intelligence run amok, Musk has said over the years. Musk has warned for some time about the dangers to AI and the threat that it poses the survival of humanity. In a span of five years, Musk has led SpaceX to close the gap between cost and competition. SpaceX has been working to make its rockets partially reusable since as early as 2011. Up until this year, pretty much all orbital rockets have been expendable, so they’re disposed of once they launch into space. That means an entirely new rocket, which can cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to make, must be built for each mission to orbit. SpaceX’s strategy has been to land its rockets after launch to fly them again and again. SpaceX has become more cost-efficient with this success. The company can now save hundreds of millions when launching rockets. Regardless of its inspirations, the company was forced to adopt a goal, make it cheaper. With rocket technology, Musk has said, “you’re really left with one key parameter against which technology improvements must be judged, and that’s cost.”

As previously mentioned Musk believes that humans have the best chance of survival if they are a multi-planetary species. Musk said he would probably name the first ship that goes to Mars Heart of Gold, referencing the ship from Hitchhiker’s Guild to The Galaxy. “I like that it’s driven by infinite improbability because our ships are also infinitely improbably,” Musk said. Musk doesn’t sugarcoat his feeling about humans and their ability to repeat mistakes without realizing how large the implications could be. “Last century, we had two massive world wars — three if you count the Cold War,” Musk said earlier this month at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. “I think it’s unlikely that we’ll never have another world war again,” Musk said. As bleak as these statements might seem for the future of humanity, it isn’t as far-fetched to see that we could ultimately destroy our species with how we treat our world and rising international tension. Rather than a pessimist, Musk is a realist, with a plan. Obtaining the proper space to build this history-changing rockets puts Musk and his team on their way to colonizing Mars. The mayor of LA is excited about this opportunity to help the company. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “This is a vehicle that holds the promise of taking humanity deeper into the cosmos than ever before,” further adding about the benefits of employment creation in the region, “And this isn’t just about reaching into the heavens. It’s about creating jobs right here on Earth.” And Musk has been rather blunt in saying that to keep jobs on earth, we need to extend our presence outside of the planet we currently inhabit. The new factory expected to employ around 700 people.

What does it take to build a successful business or empire? Entrepreneurs look at the Elon Musk’s of the world and ask themselves the same thing. How has he been as successful as has? Entrepreneurs can often rub people the wrong way because they’re passionate about what they’re working towards and show it. They typically have strong opinions and personalities and aren’t afraid to tell you what they think. This is what makes them so successful. Most entrepreneurs fail a business or start-up at some point. They are risk-takers and dreamers at heart. The difference between your average Joe and an entrepreneur, is that failure is not a roadblock to an entrepreneur but will fuel them into another venture. An entrepreneur puts in more hours and can see beyond the everyday operations of a business and does more dirty grit work than anyone will ever know about. They do not listen to those who say ‘it can’t be done,’ they are too busy working to make it happen. If you get caught up in the “buts” or little details of things, it will be difficult to get out of your own way. Entrepreneurs chose to look past what others see as obstacles and think of what ‘could be.’ They think bigger than most people. This vision is fueled by the right people, a healthy dose of confidence, and a work ethic that doesn’t quit. Between SpaceX and Tesla, there were plenty of times other people would have thrown the towel in. Musk wants humans on Mars–to flourish, live, and create an ‘Earth-like’ planet over time. But why Mars? The reason to go is that we have two paths as humans, Musk said: One path is we stay on Earth forever and eventually face an extinction event. The alternative is to become a spacefaring and multi-planetary species, “which I hope you would agree that is the right way to go.” The goal then is to create a self-sustaining city that isn’t just an outpost, he explained, but that “can become a planet in its own right.”

Musk knew that it was a long shot to get SpaceX to where it stands today, but it’s a pretty big milestone have locked down a location where his company will be producing the BFR. Elon Musk poses a special kind of tenacity and perseverance that a leader of innovative companies should poses. Musk is a professional at maximizing time and energy. A recent email he sent to his company was praised for its professional, productive, and powerful message. Don’t waste time doing things that aren’t moving things forward. Musk is a professional at time management and getting things done. Sure, there might be setbacks and systems to improve with the BFR and getting to Mars, but that won’t stop him from moving forward. And when trying to do something that no one has done before, this is just the kind of thinking that is needed. The SpaceX website features a quote by Musk that nicely summarizes his motivation behind his efforts to colonize Mars. Musk says, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” SpaceX is often keeping people on their toes with a heavy lineup of rocket launches. This year projects the most robust rocket launching schedule we have seen. SpaceX technicians at Cape Canaveral are readying for the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket configuration next week, a mission that will debut changes to make the launcher safer for astronauts and make it easier and less expensive for the company to reuse first stage boosters. The launch is set for the first week of May.

Elon Musk Shows Off ‘Tool’ on Instagram for Mars-Colonizing Spaceship

Colonizing Mars has always been Elon Musk’s vision for humanity. Creating sustainable technology, cost of experimentation and travel, and safely establishing life on a new planet have been viewed as ambitious undertakings. Musk is an active social media user and showed off his new “tool” for colonizing Mars in an Instagram post. The Instagram photo was of “the main body tool” for the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket, or Big F—ing Rocket). This post was shared shortly after Musk’s full paper, titled “Making Life Multi-Planetary,” published by the journal New Space. The paper published in the journal New Space is based on Elon Musk’s October 2017 talk that he gave in Australia. The action plan is starting to take shape, as shown in the Instagram post.

Elon Musk recently outlined in an academic paper on what life on the red planet could look like. The BFG is the key to these mars missions going efficiently. With the BFG the spaceflight system will be extremely flexible, and SpaceX has said it plans to use the rocket for a variety of purposes, from planetary settlement to satellite launches to point-to-point transportation of people here on Earth. Musk has said that the company aims to eventually phase out its other rockets and spacecraft and let BFR carry the load. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk posted a photo on Instagram on April 8, 2018. It shows “the main body tool” for the company’s Mars-colonizing BFR spaceship, along with a Tesla car for scale. And the Tesla car looks like unimpressive next to the sizeable piece of machinery.

The company is building this craft to take people to the Red Planet and other destinations throughout the solar system. The spaceship will likely accommodate 100 or more passengers at a time. The BFR will also incorporate a rocket, which will feature 31 Raptor engines and be capable of lofting 150 tons to low Earth orbit. The BFR rocket-spaceship combo will stand 348 feet tall when stacked together, Musk has said, and both components will be fully reusable. SpaceX has said it plans to use the BFR to help establish a million-person city on Mars, ideally in the next half-century or so. The first crewed Red Planet mission could come in the 2020s, according to Musk.
The new photo isn’t the first clue of BFR progress that Musk has put out there. The entrepreneur said at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin, Texas, that construction of the first prototype BFR spaceship is underway. That vehicle could be ready for its first short test flights by the first half of 2019, he said. The Instagram post was a reminder the public know that they are working hard on the development of the rocket. Plus, it looks awesome next to the Tesla.

The ultimate goal of SpaceX is to colonize Mars. Human civilization faces many grave threats over the long haul, from asteroid strikes and climate change to artificial intelligence run amok, Musk has said over the years. Musk has warned for some time about the dangers to AI ad the threat that it poses the survival of humanity. Musk has recently commented on how we regulate AI and technology Amid the firestorm surrounding Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate hearing, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, about the Facebook controversy during an interview Tuesday in California. “Do you think now is the time for regulations in Silicon Valley?” “I think whenever something is – whenever there’s something that affects the public good then there does need to be some form of public oversight. … I do think there should be some regulations on AI. I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good,” Musk said. Musk has a habit of bringing up his concern for AI in a fairly regular way. In a recent interview at SXSW talk, he said, “I’m very close to the cutting edge in AI,” Musk said, and that seems to both excite and scare him. “It’s capable of vastly more than almost anyone knows, and the rate of improvement is exponential,” he explained, using AlphaGo’s history of learning as an example. “Mark my words: AI is much more dangerous than nukes,” Musk warned, adding that there should be a “regulatory oversight” for the technology. “We have to ensure that the advent of digital super-intelligence is one which is symbiotic with humanity,” Musk said. “I think that’s the single, biggest existential crisis that we face — and the most pressing one.”

As previously mentioned Musk believes that humans have the best chance of survival if they are a multi-planetary species. Musk said he would probably name the first ship that goes to Mars Heart of Gold, referencing the ship from Hitchhiker’s Guild to The Galaxy. “I like that it’s driven by infinite improbability because our ships are also infinitely improbably,” Musk said. Musk doesn’t sugarcoat his feeling about humans and their ability to repeat mistakes without realizing how large the implications could be. “Last century, we had two massive world wars — three if you count the Cold War,” Musk said earlier this month at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. “I think it’s unlikely that we’ll never have another world war again, ” Musk has said. A true entrepreneur, Musk founded his third company, in 2002 called Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX with the intention of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. As bleak as these statements might seem for the future of humanity, it isn’t as far-fetched to see that we could ultimately destroy our species with how we treat our world and rising international tension. Rather than a pessimist, Musk is a realist, with a plan.

In his most recent academic paper, Musk focuses on what technology would be used, the importance of reusability, cost, and timelines. Musk elaborated on SpaceX’s plans to build a fully reusable system. Explained in his new study and presentation, the spaceship can be refilled with fuel while in orbit, then fired off to the moon, Mars, or somewhere else in the solar system. SpaceX’s first missions to Mars would come in 2022 and 2024, according to Musk’s plan — though he has emphasized that the timeline is “aspirational.” “People have told me that my timelines, historically, have been optimistic,” Musk said at SXSW. Between Tesla release dates and SpaceX launch delays, Musk has a sense of humor about the process of being an innovator and entrepreneur. The first trip in 2022 would drop off equipment made to harvest water and carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into methane using solar energy. That fuel would be stored in depots to refill Earth-bound BFRs. The second trip in 2024 which would be crewed by astronauts.

In Musk’s paper, earth to earth transportation is addressed in the context of using the same technology as the BFR. Musk said, “most of what people consider to be long distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour. The great thing about going to space is there is no friction, so once you are out of the atmosphere, it will be smooth as silk. No turbulence. If we are building this thing to go to the Moon and Mars, then why not go to other places on Earth as well”?

Musk also addressed what life will look like on the red planet in his paper. “It will start off building just the most elementary infrastructure, just a base to create some propellant, a power station, blast domes in which to grow crops — all of the sorts of fundamentals without which you cannot survive,” Musk said. Using his own entrepreneurial wired brain, Musk also made a comment about the immense ventures and new ideas that mars could actualize. “And then really there’s gonna be an explosion of entrepreneurial opportunity because Mars will need everything from iron foundries to pizza joints. I think Mars should have great bars: The Mars Bar.” Musk has said SpaceX plans to test-launch the first spaceship on short “up-and-down flights” before the summer of 2019. This will likely occur at SpaceX’s remote facility in McGregor, Texas.

SpaceX recently applied to take over an 18-acre site in the Port of Los Angeles, which is 14 miles south of its Hawthorne, California headquarters. The goal appears to be the construction of a factory that will build the first BFR spaceships. Musk has said SpaceX plans to test-launch the first spaceship on short “up-and-down flights” before the summer of 2019.

Musk says, “Becoming a multi-planet species beats the hell out of being a single planet species. We would start off by sending a mission to Mars where it would be obviously just landing on the rocky ground or dusty ground.” Put simply; the stars are beginning to align for the very first testing campaign of full-scale prototypes of the rocket SpaceX intends to colonize Mars with. The company’s aspirational timelines can, of course, be expected to slip, but SpaceX is undeniably acquiring the hardware it will need to build those prototypes, near its prospective Port of San Pedro BFR factory, and essentially paving the way to initial hot-fire testing of a partially integrated spaceship sometime next year. A Tesla fan created a fun, Pixar-esque Elon Musk tribute video. Featuring scenes from Musk’s early days a student getting bullied, having a curiosity of life beyond earth, becoming a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO eventually making it to Mars, the short clip is an enjoyable watch from beginning to end. There are those out there who are cheerleading and campaigning for the dream to be a reality. SpaceX has been working to make its rockets partially reusable since as early as 2011. Up until this year, pretty much all orbital rockets have been expendable, so they’re disposed of once they launch into space. That means an entirely new rocket, which can cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to make, must be built for each mission to orbit. SpaceX’s strategy has been to land its rockets after launch to fly them again and again. SpaceX has become more cost-efficient with this success. The company can now save hundreds of millions when launching rockets. Musk is realistic in saying “For the people who go to Mars, it’ll be far more dangerous. It kind of reads like Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers. ‘Difficult, dangerous, good chance you’ll die. Excitement for those who survive.’ That kind of thing,” the entrepreneur warned.

The Need for Forced Air Warming During Surgery

Published on February 1, 2016

Hospital Professionals

There has been a lot of controversy lately about forced air warming blankets and their use during surgery. 3M’s popular product, the Bair Hugger has been one of the most popular forced-air warming systems (FAW) on the market. The Bair Hugger has been used thousands of times in thousands of hospitals across the United States. Currently, there are pending lawsuits against 3M claiming that the Bair Hugger causes infections post surgery. Attorneys are heavily advertising in multiple areas trying to convince previous patients that any complications they experienced post surgery were due to the Bair Hugger. If this were a valid issue then the lawsuits would be warranted. However, the lawsuits are baseless and have only caused unnecessary confusion and pain amongst people who truly have suffered. Frivolous lawsuits cause pointless panic and are a great way to generate cash flow for these law firms. It is important to break down exactly what the Bair Hugger does and how the system is used during surgery to help maintain normothermia. You can read more about the facts on the product based on science here on http://www.fawfacts.com.

Many people have questions about why a forced air warming system would even be used in the first place during their surgery. FAW systems and blankets have been used for decades in operating rooms everywhere. The rational behind using a warming blanket is to help maintain body temperature during the surgery. The reason why it is important to maintain body temperature is because it helps to reduce the risk of infection and it helps to reduce the chances of getting hypothermia. Patients under going general anesthesia are at risk of developing hypothermia during surgery because anesthesia causes an inhibition of thermoregulatory control in the body. Also because of the cooler temperatures required for a sterile surgical environment, the body can lose heat very quickly. These incidents can cause grave issues post surgery. A forced-air warming blanket can help resolve these issues and keep the body at a normal temperature during surgery.

Dr Michelle Stevens Photo — Dr Michelle Stevens – Chief Medical Officer at 3M

Not only is the Bair Hugger an important part of the surgery procedure, it safe as well. Did you know the Navy uses them and have an operational manual published. There have been numerous studies done on the Bair Hugger to prove that it is safe and doesn’t cause surgical site infections. In fact, Dr. Michelle Stevens, a Chief Medical Officer, was quoted as saying, ““There is not a single, credible scientific study that associates the Bair Hugger system with a surgical site infection. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that it actually helps patients.” There are particular claims that have been made about the Bair Hugger in these lawsuits that have been proven to be groundless. Every time a claim was made, a study would be conducted to disprove that claim. One claim is that the air-flow paths of the Bair Hugger units are contaminated with bacteria. Studies conducted on patients in real surgical settings found that the forced-air warming does not contaminate the sterile field or increase bacterial counts. Another claim that was made is that waste hot air convection currents transport contaminated air into the surgical site. These claims were tested in actual surgical conditions as well and it was discovered that the FAW does not increase bacterial count and may actually decrease it. They also discovered that the Bair Hugger does not created any waste hot air convection currents. The warm air released through the blanket quickly dissipates and mixes into the cooler operating room air. These and numerous other studies have proven time and time again that forced air warming is safe and effective.

So if studies have shown the Bair Hugger to be safe, why are they so many lawsuits? The answer is simple. Unfortunately, the original inventor of the Bair Hugger, Scott Augustine is the driving force behind the claims. Originally, he made a lot of money when he sold the device to Arizant. He had a very public falling out with Arizant and the feud is well known in the medical community. He then created a new product that is in direct competition with the Bair Hugger that he claims is safer but has no evidence to prove those claims. Arizant is now a 3M company. A majority of the medical industry agrees that his attack on the Bair Hugger is the result of a personal vendetta and not based on sound medical advice. This isn’t the first time Augustine has had issues. In 2009, he plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge from a Medicare fraud investigation and had to pay a $2 million fine and was barred for 5 years from participating in federal health care programs.

The claims have now made there way to the legal community. Attorneys have picked up on the misdirected claims and have started to heavily advertise for patients who have experienced post surgical issues. It was later discovered that a law firm that also represents Scott Augustine filed the first of the pending lawsuits. After the claims started to get publicity, lawyers saw a moneymaking opportunity. These types of lawsuits only serve to cause unnecessary panic amongst people who have already had to face a stressful surgery. The pending lawsuits are baseless and have only created unwarranted fear.

When examining the issues, it is clearly proven that the Bair Hugger is safe and effective. It should be noted that the only claims of ineffectiveness come from an individual who currently is selling a product that is a direct competitor to the Bair Hugger. The Bair Hugger is a safe and efficient forced air warming system that will help to prevent surgical site infections. Doctors in hospitals throughout the United States highly recommend the Bair Hugger and have started speaking out against Augustine for causing panic for the sake of a personal vendetta. For people who are facing an upcoming surgery, they should rest assure knowing that there are no substantial studies to prove that the Bair Hugger is not safe for use.

Elon Musk – History of Inventing The Hyperloop

Published on January 15, 2016

Hyperloop One

Elon Musk is one of the most notable inventors and trailblazers of our time. Musk’s endeavor, Hyperloop could reshape our idea of transportation. Hyperloop One is a proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation that would propel a pod-like vehicle through a near-vacuum tube at more than airline speed. When Musk was disappointed with California’s “high speed” transportation proposal and approval, he found the Hyperloop to be the best alternative. What if the way we travel looked differently? So differently that the alternative does not even exist, yet. Elon Musk looks beyond the status quo to new possibilities with Hyperloop. From a young age, we have watched media with futuristic travel. Think of Star Wars and cartoons like The Jetson’s– fast, efficient, and convenient transportation that made us think, ‘one day.’ America has long held a futuristic idea towards transportation, but as a country, have not made significant efforts towards these advancements. What if we no longer took airplanes, but hopped on Hyperloop to travel long distances? The saying “time is money” takes on a new meaning when Hyperloop is aiming to take travelers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes at 700 mph.

Hyperloop technology seems promising given that fact that it will cut travel costs and time to various destinations. It will also bring the world that much closer together and that much more accessible for everyone. Our current model of transportation in the United States is not sustainable for the environment. The U.S. lacks structures for longer transportation that is fast, efficient, and most importantly, sustainable.

Hyperloop is a good idea theoretically, but where is it practically in 2017? In 2013, Musk shared his technical thoughts on how Hyperloop could work, and encouraged others to give it a go. This is one example of how true inventors like Musk lead the 21st century. A handful of companies formed to make it happen, but Musk couldn’t stay away for long. In 2015, through SpaceX (Musk’s company that designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft), Musk launched a global competition asking mainly student teams to give it a whirl. The order was to build a practical, safe, scalable, pod—the capsule that will accommodate passengers or cargo through the tube for their hyper journey. The designs judged for safety, innovation, and construction, but most really covet the prize for highest speed reached (with pods safely decelerating, too). “What this was intended to do is encourage innovation in transportation technology,” Musk said on race day. “To get people to do things in a way that isn’t just a repeat of the past.”

In January 30, 2016, the first SpaceX Hyperloop design competition took place. More than 100 designs were submitted, and 27 teams won the chance to test their designs on the SpaceX Hyperloop test track in June 2016. Students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) won the competition. The power of the prototype was impressive, but it lacked space for passenger or even cargo. Future competitions allowed for further advancements.

In January 2017, the long-running SpaceX Hyperloop competition wrapped up with “Competition Weekend I,” in which completed pods raced on the test track. A team from Delft University in the Netherlands took the top prize… “We had our amazing compressor—that thing does its job!” said team lead Mariana Avezum, through happy tears, explaining how her team won. She clasped the award, a slice-through view of an Hyperloop tube in a Perspex box, to her chest. The winning pod reached 60 mph. A long way off from the proposed 700mph alpha prototype.

The next phase is Competition Weekend II, taking place in summer 2017. Teams will come back to the SpaceX test track, with some solid experience under their belts, and some solid refinements to their designs, hopefully ready to set some speed records, and continue their, and Elon Musk’s vision to change the transportation world through inventions. If Musk does not personally spearhead the creation of Hyperloop, he is incentivizing future generation leaders in technology to make advancements and empowering them to think ‘outside of the box’. With each SpaceX competition, an advancement is made. Those following this development are waiting in anticipation for what speed competitors will reach in the summer 2017 competition.

With students and teams working to make Hyperloop a reality, will it debut in the United States, or will a different country put it into action first? Previous Secretary of Transportation Anthony Fox said, “Getting the service is different than generating the ideas and generating the intellectual capital,” We in the U.S., one of our greatest virtues and one of the biggest challenges for us, is that when new transportation technology is introduced, something like Hyperloop, [they] say ‘We want to be first.’ A lot of the time, we say, ‘We want to be safest.’ And I think that’s a good thing for us.” On January 31, 2017 Elaine Cho was made the new Secretary of Transportation. Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will be taking over the Department of Transportation at a crucial time for companies in the auto and tech industries. With the recently changing political landscape this could be an opportunistic time for the auto and tech industry.

At least two other ventures are working on their version of Hyperloop. Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies are in the race to make this new technology work. Hyperloop-One’s website states, “Hyperloop is a new way to move people and things at airline speeds for the price of a bus ticket. It’s on-demand, energy-efficient and safe. Think: broadband for transportation.” Hyperloop Transportation Technologies website says, “Most current mass transport is outdated, overburdened and costly to maintain. Too many cities are plagued by traffic congestion and poor air quality. The need for greener, more efficient transportation has never been greater. There’s a better way of getting from A to B.” Both these companies along with the SpaceX are working to make this technology a reality.

Check out the full story of Tesla if you want to read more about Elon Musk on the Emerald City Journal.

Watch Out for Insight Medical Publishing (iMedPub) (www.imedpub.com)

Published on December 17, 2015

I write this blog post to warn researchers in the bio-medical sciences about the publisher Insight Medical Publishing. It’s a dangerous publisher that should be avoided at all cost.

iMedPub is a stealthy publisher that hides its name on the individual journal websites to make it harder to determine which publisher owns the journal, harder to determine that each journal, through its publisher, is included on my list.

They publish 123 journals and they spam a lot. The firm is owned by OMICS Group, which has apparently recently changed its name to OMICS International. OMICS, through its many brands of journals and conferences, has been victimizing researchers since 2008.

Insight Medical Publishing has cleverly copied from Elsevier’s medical journals. Note here how they’ve lifted the aims and scope statement from one of the Elsevier journals, using the “article spinning” technique, replacing words and phrases with synonymous ones:

Elsevier’s Preventive Medicine’s Original Scope & Aims: (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/preventive-medicine)

“Founded in 1972 by Ernst Wynder, Preventive Medicine is an international scholarly journal that publishes original articles on the science and practice of disease prevention, health promotion, and public health policymaking. Preventive Medicine aims to reward innovation. It will favor insightful observational studies, thoughtful explorations of health data, unsuspected new angles for existing hypotheses, robust randomized controlled trials, and impartial systematic reviews. Preventive Medicine’s ultimate goal is to publish research that will have an impact on the work of practitioners of disease prevention and health promotion, as well as of related disciplines.”

We need a vaccine against OMICS International.

IMedPub’s Journal of Preventive Medicine “About” page: (http://preventive-medicine.imedpub.com/)

“Preventive Medicine is a global intellectual journal that encourages prompt publication of original articles on the science and practice of disease hindrance, health promotion, and public health policymaking. Preventive Medicine aims to reward innovation. It will favor perceptive empiric studies, thoughtful explorations of health knowledge, and unsuspected new angles for existing hypotheses, sturdy randomised controlled trials, and impartial systematic reviews. Preventive Medicine’s final goal is to publish research work that may have an impression on the work of practitioners of disease hindrance and health promotion, furthermore as of connected disciplines.”

Spam

This publisher sends out what must amount to millions of spam emails, chiefly to researchers in the health sciences. The spam emails are poorly written, use fake names, and pressure recipients to submit an article quickly to beat an artificial deadline. Here’s an example:

From: Editor- Acta Psychopathologica Subject: Friendly Reminder: Share Your Valuable Knowledge: Acta Psychopathologica
Date: 17 Dec 2015 10:06:44 CET
To:

Dear Dr. [Redacted],

Greetings from our Editorial office.

We have contacted you earlier through email. Since we have not received any response from you regarding your submission, we are taking the liberty of resending the invitation as we are aware that you may be engaged in other activities or my message may not have successfully reached you.

We would like to invite you to submit a paper for publication in the upcoming issues for Acta Psychopathologica Journal. Mini Reviews/Research/ Review/ Case Reports/ Short Communication/ Conference proceedings/ Rapid Communications/ Commentaries/ Editorials/ Book reviews etc., are welcome for possible publication in this issue.

If possible, we would appreciate receiving your submission by December 28th, 2015 or please let us know your feasible date to submit the manuscript.

Please submit your article online at http://www.editorialmanager.com/imedpub/ or send as an e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at psychopathology@imedpub.org

The quick submission will result in fast review process and publications. The accepted articles will be shelved for new issue release according to the editors and reviewers response.

We look forward to your quick response for the good scientific approach and study.

With Kind Regards,

Alice Nichols
Editorial Assistant
Acta Psychopathologica Journal

This spam for the iMedPub journal Acta Psychopathologica is meant to confuse readers with the Elsevier journal Acta Psychologica. OMICS International tries to trick researchers in every way possible. The name appearing at the end of the spam email above — Alice Nichols — is made up.

OMICS International licenses and uses the journal management software called Editorial Manager from Aries Systems Corporation and sometimes uses the “editorialmanager.com” email address for its spam campaigns.

History

OMICS International apparently purchased this publisher from a Spanish company within the past few years; the exact date is unknown. After the purchase, OMICS changed the name from Internet Medical Publishing to its current name.

They sold the brand but kept one of its names.

The Spanish firm continues to use the name Imed.pub and publishes eight open-access journals.

IMed.pub is also included on my list of questionable publishers. One of its journals, International Archives of Medicine, was the one that accepted the fake chocolate-helps-you-lose-weight study in 2015.

Conclusion

I strongly advise all researchers to avoid all 123 journals published by Insight Medical Publishing and to avoid all services and products of OMICS International. It is a horrible company bent on victimizing honest researchers through deceit and pressure.

Hat tip: Dr. Eduardo Franco

Appendix: Insight Medical Publishing journals as of 2015-12-17:
1.Acta Psychopathologica
2.Acta Rheumatologica
3.Advances in Influenza Research
4.Annals of Behavioural Science
5.Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Research
6.Archives in Cancer Research
7.Archives of Clinical Microbiology
8.Archives of Inflammation
9.Archives of Medicine
10.Archivos de Medicina
11.Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Journal
12.Biomarkers Journal
13.Cellular & Molecular Medicine: Open access
14.Chemical Informatics
15.Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Open access
16.Clinical & Experimental Orthopaedics
17.Clinical Pediatric Dermatology
18.Clinical Psychiatry
19.Colorectal Cancer: Open Access
20.Critical Care Obstetrics and Gynecology
21.Current Trends in Nutraceuticals
22.Diversity & Equality in Health and Care
23.Dual Diagnosis: Open Access
24.Electronic Journal of Biology
25.Fisheriessciences.com
26.Gynecology & Obstetrics Case report
27.Head and Neck Cancer Research
28.Health Science Journal
29.Health Systems and Policy Research
30.Hepatitis
31.Herbal Medicine: Open Access
32.HIV & Retro Virus
33.Hospital & Medical Management
34.Insights in Chest Diseases
35.Insights in Allergy
36.Insights in Analytical Electrochemistry
37.Insights in Biomedicine
38.Insights in Blood Pressure
39.Insights in Cell Science
40.Insights in Clinical Neurology
41.Insights in Medical Physics
42.Insights in Neurosurgery
43.Insights in Pediatric Cardiology
44.Insights in Stem Cells
45.International Journal of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
46.International Journal of Applied Biology and Pharmaceutical Technology
47.International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health
48.International Journal of Digestive Diseases
49.International Journal of Drug Development and Research
50.Interventional Cardiology Journal
51.Invasive Cardiology: Future Medicine
52.JOP: Journal of the Pancreas
53.Journal of Adenocarcinoma
54.Journal of Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery
55.Journal of Animal Nutrition
56.Journal of Autoimmune Disorders
57.Journal of Biomedical Sciences
58.Journal of Bone Reports & Recommendations
59.Journal of Cellular & Molecular Pathology
60.Journal of Childhood & Developmental Disorders
61.Journal of Childhood Obesity
62.Journal of Clinical & Experimental Nephrology
63.Journal of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology
64.Journal of Clinical Developmental Biology
65.Journal of Clinical Epigenetics
66.Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics
67.Journal of Contraceptive Studies
68.Journal of Cryophysics
69.Journal of Diabetes Medication & Care
70.Journal of Drug Abuse
71.Journal of Eye & Cataract Surgery
72.Journal of Headache & Pain Management
73.Journal of Health & Medical Economics
74.Journal of Healthcare Communications
75.Journal of Heavy Metal Toxicity and Diseases
76.Journal of HIV & Retro Virus
77.Journal of Imaging and Interventional Radiology
78.Journal of In Silico & In Vitro Pharmacology
79.Journal of Infectious Diseases and Treatment
80.Journal of Informatics and Data Mining
81.Journal of Intensive and Critical Care
82.Journal of Medical Toxicology and Clinical Forensic Medicine
83.Journal of MPE Molecular Pathological Epidemiology
84.Journal of Neonatal Studies
85.Journal of Neoplasm
86.Journal of Neurobiology and Anatomical Sciences
87.Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
88.Journal of Neuropsychiatry
89.Journal of Obesity & Eating Disorders
90.Journal of Organic & Inorganic Chemistry
91.Journal of Orthodontics & Endodontics
92.Journal of Pediatric Care
93.Journal of Pharmaceutical Microbiology
94.Journal of Prevention and Infection Control
95.Journal of Preventive Medicine
96.Journal of Rare Disorders: Diagnosis & Therapy
97.Journal of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility
98.Journal of Scientific and Industrial Metrology
99.Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
100.Medical & Clinical Reviews
101.Medical case reports
102.Medical Mycology: Open Access
103.Mental Health in Family Medicine
104.Molecular Enzymology and Drug Targets
105.Nano Research & Applications
106.Neuro-Oncology: Open Access
107.Pediatric Emergency Care and Medicine: Open Access
108.Pediatric Infectious Diseases: Open Access
109.Periodontics and Prosthodontics: Open Access
110.Polymer Sciences Polymer Sciences
111.Quality in Primary Care
112.Rehabilitation & Physical Medicine
113.Reproductive Immunology: Open Access
114.Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Open Access
115.Skin Diseases & Skin Care
116.Spine Research
117.Stroke Research & Therapy
118.Structural Chemistry & Crystallography Communication
119.Translational Biomedicine
120.Trauma & Acute Care
121.Trends in Green Chemistry
122.Universal Surgery
123.Vitiligo & Dermatomyositis

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

Comments:

Ivy Willow says:

December 29, 2015 at 11:11 AM

Thank you for this. I just recently followed your blog, but I’ve been reading on it for a while now. I’m not a researcher or super proficient in reading studies, but this has helped me extensively in finding reliable resources and staying away from others. I like debunking pseudoscientific things, and your blog has been such a necessary help. ^.^ I’m sure others get even more use out of it than I do. Thank you so, so much for this ^.^
Have a beautiful day sunshine!

herr doktor bimler says:

December 29, 2015 at 1:52 PM

What a coincidence! Only yesterday I checked my spam folder and found an invitation to contribute to Clinical Psychiatry, iMedPub’s latest aspirational imprint… although the link in the e-mail leads to a different journal, International Journal of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine (they don’t seem to work very hard to customise the spam).

The Assistant Editor prefers the anonymity of an initial rather than a last name, because that really shouts out ‘credibility’ and ‘integrity’:

Kavya M
One Commerce Center 1201
Orange St #600 | City Wilmington
Delaware | USA

But after the discouragingly florid beginning to the message, I was not inclined to put much credence into the Delaware address:

Greetings!!!
Hope you are doing well!!!
We are glad to find you here.

Well, yes, I am glad to find me here too.

Everything on the webpage was plagiarized shamelessly from other sources, except the “Recommended Conferences” list, which proves to be devoted entirely to OMICS mockademic meetings. In fact I’d go as far as to suggest that OMICS is shifting focus to the Scam Conference as a primary revenue racket, and that the iMedPub stable of websites put more emphasis on advertising the conferences than on soliciting publication fees.

L_C says:

December 29, 2015 at 3:25 PM

I wouldn’t put much credence into that address either. Their US address in Delaware belongs to an LLC formation group (https://www.incnow.com) and their UK address in London, found on the ‘contact us’ page, belongs to a company that provides virtual office addresses and accompanying Post Boxes (http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(prime-secretarial-services)_308230.htm). The phone number for the DE address is one commonly used by other journals belonging to OMICS and has an area code for Nevada. Of course, the actual site, is hosted by the IP address 182.18.136.108 in Telangana, Hyderabad, India.

In regards to the dubious nature of imed.pub and some of its previous connections to Insight Medical Publishing, I’d recommend reading the blog post by Matt Hodgkinson about imed.pub’s possible sock puppetry, stock photos, and other questionable practices, if you haven’t already:
http://journalology.blogspot.com/2015/08/imed-publishing-fell-for-bohannons.html

Vijay Raghavan says:

December 29, 2015 at 10:27 PM

Please read this article:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/09/nobel-winner-boycott-science-journals

The irony is, Schekman became a “crusader” only after receiving the Nobel prize. Although he is to be appreciated for his courage, there’s still some hypocrisy about him!

Looks as if Jeffrey Beall is the only true crusader around.

M. LaRocco says:

February 18, 2016 at 4:43 AM

Thank you for this invaluable web site. It seems at least twice per week lately that I’m sent an invitation from a predatory journal listed on your site. I attribute this recent flurry of invites to a recent publication of mine in a well known and reputable journal. Today it was from “Quality in Primary Care”. The invites are all very similar in content and are usually posted in the very early morning hours. Today’s sender is “enthralled” to read my recent article and invites me to submit NOW. The mailing was sent by “Neel”, an assistant editor but without an address. A link to iMed Publishing was provided. I’m amazed by these brazen scams and hope all recipients of these emails have found your site.

MGrenier, MD says:

February 23, 2016 at 1:01 PM

In addition to the aforementioned, this firm imposes a financial penalty when the researcher attempts to withdraw their publication (“a minimum of $100”). Very interesting indeed.

I walk alone says:

March 23, 2016 at 3:42 AM

This is a sister-branch of the OMICS empire. And the best thing is that they operate both the companies under one roof. Even the templates used for inviting submissions or editorial board members or whatever are similar.

Scork Crew says:

July 19, 2016 at 10:24 AM

I just received an invitation to publish in “Insights in Analytical Electrochemistry”. This line made me laugh, “you are the eminent personality to us; we would like to publish your article in our journal. Please let us know how much can you afford towards the article processing charges”. Flattering as it is, it’s hard to believe that would be written by a Gabriel Shaw in an LA office.

Gouda MD says:

September 23, 2016 at 2:51 PM

This is the recent one on OMICS and its subsidiary iMedPub

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/08/ftc-charges-academic-journal-publisher-omics-group-deceived

nadeem akhtar says:

October 6, 2016 at 8:08 AM

Thank you for such an informative message. I was getting some message to be a Editorial member of the journal.

Friederike Schlaghecken says:

December 1, 2016 at 1:03 PM

Thank you for your article – if only I had read it sooner! My co-authors and I naively submitted an article to ‘Archives of Medicine’, believing it to be a proper peer-reviewed journal. Imagine our surprise when within days, we got an acceptance letter, together with an invoice for publishing costs. Obviously, we immediately informed them that we wished to retract the submission.

That was the last we heard of it – until the action editor of another journal – to which we subsequently had submitted our manuscript – told us that their journal didn’t accept duplicate publications…
Turns out, AoM had published our paper without our consent (and without payment – they must be getting desperate). By then, the paper had been available online for months already, so now it’s thoroughly ‘burned’. We can’t submit it anywhere else, we can’t cite it, it’s a complete loss.

I strongly advise everyone to stay well away from IMed.pub!

The International Journal of Simulation Modelling: A Review

Published on December 1, 2015

I’ve received inquiries about the International Journal of Simulation Modelling. It’s not on my list, but it is borderline, at best. Let me show you what I mean.

The journal uses the delayed open-access model. This means that the published content is accessible only to subscribers for a fixed time period (in this case a year), and then is open-access after that.

Generally, this is a fine model because it combines some of the best features of both the open-access and subscription models. Usually, with delayed open-access, the publishing is free to authors, and the journal expenses are covered by library subscriptions. The delayed OA model spreads out the publishing costs among subscribers, providing sufficient funding for the journal to operate smoothly and professionally.

However, in the case of this journal, the model operates differently: both authors and subscribers are charged. Authors pay €690 per paper accepted, a high amount given the overall amateurish appearance of the journal. A quarterly that began publishing in 2002, the journal sells annual print subscriptions for €200.

It appears that for the first year after they’re published, online access to articles in the International Journal of Simulation Modelling is only available through library vendors at subscribing libraries. So the journal efficiently profits by licensing its content to one or two jobbers who themselves re-license the online content to libraries.

The journal is published by a company called DAAAM International, which claims to be based in Vienna. It may really operate out of Maribor, Slovenia, which is where the Editor-in-Chief, Borut Buchmeister, is based.

The editorial board members are listed without any affiliations, an omission that always makes me wonder whether the names are just made up.

Not a measure of quality, as this journal shows

The journal has an impact factor of 2.083, and to me, this serves as a reminder that the impact factor is not a measure of quality.

The journal sells “sponsorships.”. Your university can be a co-sponsor for €1,200 or a general sponsor for €3,600. It appears that Beijing Jiaotong University has paid to be a general sponsor, for its name appears at the top of the website. A link on the website advertises for additional sponsors and states the terms of sponsorship.

Overall, I find the International Journal of Simulation Modelling to be a medium- to low-quality — but not exactly predatory — journal that is probably making a lot of money for its owners. It earns money from library vendors, from authors, and from “sponsors.” It may have additional sources of revenue.

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

Comments:

Damien Kuffler says:

December 1, 2015 at 10:20 AM

Dear Jeffrey Beall, I greatly appreciate your efforts to expose journals that are predatory and unscrupulous. I am writing to comment about a journal called Regenerative Medicine published by a group called Future Medicine. I was initially invited to be an editor of the journal when it was initiated. rapidly it published some good quality papers and its impact factor started to rise. However, it turned out that this increase was determined to be because of excessive self referencing and it lost its formal impact factor rating. The journal description clearly states that it is both open access and one can select not to be open access and therefore not pay the open access fee, which is $1,800. Since the journal still has a good readership, I recently submitted a review to the journal. The paper was accepted for publication and I reiterated that that I did not want open access because I could not, and would not pay that amount of money for such a journal. Recently when one of the editors wrote to me in association with gallies requiring editing, I was told I was required to pay the $1,800 open access fee. I wrote back appropriately documenting the journals statements about the author selecting how they wanted papers to be published, with or without a fee. They were adamant about me paying the $1,800, which I have absolutely said no to. I am waiting to see what response I get. I think this is completely inappropriate because the journal places pressure on authors by claiming that the paper will be published as open access and attempts to place guild on the author to pressure them to accept paying the fee. Again thank you for the service you are providing all of us who want to assure that published papers are legitimate and we are not being had by predatory or otherwise unscrupulous journal editors. Damien Kuffler, Ph.D. Professor

Damien Kuffler, Ph.D. Professor Institute of Neurobiology Univ. of Puerto Rico 201 Blvd. del Valle San Juan, PR 00901 tel: 787-721-1235

e-mail: dkuffler@hotmail.com

Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 16:02:31 +0000 To: dkuffler@hotmail.com

Juan Camilo Oviedo Lopera says:

December 1, 2015 at 12:13 PM

Good Afternoon:

What do you think about this web open access?: https://www.ijntr.org/

Thanks and I stay tuned to your answer.

Ph.D. Juan C. Oviedo Lopera, Mg. I de A. | Docente-Investigador| Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana |

Jeffrey Beall says:

December 1, 2015 at 5:03 PM

I think it’s a predatory publisher. It prominently displays an impact factor, but it is fake. I have this journal included on my list. Please do not submit any papers to this journal.

Rocket Scientist, ScientificSpam DNSBL says:

December 1, 2015 at 2:41 PM

Future Medicine is one of the Scientific Spammers that Adestra / MessageFocus refuses to ditch. SciSpam DNSBL recommends not dealing with spammers.

Klaas van Dijk says:

December 1, 2015 at 4:01 PM

The list with Editorial Board Members of the International Journal of Simulation Modelling mentions ‘Dr. Victor F. Nicola, Twente, Netherlands’. Twente ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twente ) is not the name of a city or a village in The Netherlands.
.
Twente University ( https://www.utwente.nl/en/contact/ ) is situated in a city called Enschede. The name of Dr. Nicola is not listed in http://webapps.utwente.nl/telefoongids/en/telgidsservlet
.
The researchgate profile of Dr Nicola ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victor_Nicola ) lists many papers. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246700529 lists Dr Nicola as “Visiting professor from the University of Twente, Nederlands”. This paper is dated ‘May 26, 2004’. A conference paper of Dr Nicola (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221143276 ) refers to a symposium held in the US in May 1983.

Guido Berens says:

December 2, 2015 at 1:36 AM

OK, so the person does seem to exist. The same holds for the first person on the list, Dr. Peter Ball: https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/About/People-and-Resources/academic-profiles/satm-ac-profile/dr-peter-pd-bal. Also, their areas of expertise match with that of the journal. So it seems that the editor names are not made up.

Tell lie says:

December 2, 2015 at 8:22 AM

If this journal is published by a University of a major publisher or without fee, I think it is totally a good journal

Sudesh Kumar says:

December 2, 2015 at 8:32 AM

Can you please see what this is:
a journal names – DORIANA – very weird sounding name
http://www.revistas-academicas.com/doriana/index.html

AIM – aiming to promote and enhance research in all fields of sciences, including Art and humanities, engineering, medical sciences and basic and applied sciences.

also if the first issue is still to be published, how come it is indexed in:
Zoological Record (Thomson Reuters-ISI)
* BIOSIS Previews (Thomson Reuters-ISI)
* EMBASE, Ulrich, Compendex

Archive is protected: http://www.revistas-academicas.com/doriana/archive.html
Current issue is vol 48 in 2014 so it started publishing in 1966.
http://www.revistas-academicas.com/doriana/current.php

Is this 17 Year-Old Korean Ph.D. Student a Plagiarist?

Published on November 20, 2015

South Korean prodigy Yoo-geun Song is 17 years-old and about to complete his Ph.D. in astrophysics. The boy genius, along with his dissertation adviser Seok Jae Park, co-authored an article published last month in The Astrophysical Journal, but regrettably, the article closely matches a book chapter published in 2002. The chapter is not cited in the new article.

The recently-published article is entitled “Axisymmetric, Nonstationary Black Hole Magnetospheres: Revisited,” and it was published in October 2015 (vol. 812.1) in The Astrophysical Journal. Here’s evidence of the matching text:

The introduction to the 2002 book chapter.

The first image above shows the recent article. The second image is copied from a book chapter entitled “Stationary versus Nonstationary Force-Free Black Hole Magnetospheres.” The chapter appears in a book called Black Hole Astrophysics 2002, published by World Scientific. The chapter’s sole author is Song’s adviser, Seok Jae Park.

Here’s additional evidence:

The abstract from the 2002 book chapter.

I note that the title of the article published last month has the word “Revisited” at the end. However, the article does not cite the 2002 book chapter, and the text and equations in the new article are presented as original.

The author instructions for the American Astronomical Society, publisher of The Astrophysical Journal, state, “Articles published in the journals of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) present the results of significant original research that have not been published previously.”

The new article has updated references and an additional conclusion. There are additional, minor changes, but the bulk of the text and equations in the 2015 article appear to duplicate the 2002 work.

I have emailed the AAS and requested an investigation. The journal has not yet had sufficient time to investigate the case, and I’m sure AAS will handle it properly. My concern is not with the journal but with the paper’s authors. An additional complication is that the editor of The Astrophysical Journal, Ethan Vishniac, has co-authored at least one paper with the boy’s dissertation adviser, Seok Jae Park.

Song — who according to Wikipedia started university at age eight — is set to begin work as a post-doc after he graduates with his astrophysics Ph.D. in February. Let’s hope he gets some better advising.

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

Two New Pay-to-Publish Startups: SciRes Literature and Gavin Publishers

Published on October 22, 2015

The system of payments from authors is spurring the creation of many new companies seeking researchers’ money, especially grant-funded researchers. Many of these new companies are pay-to-publish scholarly publishers, including these two, SciRes Literature and Gavin Publishers.

SciRes Literature

Let’s start with SciRes Literature, which — apparently — is short for Scientific Research Literature. Its tagline is “Profound source of knowledge.” None of its journals has any published articles yet, so at the present time, this publisher is a profound source of nothing.

SciRes Literature launched with 28 journals, all in the biomedical sciences, and all in fields already super-saturated with existing subscription and open-access journals, fields like cardiology and surgery. None of the journals fills any gap.

The “Contact” links on the website don’t work, and I cannot determine where this publisher is based. The domain-name data shows a Salinas, California address, possibly making this Monterey County’s first predatory publisher, but in fact it’s probably not really based there.

I suspect the publisher is really based in South Asia, and the owner likely has dreams of quick and easy riches from the gold OA publishing business. Good luck with that.

Gavin Journals

This publisher uses Open Journal Systems, the open-source journal management software from the British Columbia-based, collectivist organization called Public Knowledge Project. Open Journal Systems is a predatory publisher favorite.

Gavin Journals is a particular shabby and dull implementation of the open-source software. It’s minimalist and uninspired, likely using all the default settings. It has some of the very worst journal cover images I’ve ever seen. Here’s a particularly dumb one:

One of the worst journal cover images I’ve ever seen.

What emergency medicine researcher would want to submit his or her work to such an amateurish-looking journal? Probably none, and I suspect Gavin Publishers was set up by someone who is following an open-access publisher recipe, quickly setting up a site, eager to start spamming for articles and processing credit card payments.

They don’t explain the “Gavin” in Gavin Publishers. The publisher lists its contact address [exactly] like this:

5911 Oakridge way,
Lisle,
Illinois – 60532

That’s not how we format addresses in the U.S. This location is in a residential neighborhood, making this yet another Illinois-based questionable publisher based on a tree-lined, residential street. Gavin is now spamming for editorial board members, the spam emails signed by “Keisha Snyder.”

In the coming weeks, many thousands of researchers around the world will probably receive spam emails from SciRes Literature and Gavin Publishers. When yours arrive, I recommend you delete them.

Appendix 1: List of SciRes Literature journals as of 2015-10-17
1.SRL Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Disease
2.SRL Anesthesia
3.SRL Biotechnology & Bioengineering
4.SRL Cancer & Cellular Biology
5.SRL Cardiology (SRL Cardiology Therapeutics)
6.SRL Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis
7.SRL Case Reports & Short Reviews
8.SRL Dermatology: Clinical Research
9.SRL Diabetes & Metabolism
10.SRL Gastroenterology & Hepatology
11.SRL Immunology & Immunotherapy
12.SRL Nephrology and Therapeutics
13.SRL Neurological Disorders
14.SRL Neurology & Neurosurgery
15.SRL Nutrition & Food Science
16.SRL Oncology & Hematology
17.SRL Ophthalmology
18.SRL Pathology
19.SRL Pediatrics & Neonatal Care
20.SRL Pharmacology & Therapeutics
21.SRL Proteomics & Bioinformatics
22.SRL Reproductive Medicine & Gynecology
23.SRL Stem Cell & Research
24.SRL Surgery
25.SRL Urology
26.SRL Vaccines & Vaccinations
27.SRL Vascular Medicine
28.SRL Virology & Infectious Diseases

Appendix 2: List of Gavin Publishers journals as of 2015-10-17
http://gavinpublishers.com/
1.Gavin Journal of Addiction Research and Therapy
2.Gavin Journal of Anesthesiology
3.Gavin Journal of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases
4.Gavin Journal of Case Reports
5.Gavin Journal of Cell Biology & Tissue Biology
6.Gavin Journal of Dental Sciences
7.Gavin Journal of Dermatology Research and Therapy
8.Gavin Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders
9.Gavin Journal of Emergency Medicine
10.Gavin Journal of Food and Nutritional Science
11.Gavin Journal of Nanomedicine & Nanotechnology
12.Gavin Journal of Oncology Research and Therapy
13.Gavin Journal of Ophthalmology
14.Gavin Journal of Orthopedic Research & Therapy
15.Gavin Journal of Pediatrics
16.Gavin Journal of Stem Cell Research and Therapy

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

Comments:

Keith Fraser says:

October 22, 2015 at 9:13 AM

“Profound source of knowledge” – LOL. You’d think that people trying to make money by looking like a real scientific journal would put some level of effort into not looking like a crank echo chamber, paper mill or vanity press.

In related news, I found someone spamming links to a “press release” on a couple of LinkedIn groups. Close examination revealed the announcing institution (that’s supposedly discovered a miracle cure for all disabilities including “Down Syndrome, mental retardation, inability to learn, dyslexia, dystrophy, slow development, poor growth, hormonal imbalance, Autism, ADHD, genetic problems and many others”) to be almost certainly non-existent. Its website is an information-lite shambles with no list of staff or publications, an address that shows no signs of any institution of the sort, sections inexplicably written in Latin, and a picture of their building (supposedly in Kerala, India) that turns out to in fact be of a newspaper office in Manchester, England.

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/56601-6062148054964789248?trk=groups-post-b-title
https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/2938223-6062145680623816708?trk=groups-post-b-all-cmnts

L_C says:

October 22, 2015 at 12:39 PM

Currently, SciRes Literature has also been diligently spamming for editorial board members. I believe that the founder for a site titled ‘Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence’ (LPBI) copied the contents of such an email at the bottom of a post/site tab titled: ‘Praising LPBI’ (I suppose they saw this invitation as a positive?) This was the email’s signature:

SASHA Sims
Editorial Office, SciRes Literature
SRL Immunology & Immunotherapy
1692 Coastal Highway
Delaware 19958, USA
Email: immunology@scireslit.com

Praising LPBI

Also, I like that the full Salinas address of SciRes Lit, 200 Lincoln Ave, is actually the site of the Salinas town hall.

The DE address listed above, 1692 Coastal highway, is probably just nonexistent (plugging it into a GPS will land you in the middle of the road.) Several companies have claimed this dot of highway though, including Medicomat, a company that markets alternative health care devices (e.g., they offer stone therapy, phytotherapy, meta therapy, etc.), ships from China, and has a director (Nikola Anastasov) based in Novi Sad. It is possible that the SciRes Literature spammer confused this address with the more prestigious sounding Harvard Business Services address (which is 16192 Coastal Highway). I’m not sure if there is any connection to the publisher, but it does lead me to believe that someone overseas would be the most likely perp or person to make such an error.

Rocket Scientist, ScientificSpam DNSBL says:

October 22, 2015 at 1:47 PM

W.r.t. Scireslit’s whereabouts: the spams all came from a domestic Internet connection in Hyderabad, and the dude named his computer “PrasanthiPC”. We listed the IP and the domains.

Fake journals: ‘Make in India’ gone wrong
The Hindu – October 25, 2015
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/fake-journals-make-in-india-gone-wrong/article7800231.ece

“A scam of the most scholarly kind on the Internet — publishing “scientific papers” in fake open access journals (also called as predatory journals) — has become more insidious and grown tremendously in size. And tragically, India has singularly contributed to the cancerous growth of pseudo-science.”

“Even if science done in India has not grown much in the last few years, India has successfully played a vital role in polluting the scientific literature with trash.”

“The number of fake journal publishers based in the country has grown several-fold in the last 4-5 years. Today, as much as 27 per cent of fake journal publishers are based in India! And India has the dubious distinction of being home to 42 per cent of fake single-journal publishers.”

“Indian researchers publishing in predatory journals could be willing or ignorant participants. Either way, fake journals provide the best medium to publish sub-standard and even highly unethical work — plagiarised content with falsified and/or fabricated data and manipulated images.”

NB: The Hindu is the second most circulated English-language newspaper in India (Wikipedia).

mkoulikov says:

October 25, 2015 at 10:36 PM

Open Journal Systems is a predatory publisher favorite.

For what it’s worth, OJS is also used by plenty of non-predatory publishers, across many different areas/fields, so in of itself, use of this software does not mean anything and should not be a cause for any concern. Hell, I’d rather see a new journal use OJS than try to build a custom website from scratch!

billwilliams says:

October 26, 2015 at 6:01 AM

Good point, mkoulikov – OJS has been abused by predators but has also been a valuable platform for small but important specialist journals starting out in various fields I am aware of.

James says:

January 28, 2016 at 8:25 AM

Thanks for doing this diligent work to point out predatory OA publishers. I just received an email requesting that I consider joining the Gavin Journal of Food and Nutritional Science as an editorial board member. The journal still has not published a single article, and while address line is fixed to look more appropriate given its supposed origin, it’s still a residential street in suburban Chicago, albeit right next door to Benedictine University. The email is signed by “Chelsea Stone”. So they have tried to upgrade their look but it remains an outfit I wouldn’t want my name associated with.

b00kreader says:

July 6, 2016 at 7:51 AM

Thank you! Yes the Gavin journal covers are terrible and still no articles published both dead giveaways, however I did not think to look at the address (good call). I just got the “be an editor” email through my institution. DELETE

Myron Pulier, MD says:

August 7, 2016 at 6:32 AM

Gavin Publishers has cleaned up… not its act, but its address. Now the formatting is closer to US Postal Service standards, and they have a new representative (Emily Cooper). Apparently Keisha Snyder has moved on, or up, or whatever.

Nkosana Motsitsi says:

August 15, 2016 at 1:55 AM

It is shocking! I was asked to publish my case with them and I did. I refused to pay the U$500.00 THEY requested. My argument was that any fee payable for publication is stated upfront. I outsmarted them on that aspect.
thank you for the advice.

CrankyProf says:

October 27, 2016 at 7:37 AM

Yesterday I was solicited to join the editorial board of Gavin’s “Educational Research Applications,” http://gavinpublishers.com/journal-of-educational-research-applications/. The link to the editorial board returns a 404 error and most other pages say they “will be updated soon.” Then I came here and found your entry. Thanks.

Jonathan Perreault says:

November 28, 2016 at 8:44 AM

Dear Jeffrey, you can add:
Journal of Microbiology and Genetics
to the list of Journals from Gavin Publisher.

Here is the email I got:
Dear Doctor,

Christmas Greetings from Journal of Microbiology and Genetics

On behalf of our Editorial office we take privilege to inform you that we are in the process of releasing a Christmas Issue by the month of December, as we are releasing an Issue for special occasion we would like to invite you to contribute your valuable articles towards our journal.
Reviews/Research/ Review/ Case Reports/ Short Communication/ Rapid Communications/ Commentaries/ Editorials/ Image Article etc., are welcome for possible publication in this issue.
Related Topics: Microbial Genetics, Genetic Engineering, DNA Sequencing and Genomics, Virology, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Nano Microbiology. Food microbiology, Eugenics, Microbiology, Molecular Factories, Pathogenesis.

If you are interested to join in our Editorial Board, kindly let us know your thoughts.

We look forward to your quick response for the good scientific approach and study.

With Kind Regards,
Faith Stephen,
Editorial Assistant
Journal of Microbiology and Genetics.

Fiona McQuarrie says:

December 1, 2016 at 7:05 PM

I got an email from Gavin Publishers today. I haven’t had any prior contact with them. The email came with an article manuscript that had been embellished with the heading “Gavin Publishers – Journal of Education and Research”. The manuscript was an unlocked Word document that still included the author’s identifying information in the properties.

Here’s the text of the email:

“We are glad to invite you to review the article entitled [name]. We found you are the appropriate person to review the attached manuscript.

Kindly review the manuscript and give your comments accordingly whether to revise with major comments and minor comments or accepted the manuscript without changes.

We request you to give your comments on the manuscript within 3days from the acceptance.

Until and unless we get your comments we are not supposed to go with the further process of the manuscript, as your comments are very crucial for the processing of the manuscript.

Note: If you are interested to join in our Reviewer Board, kindly let us know your thoughts.

Hope to have a positive response.

Please do not hesitate to ask any further queries.

Looking forward for long lasting Scientific Relationship.

Best Regards,

Florance”

CT says:

December 10, 2016 at 4:28 AM

Same here, just got an invitation to review a paper for the “Journal of Nursing and Women’s Healthcare”, published by Gavin Publishers (although no published articles are found on their website)

Publisher Acts Suspiciously Like OMICS Group

Published on October 8, 2015

The publisher Open Access Text (OAT) follows several of the same, questionable business practices as Hyderabad, India-based OMICS Group, leading me to suspect that it may have been acquired by OMICS. Currently in the middle of a massive spamming campaign, OAT uses the “my previous email” ploy, using emails to bait researchers with the promise of a fast peer review process.

Open Access Text claims it is headquartered in London — specifically at 36-40 Copperfield Road — but examining that address on Google Maps, one merely sees a block of apartments, an unlikely location for a real medical publisher.

By my count, OAT publishes 24 broad-scoped journals in the bio-medical sciences (list below). Here’s a transcript of a recent spam from OAT:

From: Global Surgery
Reply-To: “robert@surgeryopen.com”
Date: Monday, September 28, 2015 at 11:17 AM
To: Norman Sleep
Subject: Global Surgery

Dear Colleague,

Hoping that you might be busy and could not reply to my previous e-mail, I hereby make a follow-up. We would like to invite an article for the publication in Global Surgery (GOS-(ISSN: 2396-7307). Prof. J. Michael Millis is the Founding Editor for this journal and we have started this journal with help of eminent scientists from all over the world.

All submitted articles will be reviewed by Founding Editor-in-Chief, and we have a Rapid Review Process and Publication Facility which allows submission to be published in just over 7-10 days. Based on your recent contributions, it is a great pleasure for me to invite you to contribute an article to GOS.

I welcome you to submit the articles to robert@surgeryopen.com
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Regards
Amanda Venis
Managing Editor

supporting
Dr. J. Michael Millis
Editor in Chief

The journal’s editor-in-chief, Dr. Millis, holds impressive appointments. His email signature lists them as:

Michael Millis, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Vice Chair for Global Surgery
Director, University of Chicago Transplant Center Chief, Section of Transplantation Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery
University of Chicago

Why is someone with such impressive credentials the editor-in-chief of a journal that advertises “a Rapid Review Process and Publication Facility which allows submission [sic] to be published in just over 7-10 days”?

The spam email, which solicits manuscripts for a surgery journal, was emailed to a professor of geophysics, a seismologist.

Dr. Millis’ amanuensis is Amanda Venis. I searched this name in Google and found some evidence “she” might be associated with OMICS Group:

Amanda Venis, do you also work for OMICS Group? Does OMICS own OAText?

(From: https://www.facebook.com/people/Amanda-Venis/100007048338662)

While I cannot conclude for certain that Open Access Text was acquired (or originally launched) by OMICS Group, I can report that some evidence points to a connection between the two imprints.

Open Access Text is included on my list of questionable publishers, and it’s a massive spammer. It may be associated with or owned by OMICS Group. I recommend that researchers not submit manuscripts to its journals.

Hat tip: Dr. Norman H. Sleep

Appendix: List of Open Access Text (OAT) journals as of 2015-10-01
1.Clinical Case Reports and Reviews (CCRR)
2.Clinical Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine (COGRM)
3.Clinical Proteomics and Bioinformatics (CPB)
4.Clinical Research and Trials (CRT)
5.Contemporary Behavioral Health Care (CBHC)
6.Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (DOCR)
7.Fractal Geometry and Nonlinear Analysis in Medicine and Biology (FGNAMB)
8.Frontiers in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (FNN)
9.General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovations (GIMCI)
10.Global Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine (GAPM)
11.Global Dermatology (GOD)
12.Global Hormonal Health (GHH)
13.Global Surgery (GOS)
14.Global Vaccines and Immunology (GVI)
15.Integrative Cancer Science and Therapeutics (ICST)
16.Integrative Food, Nutrition and Metabolism (IFNM)
17.Integrative Molecular Medicine (IMM)
18.Integrative Obesity and Diabetes (IOD)
19.Integrative Pharmacology, Toxicology and Genotoxicology (IPTG)
20.Journal of Integrative Cardiology (JIC)
21.Journal of Systems and Integrative Neuroscience (JSIN)
22.Journal of Translational Science (JTS)
23.New Frontiers in Ophthalmology (NFO)
24.Pediatric Dimensions (PD)

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

New Diagnostic Pathology Journal Copies Existing Journal Title

Published on September 15, 2015

The recently-launched OMICS Group journal.

OMICS Group recently launched a new open-access journal called Diagnostic Pathology: Open Access. The title closely matches that of the BioMed Central (BMC) journal Diagnostic Pathology. It also matches the scope of The Diagnostic Pathology Journal, a new open-access journal launched by the former editor-in-chief of the BMC journal.

OMICS Group has a track record of launching journals whose titles match or closely match those of established and respected journals. OMICS then proceeds to trade on the ambiguity, tricking some paying authors into thinking its journal is the real one. It does the same thing for many of the hundreds of academic conferences it organizes.

OMICS Group is now spamming authors, seeking papers for the new copycat journal’s “inaugural issue.” The spam email misrepresents the true headquarters location of OMICS Group, declaring a Foster City, California address, instead of its true location, Hyderabad, India.

The BioMed Central journal, with its strong impact factor.

The former editor-in-chief of BMC’s Diagnostic Pathology recently launched his own journal, The Diagnostic Pathology Journal. Apparently fed up with the status quo of scholarly publishing, Dr. Klaus Kayser of Humboldt University, Berlin, took matters into his own hands.

Dr. Kayser apparently became upset that gold open-access journals with higher prestige are able to charge authors more to publish in them. In his opening editorial in the new journal, Dr. Kayser asks,

“Some of the publishers adjust their publication fee to the citation index (CI) of the corresponding journal. Why?”

[Kayser refers to the impact factor as the “citation index.”]

Dr. Kayser’s new journal is not a predatory journal and is not on my list.

According to the BMC journal’s website, the current author fee is “£1370/$2145/€1745,” a high price indeed. BioMed Central journals are very expensive to publish in. Many are unable to afford to publish in BMC journals.

Clearly, OMICS Group sees the money to be made by publishing articles in the field of diagnostic pathology and seeks to profit as well.

The system of payments from authors has greatly damaged scholarly communication. To level the playing field, scholarly publishing needs a system that publishes research based on its quality, novelty, scientific soundness, and importance, and not merely on the author’s ability to purchase the publishing in a pay-to-play journal.

By: Jeffrey Beall
Follow on Twitter
Source: Scholarly Open Access

Comments:

L_C says:

September 15, 2015 at 10:14 AM

They weren’t especially subtle about copying other aspects of the original BMC title either. Even their description is comprised of text copied (and slightly rearranged to hide the fact) right out of Diagnostic Pathology. For example, these are from their “About the Journal” sections:

Diagnostic Pathology: Open Access (copycat)-

“The journal of Diagnostic Pathology considers research in surgical and clinical pathology, immunology, and biology, with a special focus on cutting-edge approaches in diagnostic pathology and tissue-based therapy.”

“Diagnostic Pathology will provide an integrative journal for molecular pathology (biology) and digital pathology (virtual pathology), creating an open case discussion platform to be used during daily diagnostic work.”

Diagnostic Pathology (Original)-

“Diagnostic Pathology is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that considers research in surgical and clinical pathology, immunology, and biology, with a special focus on cutting-edge approaches in diagnostic pathology and tissue-based therapy.”

“Diagnostic Pathology will provide an integrative journal for molecular pathology and digital pathology ,creating an open case discussion platform to be used during daily diagnostic work.”

Note: The comma is out of place on that last section, so even their attempt to copy the phrase and erase the “virtual pathology” (that was in parentheses) from the original is sloppy.

Bobo says:

September 15, 2015 at 10:59 AM

You have the copycat and the original reversed.

L_C says:

September 15, 2015 at 3:30 PM

Right. Thanks 🙂

herr doktor bimler says:

September 15, 2015 at 2:33 PM

The latest spam from Omics in my in-tray is for a “Journal of Pharmacovigilance”. What?? Is this a thing?

Keith Fraser says:

September 16, 2015 at 5:13 AM

I guess stringing random words/concepts together is a good way to keep coming up with new journal titles.

“Journal of Post-Crystallographic Existentialism”
“Progress in Temporal Ergonomics”
“Nano-anthropology Letters”
“Bulletin of the American Pornocopian Society”
“First World Journal of Imitative Spectroscopy”

herr doktor bimler says:

September 16, 2015 at 5:35 AM

I would contribute to ALL THOSE.

Keith Fraser says:

September 17, 2015 at 7:35 AM

“I would contribute to ALL THOSE.”

Beware, I hear their peer review processes can be very exacting. Why, some issues have no articles in them at all because they piously rejected all those that weren’t absolutely perfect!

The Philosopher says:

September 21, 2015 at 2:53 AM

HI jeffry lookout for this site “http://www.revistas-academicas.com/”

Thank you for your service

Jeffrey Beall says:

September 21, 2015 at 4:48 AM

I agree. This site aggregates several hijacked journals.

Anomalia Klimatyczna says:

September 22, 2015 at 4:21 AM

Isn’t “Oceanography: Open Access” a similar case? Even the page looks similar:
http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/oceanography.php

I ask because I see a paper by someone I know published in this paper. I’m afraid this guy mistook it for the real thing:
http://www.tos.org/oceanography/

The Philosopher says:

September 24, 2015 at 8:06 AM

Hi jeffrey lookout for this site “http://ciencia-e-tecnica.org”

Thank You for your service

Jeffrey Beall says:

September 24, 2015 at 8:25 AM

Agreed, this is the hijacked version of a legitimate journal. I have it included on my list here. Thanks.

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Admin has 358 articles published.

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Two New Pay-to-Publish Startups: SciRes Literature and Gavin Publishers

Publisher Acts Suspiciously Like OMICS Group

New Diagnostic Pathology Journal Copies Existing Journal Title