The Open Information Science Journal failed to spot that the incomprehensible computer-generated paper was a fake. This was despite heavy hints from its authors, who claimed they were from the Centre for Research in Applied Phrenology – which forms the acronym Crap.
[…]
Davis, with the help of Kent Anderson, a member of the publishing team at the New England Journal of Medicine, created the hoax computer science paper. The pair submitted their paper, Deconstructing Access Points, under false names. Four months later, they were told it had been accepted and the fee to have it published was $800 (almost £500).
This is a great test case on how peer review really works. In this case it was all about the money and now this journal has egg on its face. I myself am a bit skeptical of any scientific “peer review” that is done in an echo camber, which today most are.
Mahmood Alam, Bentham’s director of publications, told New Scientist: “In this particular case, we were aware that the article submitted was a hoax and we tried to find out the identity of the individual by pretending the article had been accepted for publication when in fact it was not.” Davis told the magazine that he had not been directly contacted.
If what Mr Bentham says is true then why did the editor-in-chief resign over this?
Tags: Science
