March 25th, 2018

Why Is Some Academic Spam Funnier Than Others?

This invitation made me laugh out loud:

From: International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences <poultry@symbiosisonline.us>
Date: Friday, March 23, 2018 at 7:03 AM
To: “Sax, Paul Edward,M.D.”
Subject: Accepting Articles for our Inaugural Issue: IJPFS 

Dear Dr. Paul E Sax,

Greetings from International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences!

We are privileged to introduce International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences a peer reviewed journal and currently inviting papers for inaugural issue.

We had a glance at your published article “Tenofovir alafenamide versus tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, coformulated with elvitegravir, cobicistat, and emtricitabine, for initial treatment of HIV-1 infection: two randomised, double-blind, phase 3, non-inferiority trials.”.

We found your article very innovative, insightful & interesting; we really value your outstanding Contribution towards Scientific Community and it was really appreciated.

With the theme of ‘Serving Scientific Community for a better Mankind’, to International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences is publishing articles dealing with all aspects of poultry and fisheries. Being impressed by your quality work, we are contacting you to know if you can associate with us by submitting your upcoming research.

We accept any article (Research Paper, Review Articles, Short Communications, Case Reports, Mini- Review, Opinions, and Letter to Editors etc.) for publication so, we Request you, to provide your manuscript on or before March 29th, 2018.

Note:  If need arises, we will extend the date of submission as per your convenience.

Your diligent work and speedy submission will expedite the release of the inaugural issue of the journal.

International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences would be highly appreciative of your contribution and cooperation. 

Thank you for your valuable time! Kindly revert to us for your queries.

Best Regards,

Carolyn Sonia

International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences

Symbiosis Group

1203, Heron Dr

Normal IL 61761

T: +1-872-356-4001

F: +1-309-424-5750

poultry@symbiosisonline.us 

This might be the most absurd single item of academic spam I’ve ever received.

Beats the invite from the Johnson Journal of Aquaculture and Research by a mile.

And surpassed everything on this list from Marty Hirsch, which I can’t resist sharing again:

So congratulations to the “International Journal of Poultry and Fisheries Sciences,” or the “IJPFS,” as it’s commonly known to all — you are the winner!

Which got me wondering — why is some academic spam funnier than others?

5 Responses to “Why Is Some Academic Spam Funnier Than Others?”

  1. Max Voysey says:

    FAKE VIEWS!??

  2. Joel Gallant says:

    Maybe you should write a paper or letter that somehow incorporates both tenofovir and poultry/fisheries science. It would make a great addition to your blog, and they’d probably publish it. Another line on your CV! Something to do on your upcoming vacation, perhaps?

  3. Loretta S says:

    I laughed out loud at the absurdity of your article title having anything to do with fisheries and poultry sciences. I also LOL’d at “We had a glance…” What? They didn’t give it the detailed attention it merited? Or is that an ego stroke, implying that a mere glance at the article was enough to convince them your writing is top-shelf? If so — clever strategy on the editor’s part. 🙂 Thanks for the Twitter link, too, Paul. I loved your highlighted journal title, too.

  4. Elaine Thomas says:

    Dr. Sax, I am eager to have your expertise to join me in authorship of my upcoming study, “Retrospective literature review reveals tenofovir, emtricitabine and elvitegravir have never been reported to cause adverse effects in either poultry or fish”. I now know what journal to submit it to!

  5. EID Editor says:

    There was a talk on predatory journals at ECCMID this week and the examples are concerning for the HIV/STD community.
    About 120 articles in the OMICS journal J AIDS & Clin Research are indexed in PubMed, because they are NIH funded, suggesting the community has embraced this journal. Let me know if you want the slides emailed – Would like to help raise awareness among hiv std researchers about how to vet journals http://m.eccmidlive.org/#Presentations/226240

HIV Information: Author Paul Sax, M.D.

Paul E. Sax, MD

Contributing Editor

NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases

Biography | Disclosures | Summaries

Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.