HIV and ID Observations

August 25th, 2019

Save the Dates! International Scientific Conferences You Can’t Miss

On this beautiful summer Sunday, I’m sorting through a series of invitations to international scientific meetings. So many options. See, they really want me. And how do I know that my participation will be so important? Just look how personalized the greetings are — clearly intended for me and me alone. I’ve included actual screen shots of the […]

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May 28th, 2018

Predatory Journals Are Such a Big Problem It’s Not Even Funny

I’ve made fun of academic spam numerous times on this site. It’s those emails from dubious “predatory journals,” written in cheerful but awkward prose, with flowery praise and open invitations to submit research on various scientific topics. You know, the emails that start: Dear Dr. Paul E. Greetings for the day! Most of my coverage has been on […]

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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 […]

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August 6th, 2016

Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fish!

I received this exciting offer recently: Re:  Fish Disease — Manuscript Invitation Dear Dr. Paul E Sax, Greetings for the good day! We gladly invite you and your colleagues to contribute the articles on the topic Fish Disease in Johnson Journal of Aquaculture and Research of Johnson Publishers. During our past two volumes, we had an excellent and fruitful cooperation, especially with our Editorial […]

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April 2nd, 2016

You Too Can Have Fun with Academic Spam

Like most doctors who work at academic medical centers, I get a fair amount of “academic spam” — invitations to bogus meetings that take place in some exotic or at least warm place (China, Dubai, and Orlando are favorites), efforts to sell me monoclonal antibodies or, more recently, CRISPR-altered mice, and of course requests to contribute research papers or […]

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