Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) expect you reply

The website of the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute states (10/25/17) that

MDPI.com is a platform for peer-reviewed, scientific open-access journals operated by MDPI AG, based in Basel, Switzerland. Additional offices are located in Beijing and Wuhan (China) as well as in Barcelona (Spain).

However, the domain mdpi.com is registered to Perfect Privacy, LLC, of Jacksonville, Florida, making it hard to know who is really behind this megapublisher.

MDPI crows that

Our publishing activities are supported by more than 15,700 active scientists and academic editors on our journals' international editorial boards, including several Nobelists. More than 263,500 individual authors have already published with MDPI.

I guess it is better to have active rather than passive scientists working for you.The journals that attract these Nobelists have names such as Actuators, Algorithms, Axioms, Atoms, Animals, and Ads. Those are just a few of the ones that start with A. Alas, there are no entries for K, X, Y, and Z. W is for Water, and U is for Universe (and Urban Science). There is a Toxins and a Toxics, a Pharmaceuticals and a Pharmaceutics. Nevertheless, some MDPI journals may be sincere efforts to publish meaningful work. From 2010-2016, the editor in chief of Laws was Larry Gostin, a preeminent scholar of global public health law, and the journal includes some articles from mainstream law faculty, particularly in the health-law field.

If the emails to me are any indication, MDPI is scrounging for material by writing authors of articles appearing in bona fide journals whose titles suggest that they could prepare some related article for one of their journals. Indeed, they are even offering to waive publication charges for the recipients of their personalized spam.

UPDATE of 5 Oct 2022: The following discussions of MDPI are revealing. Some contain additional links:

• Thorough article on MDPI’s Remarkable Growth by Christos Petrou in the Scholarly Kitchen;
• News story in ScienceInsider entitled "Open-access journal editors resign after alleged pressure to publish mediocre papers: Nutrients editors quit en masse from MDPI journal";
• Discussion on the mathematician's Igor Pak's blog;
• Discussion on the geographer Mats Widgren's blog;
• Postings on ResearchGate

Email

Mathematics

• From: Nemo Guan [nemo.guan@mdpi.com]
  Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2021 9:16 AM
  Subject: Call for Paper Reminder: [Mathematics] (IF: 1.747, ISSN: 2227-7390) — Special Issue "Mathematical Modelling and Hybrid Strategies for Risk and Uncertainty Management"
  Dear Dr. Kaye,
  We contacted you on 31st of March, regarding a Special Issue entitled "Mathematical Modelling and Hybrid Strategies for Risk and Uncertainty Management", to be published in the journal Mathematics (ISSN 2227-7390, IF 1.747). Prof. Dr. Svajonė Bekešienė and Prof. Dr. Ieva Meidutė-Kavaliauskienė are serving as Guest Editors for this issue. Based on your expertise in this field, we think you could make an excellent contribution.
  This Special Issue focuses on the characterization of uncertainties and the development of risk assessment models for the essential infrastructures in different areas of life. Both practical applications for reliability-based design code calibration and quantitative risk assessment, and novel methodological developments, including emerging areas, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, are included to provide a reliable method for multifaceted risk assessment. We invite you to contribute and submit your latest research work.
  For further reading, please follow the link to the Special Issue Website at: ...
  The submission deadline is 31 December 2021. You may send your manuscript now or up until the deadline. Submitted papers should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. We also encourage authors to send a short abstract or tentative title to the Editorial Office in advance (mathematics@mdpi.com).
  Mathematics is fully open access. Open access (unlimited and free access by readers) increases publicity and promotes more frequent citations, as indicated by several studies. Open access is supported by the authors and their institutes. An Article Processing Charge (APC) of CHF 1600 currently applies to all accepted papers.
  For further details on the submission process, please see the instructions for authors at the journal website ...
  We also invite you to post an early version of your paper on our free preprint platform, Preprints, allowing you to receive feedback from your peers and make your early results citable. For more information or to submit your preprint, visit ...
  We look forward to hearing from you.
  Kind regards,
  Nemo Guan
  Assistant Editor
  Mathematics (ISSN 2227-7390; is a journal published by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Mathematics maintains rigorous peer-review and a rapid publication process. All articles are published with a CC BY 4.0 license. For more information on the CC BY license, please see: ...
  To submit to the journal click here:
  Unsubscribe: ...
  Manage your subscriptions: ...
  MDPI
  St. Alban-Anlage 66
  4052 Basel Switzerland
  Tel. +41 61 683 77 34 Fax +41 61 302 89 18
  Disclaimer: MDPI recognizes the importance of data privacy and protection. We treat personal data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and with what the community expects of us. The information contained in this message is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this message in error, please notify me and delete this message from your system. You may not copy this message in its entirety or in part, or disclose its contents to anyone. [← What community" thinks spam is confidential?]
  

Risk

• From: Risks Editorial Office
  Subject: [Risks] Invitation to Publish a Paper Free of Charge in Risks (ESCI - Web of Science) - expect you reply
  Sent: Oct 24 at 9:30 PM
  Dear Dr. Kaye,
  We noticed you published the following outstanding manuscript: Beyond uniqueness: the birthday paradox, source attribution and individualization in forensic science testimony. Law Probab. Risk 2013, 12, 3-11.
  On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen, of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), we would like to invite you to contribute a research article or review article for publication in our journal Risks. If you could submit an article by the end of 2017, the article processing charges (APCs) will be fully waived. Your submission will be paid high priority during processing. Please visit the Instructions for Authors before submitting a manuscript: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks/instructions/. Once your manuscript is ready, please submit it through our online submission system at http://www.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload/.
  *About Risks* ...*Rapid publication*: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 41 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 9 days (median values for papers published in this journal in 2016).
  In order for us to plan for the whole project, please kindly inform us within 3 weeks as to whether you would be willing to accept our offer. We look forward to hearing from you.
  Kind regards, Daria Shi, Assistant Managing Editor, Email: daria.shi@mdpi.com
  On behalf of Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
  --MDPI Branch Office, Beijing, Risks Editorial Office, Tel. +86 10 6193 4609, Fax +86 10 6193 4609, E-mail: risks@mdpi.com, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks/
  MDPI AG, Postfach, CH-4020 Basel, Switzerland, Office: St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Tel.: +41 61 683 77 34; Fax: +41 61 302 89 18
• From: Risks Editorial Office [risks@mdpi.com]
  Sent: 11/10/2017 1:46 AM
  Re: Gentle Reminder: [Risks] Invitation to Publish a Paper Free of Charge in Risks (ESCI - Web of Science) - expect you reply
  Dear Dr. Kaye,
  We invited you to submit a free Paper to the journal Risks in October 2017. In case you missed our previous email, we would like to renew our invitation for you. We noticed you published the following outstanding manuscript: Deadly statistics: quantifying an 'unacceptable risk' in capital punishment. Law Probab. Risk 2017, 16, 7-34. On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), we would like to invite you to contribute a research article or review article for publication in our journal Risks. If you could submit an article by the end of 2017, the article processing charges (APCs) will be fully waived. Your submission will be paid high priority ...We look forward to hearing from you.
  Kind regards, Janine Li, Assistant Managing Editor, Email: janine.li@mdpi.com On behalf of Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
  --MDPI Branch Office, Beijing, Risks Editorial Office,Tel. +86 10 6193 4609, Fax +86 10 6193 4609, E-mail: risks@mdpi.com, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks/
  --MDPI AG, Postfach, CH-4020 Basel, Switzerland, Office: St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Tel.: +41 61 683 77 34; Fax: +41 61 302 89 18
• From: Risks Editorial Office (risks@mdpi.com)
  Sent: 11/2617, 10:46:19 PM
  Subject: Gentle Reminder: [Risks] Invitation to Publish a Paper Free of Charge in Risks (ESCI - - Web of Science) - expect you reply
  Dear Dr. Kaye,
  We invited you to submit a free Paper to the journal Risks in October 2017. In case you missed our previous email, we would like to renew our invitation for you. We noticed you published the following outstanding manuscript: Beyond uniqueness: the birthday paradox, source attribution and individualization in forensic science testimony. Law Probab. Risk 2013, 12, 3-11.
  On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), we would like to invite you to contribute a research article or review article for publication in our journal Risks. If you could submit an article by the end of 2017, the article processing charges (APCs) will be fully waived. Your submission will be paid high priority during processing. Please visit the Instructions for Authors before submitting a manuscript: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks/instructions/. Once your manuscript is ready, please submit it through our online submission system at http://www.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload/.
  *About Risks* ...
  *Rapid publication*: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 41 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 9 days (median values for papers published in this journal in 2016).
  In order for us to plan for the whole project, please kindly inform us within 3 weeks as to whether you would be willing to accept our offer. We look forward to hearing from you.
  Kind regards, Daria Shi, Managing Editor, Email: daria.shi@mdpi.com
  On behalf of Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Mogens Steffensen, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
  -- MDPI Branch Office, Beijing, Risks Editorial Office, Tel. +86 10 6193 4609, Fax +86 10 6193 4609, E-mail: risks@mdpi.com, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks/
  -- MDPI AG, Postfach, CH-4020 Basel, Switzerland, Office: St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Tel.: +41 61 683 77 34; Fax: +41 61 302 89 18

Journal Publishers Attack ResearchGate

Although ResearchGate is not a journal publisher, and hence not within the usual scope of this blog, it does send a lot of spam to induce authors to post reprints or verify their authorship of previously published articles. It also sends a ton of poorly matched job announcements, but these are balanced to some extent by some useful notices of new papers citing one's work.

Apparently, ResearchGate has been quite successful in amassing a digital depository of publications. A Science news article of October 6, 2017, reports that

Scholarly publishing giants Elsevier and the American Chemical Society (ACS) have filed a lawsuit in Germany against ResearchGate, a popular academic networking site, alleging copyright infringement on a mass scale. The move comes after a larger group of publishers became dissatisfied with ResearchGate’s response to a request to alter its article-sharing practices.

ResearchGate, a for-profit firm based in Berlin that was founded in 2008, is one of the largest social networking sites aimed at the academic community. It claims more than 13 million users, who can use their personal pages to upload and share a wide range of material, including published papers, book chapters, and meeting presentations. Science funders and investors have put substantial funds into the firm; it has raised more than $87 million from the Wellcome Trust charity, Goldman Sachs, and Bill Gates personally.

An article in the news section of Nature provides more background on the publishers' concerns.

OMICS Journal of Forensic Psychology: "It is merely an extrasensory perception"

OMICS has long been criticized for aggressively and deceptively promoting conferences and journals of dubious quality. In 2012, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that although OMICS began publishing in 2008, "only about 60 percent of [its 200] journals have actually published anything."  In that year, NIH informed OMICS that PubMed Central would not accept any OMICS Publishing Group journals because the "[National Library of Medicine's] selection group has raised serious concerns about the publishing practices of your organization." A letter demanded "that you cease and desist from employing our name or the name of any of our agencies institutes or employees on your website for other than true factual statements."

The Journal of Forensic Psychology (visited 10/23/17) "publishes a wide range of article in this discipline covering all modern trends in ... Legal Psychology, Organizational Psychology, ... Paranormal activity, ... and creates a platform for the authors to contribute towards the journal. ... The editorial office promises to peer review the submitted manuscripts and ensures quality." Such quality comes from review that takes no more than two weeks and publication days later. Ironically (considering the diction in the email), the journal's email touts "language correction services for authors from non-English speaking regions."

The website's page on paranormal activity is definitely beyond the normal. It explains that

The paranormal Activity refers to as the beyond the range of normal experience of or pertaining to the events or perceptions occurring without any scientific explanation. It is merely an extrasensory perception. It is used to describe a variety of activity and phenomenon. It is also referred to as the phenomenon that in one or more prospects exceeds the limit of what is physically impossible according to scientific assumptions.

The page lists "Expert PPTs" and "Speaker PPTs" on topics ranging from "Development of a new predisposition SNP-panel focused on customized diet and physical activity setting" to "Emotional reactivity."

The journal has no editor-in-chief -- at least, the link to that position leads to a blank page. The US members of the editorial board are said to be

⊗ Scott A. Johnson, American College of Forensic Examiners International
⊗ Jonathan K. Appel, Professor, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Tiffin University
Gordon Arthur Crews, Tiffin University
⊗ Sheila Jane Foley, Assistant Professor, Bay Path University Longmeadow
⊗ Bryanna Hahn Fox, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology, University of South Florida
⊗ Christophe Le Dantec, Assistant Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Psychology , La Sierra University
⊗ Robert A. Leark, Professor, Alliant International University
⊗ Gordon E. Taub, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed School Psychologist, University of Central Florida

Clicking on the word "biography next to the names pops open a bubble that says "biography."And the email even has a "disclaimer" cautioning against relying on its content.

The emails do not make the fact the fact that the journal is part of Omics very clear. The registrant contact information for the domain "neurologyinsights.org" used in the journal's email is "Whois Agent, Domain Protection Services, Inc., PO Box 1769, Denver, CO 80201." However, the name servers are in India, and "omicsonline.org" is part of another email address that is included.

E-mail

• From: Journal of Forensic Psychology
  Sent: October 23, 2017, 5:44 AM
  Subject: Forensic Psychology Research Submission
  Dear Dr David H. Kaye,
  Greetings! “Journal of Forensic Psychology” (ISSN: 2475-319X) aims to provide an Open Access platform for the researchers to share their expert knowledge in basic, clinical and applied studies related to Forensic Psychology. We have chosen selective scientists who have contributed excellent work in related field, your contribution help us release best quality articles.
  As we celebrate Open access week from October 23-29. Considerable Discount will be given on the publication fee for articles submitted in between this stipulated period (October). ... Article submitted on or before 31 October, 2017 will be highly appreciated. Submit your manuscript by e-mail at editor.jfps@omicsonline.org Or forensicpsy@neurologyinsights.org ... If it is not feasible for you to submit paper in this month, then kindly let us know your feasible time for contribution for further issue submissions. ... Hope to receive a positive reply and submission.
  With kind regards, Ahamed Bilal M, Journal Editor and Coordinator, Journal of Forensic Psychology, Kemp House, 152 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, Fax: +1-650-618-1414, Phone: +44-2035-1423-46/ +1-650-268-9744,Phone: +1-702-714-7001(ext: 9040)
  Disclaimer: This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received it by mistake, please let us know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. The views, opinions, conclusions and other information’s expressed in this electronic mail are not given or endorsed by the company unless otherwise indicated by an authorized representative independent of this message.
• From: Journal of Forensic Psychology (forensicpsy@neurologyinsights.org)
  Sent: Fri 1/12/2018 5:04 AM
  Subject: Experts in Forensic Psychology
  Hearty Wishes and Greetings from Journal of Forensic Psychology (ISSN: 2475-319X)
  We have chosen selective scientists who have contributed excellent work, to help us release best quality articles. Your published papers has appended value to the existing literature, thus I kindly request you to contribute any kind of article (Research, Review, Short Commentaries, Case reports, Mini Review, etc.)
  If possible we would appreciate receiving by on or before 28th January 2018.
  If it is not feasible for you to submit paper in this month, then kindly let us know your feasible time for contribution for further issue submissions.
  You may submit your manuscript by e-mail at forensicpsy@neurologyinsights.org or editor.jfps@omicsonline.org or submit the manuscript to the journal online at: Sexual Offenders [http://www.editorialmanager.com/medicalsciences/default.aspx]
  Publication Benefits:
  • 14 days rapid review process.
  • Publication within 7 days of acceptance.
  • Fast, fair and constructive peer-review.
  • Language-correction services for authors from non-English speaking regions.
  To visit our Current issue page
  Hope to receive a positive reply and submission.
  With kind regards, Ahamed Bilal M, Journal Coordinator, Journal of Forensic Psychology
  Kemp House, 152 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, Phone: +44-2035-1423-46/+1-650-268-9744
  [Same inane disclaimer]
  Please ignore if you have received this mail previously.

Crimson Publishers and Purple Prose: "what you read here could change life, as we know it"

You've got to love 'em. They are active

♥ keep[ing] the knowledge flowing
♥ ensuring the quality by reputed editors
♥ striv[ing] towards betterment of societal conditions benefitting global humanity
♥ nurturing the essential temper
♥ chang[ing] life, as we know it..

They do all this from the peculiar address of "Third Avenue, 2nd floor, New York - 10016, USA." (The website may be referring to 600 Third Ave, which houses "virtual offices and addresses."). Their domain, crimsonpublishers.com, is registered to Perfect Privacy, LLC," a Florida company.

The journal that spammed me -- based on my "innovative profile which would apt to our Journal proficiency" -- is named Forensic Science & Addiction Research. It "aims to showcase advanced research in the field of forensic science, addiction research and other related areas."Apparently,  "related" is construed liberally. The "latest articles" have such titles as "Effect of Strength Training on Physical Variable of College Men Cricket Players," "Lack of Job Satisfaction Among Nurses," and (my favorite) "Pedagogy Integrated with Information Technology to Promote Its Effectiveness Should be Keen on Humanities." The US members of the editorial board are said to be

♦ Richard H Martin, Mercer University
♦ David P Keys, New Mexico State University
♦ Robert L Clegg, California Health Sciences University
♦ Ronn Johnson, Creighton University
♦ Alireza Heidari, California Southern University

UPDATES

6/19/18: The logo on the Crimson website is "Wings to the Research," but this does not mean that they are about to fly away. Today's spam came from a biomedical journal with no apparent connection to Crimson. The email used a different domain, as did the journal's website. Neither identified Crimson as the publisher. However, the telephone number leads to two publishers (or is it one?) at the same fake address -- Crimson and Lupine Publishing. Of the two websites, only Crimson's lists the journal.

2/10/19: Some insights into these related endeavors come from the company information database Buzzfile, which reports that Crimson, Lupine, and Biomedical Research Network share the address of 7865 S Grand Baker St, Aurora, CO 80016. The building at the address could be the home of Sudheer Kaku. The file on Crimson Publishers includes these questions and answers:

Q. How big is Crimson Publishers?
A. ... estimated to generate $39,834 in annual revenues, employs approximately 1 people [sic] at this location
Q. How long has Crimson Publishers been in business?
A. ... approximately 2 years.
Q. Is there a key contact at Crimson Publishers?
A. Sudheer Kaku is the Member at Crimson Publishers. You can contact Sudheer at (502) 432-6936.

Email

Forensic Science and Addiction Research

• From: Forensic Science and Addiction Research
  Date: 10/17/17
  Subject: Intervention in Review
  Good Morning! Your time is my preference to confer about our Journal’s concern. While I was in process of framing the review panel, I found your innovative profile which would apt to our Journal proficiency, so I request you to be a part of our Forensic Science & Addiction Research. I am confident that your association with us will be an asset to our Journal. If you wish to fulfill our journal requirements, Drop your CV, Short biography and recent photograph at addiction@crimsonpublishers.com. Hope you won’t disappoint us. #fff2cc;">Kindly acknowledge to this email for further queries.
  Best Regards,
  Christina Fern
• From: Kaye, David
  Date: Wed 10/18/2017 10:49 AM
  Subject: Re: Intervention in Review
  Dear Ms. Fern,
  Why don’t I stop by when I am in New York? What is the street number of the office building?
  Best,
  DHK
  [Note: Wisely, perhaps, Fern never replied.[
• From: Forensic Science & Addiction Research [addiction@crimsonpublisher.com]
  Sent: Thursday, December 3, 2020 10:45 AM
  To: Kaye, Miranda P
  Subject: Research Article/Case report Dear Professor
  Dear Professor,
  Hope you are doing well during this pandemic situation.
  We are in need of articles for successful release of Volume 5 Issue 3 by 10th December? Is it possible for you to support us with your 2-page opinion/case report or mini review, we hope 2-page article isn't time taken for eminent people like you.
  We hope you won't disappoint us.
  Acknowledge this email within 24hrs.
  Christina Fern
  Forensic Science & Addiction Research (ISSN: 2578-0042)
  Crimson Publishers LLC, 555 Madison Avenue, 5th floor, New York, NY 10022, USA, Tel: +1 (929) 600-8049
  

Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research

• From: nutri@openaccessjournal.us
  Date: Tue 6/19/2018 8:48 AM [and 6/25, from the sender biosensors@openaccessjournal.us and with the title "In shortfall of one Article"]
  Subject: Request for one Article
  Good Morning! Can we have your article for successful release of Volume 5 Issue 4 in our Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) (ISSN: 2574 -1241) Impact Factor: 0.548. In fact, we need one article to accomplish the Issue prior 28th June; we hope that the single manuscript should be yours. If this is a short notice please do send 2 page opinion/mini review/case report, we hope 2 page article isn’t time taken for eminent people like you. Your trust in my efforts is the highest form of our motivation, I believe in you that your eminent manuscript brings out the best citation to our Journal. We do hope you will feel able to respond positively to this invitation, and we look forward to hearing from you shortly. Anticipate for your promising response.
  Best Regards,
  Angela Roy [emphasis and color in original]

Scientific Federation Wants You To "avail this opportunity to share your scientific excellences"

Scientific Federation is "taking the step to transform the technology" that is "now-a-days ... growing in rapid way in all aspects of medical, physics, clinical and pharma." How? Primarily through "proficient and international scientific conferences worldwide with associating the world class researchers." (For more on Scientific Federation's conference business, see https://flakyc.blogspot.com/2017/01/scientific-federation-sf-wants-you-to.html and http://flakyc.blogspot.com/2017/04/greetings-from-forensic-science.html.) Operating out of Hyderabad (judging by the domain registration), this "abode for researchers" also publishes some journals (or wants to).

UPDATE 1/4/22: Comments posted below indicate that Scientific Federation was founded in 2011 and that it is headquartered in Hyderabad with Reddy Sekhar as director of business operations. See https://www.easyleadz.com/people/reddy-sekhar-1101214. A Zoom Info page on him states that he was a manger at OMICS International from 2012-2016 and that Scientific Federation is based at 10114 Century Dr., Ellicott City, Maryland. OMICS is notorious for its fraudulent practices. According to several real estate websites, the US address belongs to a three or four-bedroom home.

SciFed Journal of Forensics

Among SciFed's laundry list of journals is the SciFed Journal of Forensics. The journal "encourages genuine, non-plagiarized ... submissions [that's good to know!] such as research article, ... image article, videos & graphical presentations ... ." If you like to write papers that drag on and on, it may be the place for you, as it "aims in publishing enormous esteemed manuscripts."
The editor-in-chief is Lawrence A. Presley of Liberty University. Mr. Presley is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. He also works for Juniper Publishers' Journal of Forensic Sciences and Criminal Investigation, another flaky journal. The 27-member editorial board has no US members. One member is a Nigerian graduate student who is "an editor to handful of journals." Another is a cancer researcher with no forensic science (or other) publications mentioned, but he "has peer-reviewed many journals."

The undesired email  includes

• Sent: Friday, November 3, 2017, 7:31:11 AM EDT
  From: Journal of Forensics
  Re: Call for Papers -- Forensics
  Dear Dr. David H. Kaye,
  Thank you for your valuable time in reading this mail! Based on your expertise in “Forensics”, we warmly solicit your participation in the Inaugural Edition for SciFed Journal of Forensics, which we are planning to release on December 2017. Being impressed, by your quality work, we are contacting you to know if you can associate with us by submitting your upcoming research work. Last date for submission: November 30th 2017. If a need arises, we will extend the date of submission as per your convenience.
  Publication Fee: In order to meet rigorous academic standards, articles needs graphics, formatting, and the editing services for which we charge a minimal amount of 649 US Dollars as a publication fee for Scientists and for students we charge 299US Dollars for this Inaugural Issue. Please do not hesitate to mail us for any queries.
  Best Regards,
  Paul Stephen,
  Assistant Scientific Editor, E: editorial.sfjof@scifed.com, T: +44-20-3477-8009

SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights

The US members of the editorial board are said to be

⊗ Brij Mohan, Louisiana State University
⊗ James A Mitchell, California State University
⊗ Paul Brace, Rice University
⊗ Khaled Abou El Fadl, University of California Los Angeles
⊗ Ann Bartow, University of New Hampshire
⊗ Malinda Wilson G, Alabama A&M University
⊗ Jeff D Dailey, Angelo State University
⊗ Xuebing Yang, Penn State Altoona
⊗ Jon R Cavicchi, University of New Hampshire School of Law
⊗ Steven D Roper, Florida Atlantic University

The undesired email includes

• From: SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights
  Sent: 10/6/17, 10/20/17
  Subject: Reminder : SciFed Intellectual Property Rights-Call for Papers
  Dear Dr. David H Kaye,
  Greetings from SciFed. Recognizing your very busy schedule, As we haven't received your response yet, We are sending you this note as a reminder to remind you that, We ... invites you to submit a paper in the area of your research, academic or professional interest related to any of the topics included in the Journal of Intellectual Property Rights.
  Kindly avail this opportunity to share your scientific excellences and be a part of our esteemed organization. Would you please have your assistant drop us a note. If you require further information. We are sincerely looking forward to receiving your acceptance.
  Best Regards,
  John Anthony
  Assistant Scientific Editor, SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, Scientific Federation, editorial.sjipr@scifed.com, T: +44-20-3477-8009
• From: SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights [editorial.sjipr@scifedgroup.net]
  Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2018 8:47 AM
  Subject: Reg: SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights - Call for Papers
  Dear Dr. David H Kaye,
  Greetings of the day..!! SciFed Group cordially invites you for the submission of manuscripts in the SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights for Volume 2 Issue 1. Our Eminent Editorial Board Members will process all the articles submitted, in an unbiased manner.
  Publication fee: In order to meet rigorous academic standards, articles needs graphics, formatting, and the editing services for which we charge a minimal amount 299 USD for this issue.
  Kindly let us know your opinion regarding submission of your valuable work. We will be glad to assist you, if you have any concerns. Finally, we appreciate your patience in reading this mail.
  Kind Regards,
  Maisie Jayne
  SciFed Journal of Intellectual Property Rights
  SciFed Publishers, E: editorial.sjipr@scifedgroup.net T: +1-302-549-2192

Other Email

See the entry for Scientific Federation on Flaky Academic Conferences