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In 2013 one of WASET's journals, the ''International Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical, Biological, and Life Sciences,'' accepted an obviously fake article in a [[Who's Afraid of Peer Review?|sting operation]] by [[John Bohannon]]. The resulting article and data were published in [[Science (journal)|Science]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bohannon|first=John|author-link=John Bohannon|date=2013-10-04|title=Who's Afraid of Peer Review?|journal=Science|language=en|volume=342|issue=6154|pages=60–65|doi=10.1126/science.342.6154.60|issn=0036-8075|pmid=24092725|doi-access=free}}</ref>
In 2013 one of WASET's journals, the ''International Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical, Biological, and Life Sciences,'' accepted an obviously fake article in a [[Who's Afraid of Peer Review?|sting operation]] by [[John Bohannon]]. The resulting article and data were published in [[Science (journal)|Science]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bohannon|first=John|author-link=John Bohannon|date=2013-10-04|title=Who's Afraid of Peer Review?|journal=Science|language=en|volume=342|issue=6154|pages=60–65|doi=10.1126/science.342.6154.60|issn=0036-8075|pmid=24092725|doi-access=free}}</ref>


In mid-July 2018, a research team of journalists including [[Süddeutsche Zeitung]], [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]], [[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]], [[Bayerischer Rundfunk|BR]], [[Falter]] and [[Le Monde]] published articles on unscientific and predatory publishers, including WASET and [[OMICS Publishing Group|OMICS]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.br.de/nachrichten/pseudo-verlage-eine-bedrohung-fuer-die-wissenschaft-100.html|title=Pseudo-Verlage – Eine Bedrohung für die Wissenschaft|last=Hornung|first=Peter|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Bayerischer Rundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726011509/https://www.br.de/nachrichten/pseudo-verlage-eine-bedrohung-fuer-die-wissenschaft-100.html|archive-date=2018-07-26|last2=Klühspies|first2=Anna|language=de-DE|trans-title=Pseudo-Publishers – A Threat to Science|last3=Mader|first3=Fabian|last4=Tillack|first4=Anna}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/Recherchen-zu-Fake-Science-Mainzer-Wissenschaftler-in-weltweiten-Skandal-verwickelt,fake-science-wissenschaft-skandal-100.html|title=Mainzer Wissenschaftler von weltweitem Skandal betroffen|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Südwestrundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802020303/https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/Recherchen-zu-Fake-Science-Mainzer-Wissenschaftler-in-weltweiten-Skandal-verwickelt,fake-science-wissenschaft-skandal-100.html|archive-date=2018-08-02|language=de-DE|trans-title=Mainz scientists affected by worldwide scandal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/Experiment-NDR-Autoren-publizieren-Fake-Science,unihimmelpforten100.html|title=So einfach wurden wir Wissenschaftler|last=Eckert|first=Svea|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018160139/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/Experiment-NDR-Autoren-publizieren-Fake-Science,unihimmelpforten100.html|archive-date=2018-10-18|last2=Hornung|first2=Peter|language=de|trans-title=This is how easily we became scientists}}</ref> The group of journalists presented their findings at the 2018 [[DEF CON]] 26 conference in a talk entitled "Inside the Fake Science Factory".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-26/dc-26-index.html#dc26early3|title=DEF CON 26 Early Release: Inside the Fake Science Factory!|date=2018-09-18|website=DEF CON® 26 Hacking Conference|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930225831/https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-26/dc-26-index.html#dc26early3|archive-date=2019-09-30|access-date=2019-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ras_VYgA77Q|title=DEF CON 26 - Svea, Suggy, Till - Inside the Fake Science Factory|last=DEFCONConference|date=2018-09-17|website=Youtube|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904014506/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ras_VYgA77Q|archive-date=2019-09-04|access-date=2019-09-04}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2026/DEF%20CON%2026%20presentations/DEFCON-26-Eckert-Sumner-Krause-Inside-the-Fake-Science-Factory-Updated.pdf|title=Slides: Inside the Fake Science Factory|last=Eckert|first=Svea|last2=Krause|first2=Till|date=2018-08-11|website=media.defcon.org|access-date=2019-10-04|last3=Sumner|first3=Chris}}</ref> They detail how a WASET conference works, show how they gave a presentation on a ludicrous paper (generated using [[SCIgen]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.kcij.org/67|title=The Secret of 'Fake Science' Factory|last=Yongjin|first=Kim|date=2018-09-11|work=KCIJ Newstapa|access-date=2019-10-04|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620011611/https://news.kcij.org/67|archive-date=2019-06-20}}</ref>) to the gathered academics, and how they confronted the single person organizing the conference. The journalists state that their "findings highlight the prevalence of the pseudo-academic conferences, journals and publications and the damage they can and are doing to society".<ref name=":5" />
In mid-July 2018, a research team of journalists including [[Süddeutsche Zeitung]], [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]], [[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]], [[Bayerischer Rundfunk|BR]], [[Falter]] and [[Le Monde]] published articles on unscientific and predatory publishers, including WASET and [[OMICS Publishing Group|OMICS]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.br.de/nachrichten/pseudo-verlage-eine-bedrohung-fuer-die-wissenschaft-100.html|title=Pseudo-Verlage – Eine Bedrohung für die Wissenschaft|last=Hornung|first=Peter|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Bayerischer Rundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726011509/https://www.br.de/nachrichten/pseudo-verlage-eine-bedrohung-fuer-die-wissenschaft-100.html|archive-date=2018-07-26|last2=Klühspies|first2=Anna|language=de-DE|trans-title=Pseudo-Publishers – A Threat to Science|last3=Mader|first3=Fabian|last4=Tillack|first4=Anna}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/Recherchen-zu-Fake-Science-Mainzer-Wissenschaftler-in-weltweiten-Skandal-verwickelt,fake-science-wissenschaft-skandal-100.html|title=Mainzer Wissenschaftler von weltweitem Skandal betroffen|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Südwestrundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802020303/https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/Recherchen-zu-Fake-Science-Mainzer-Wissenschaftler-in-weltweiten-Skandal-verwickelt,fake-science-wissenschaft-skandal-100.html|archive-date=2018-08-02|language=de-DE|trans-title=Mainz scientists affected by worldwide scandal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/Experiment-NDR-Autoren-publizieren-Fake-Science,unihimmelpforten100.html|title=So einfach wurden wir Wissenschaftler|last=Eckert|first=Svea|date=2018-07-19|work=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk]]|access-date=2018-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018160139/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/Experiment-NDR-Autoren-publizieren-Fake-Science,unihimmelpforten100.html|archive-date=2018-10-18|last2=Hornung|first2=Peter|language=de|trans-title=This is how easily we became scientists}}</ref> The group of journalists presented their findings at the 2018 [[DEF CON]] 26 conference in a talk entitled "Inside the Fake Science Factory".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-26/dc-26-index.html#dc26early3|title=DEF CON 26 Early Release: Inside the Fake Science Factory!|date=2018-09-18|website=DEF CON® 26 Hacking Conference|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930225831/https://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-26/dc-26-index.html#dc26early3|archive-date=2019-09-30|access-date=2019-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ras_VYgA77Q|title=DEF CON 26 - Svea, Suggy, Till - Inside the Fake Science Factory|last=DEFCONConference|date=2018-09-17|website=Youtube|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904014506/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ras_VYgA77Q|archive-date=2019-09-04|access-date=2019-09-04}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Eckert|first=Svea|last2=Krause|first2=Till|last3=Sumner|first3=Chris|date=2018-08-11|title=Slides: Inside the Fake Science Factory|url=https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2026/DEF%20CON%2026%20presentations/DEFCON-26-Eckert-Sumner-Krause-Inside-the-Fake-Science-Factory-Updated.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511034008/https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2026/DEF%20CON%2026%20presentations/DEFCON-26-Eckert-Sumner-Krause-Inside-the-Fake-Science-Factory-Updated.pdf|archive-date=2021-05-11|access-date=2019-10-04|website=media.defcon.org}}</ref> They detail how a WASET conference works, show how they gave a presentation on a ludicrous paper (generated using [[SCIgen]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.kcij.org/67|title=The Secret of 'Fake Science' Factory|last=Yongjin|first=Kim|date=2018-09-11|work=KCIJ Newstapa|access-date=2019-10-04|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620011611/https://news.kcij.org/67|archive-date=2019-06-20}}</ref>) to the gathered academics, and how they confronted the single person organizing the conference. The journalists state that their "findings highlight the prevalence of the pseudo-academic conferences, journals and publications and the damage they can and are doing to society".<ref name=":5" />


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 08:55, 19 June 2021

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
StatusActive
FounderCemal Ardil
Country of originTurkey
DistributionWorldwide
Publication typesOpen access journals
Nonfiction topicsScience, technology, and medicine
Official websitewww.waset.org

The World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology or WASET is a predatory publisher of open access academic journals. The publisher has been listed as a "potential, possible, or probable" predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall[1] and is listed as such by the Max Planck Society[2] and Stop Predatory Journals.[3] WASET's estimated annual revenue in 2017 was $4,495,219.[4][5]

Conferences

WASET has been accused of arranging predatory conferences, in order to artificially boost the academic credentials of presenters and paper submitters.[6][7] It claims to organize several thousands of scientific conferences a year, using names that are the same or similar to real conferences organized by established scientific groups.[8][9] Legitimate conferences have publicly warned of identically named, fake WASET conferences.[10][11] In 2015, the University of Toronto released a "scam advisory" about a purported conference on their premises advertised by WASET.[12][13] In 2018 WASET advertised 49,844 conferences, many of which share similar names.[14] Hundreds of conferences may be scheduled for the same location on the same day.[15][16] For example, 116 simultaneous scientific meetings were scheduled in a hotel in Rio de Janeiro in February 2016.[17][18]

The conferences are low-quality, described in one case as a "Potemkin village"[19] and anyone can present a paper by simply paying the registration fee.[20] Conferences are planned many years in advance.[18] The website includes a section on "Featured Locations" featuring photos of popular tourist destinations.[21] Names of researchers have been included as conference committee members, without their knowledge or consent.[17][22]

Organization

WASET is based in Turkey and is registered in Azerbaijan.[23] Its domain name was registered 2007 with a contact address in Dubai.[24] It is run by Cemal Ardil, a former science teacher, with assistance from his daughter Ebru and his son Bora.[5] Cemal Ardil is also the person who has published the most articles on the WASET website.[25] Before taking on the name WASET, the organization was known under the name of "Enformatika".[26][25][27]

Journal indexing

Journals are indexed in WASET's "International Science Index", not to be confused with the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) index, i.e. the Web of Science.[15] WASET journals were indexed by Scopus and listed in the SCImago Journal Rank from 2009 until 2011, when the coverage was cancelled.[28] They were furthermore included in Qualis, an official Brazilian system for classifying scientific literature, which guides researchers in choosing journals for publication. This inclusion was called a "serious failure" by scientists interviewed by Folha de S.Paulo, a Brazilian daily newspaper.[17]

Media attention

In 2013 one of WASET's journals, the International Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical, Biological, and Life Sciences, accepted an obviously fake article in a sting operation by John Bohannon. The resulting article and data were published in Science.[29]

In mid-July 2018, a research team of journalists including Süddeutsche Zeitung, ARD, ORF, BR, Falter and Le Monde published articles on unscientific and predatory publishers, including WASET and OMICS.[30][31][32] The group of journalists presented their findings at the 2018 DEF CON 26 conference in a talk entitled "Inside the Fake Science Factory".[33][34][4] They detail how a WASET conference works, show how they gave a presentation on a ludicrous paper (generated using SCIgen[35]) to the gathered academics, and how they confronted the single person organizing the conference. The journalists state that their "findings highlight the prevalence of the pseudo-academic conferences, journals and publications and the damage they can and are doing to society".[33]

References

  1. ^ "Predatory publishing: Evaluating potentially predatory journals". Salisbury University Libraries. 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  2. ^ "Qualitätssicherung in der Wissenschaft". Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (in German). Max Planck Society. 2018-07-20. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  3. ^ "List of Predatory Publishers". Stop Predatory Journals. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  4. ^ a b Eckert, Svea; Krause, Till; Sumner, Chris (2018-08-11). "Slides: Inside the Fake Science Factory" (PDF). media.defcon.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  5. ^ a b Oberhaus, Daniel (2018-08-14). "Hundreds of Researchers From Harvard, Yale and Stanford Were Published in Fake Academic Journals". Motherboard. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  6. ^ Spiewak, Martin (2017-10-25). "Wissenschaftskonferenzen: Tagen im Zwielicht". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  7. ^ Spears, Tom (2017-03-10). "When pigs fly: Fake science conferences abound for fraud and profit". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  8. ^ "WASET Bogus and Fake Conferences". fakeconferences.blogspot.com. 2014-02-02. Archived from the original on 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  9. ^ De Boer, Richard (2015-07-04). "Academische nepcongressen blijken lucratieve groeimarkt" [Academic fake conventions turn out to be lucrative growth markets]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  10. ^ "Beware of fake conferences". 26th International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN). 2016-11-11. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  11. ^ "ICP12 2016 in Utrecht!". 12th International Conference on Paleoceanography (ICP12). 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  12. ^ McCrostie, James (2016-05-11). "'Predatory conferences' stalk Japan's groves of academia". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  13. ^ "Fake Conference Advertisement". University of Toronto, Information Technology Services. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  14. ^ "List of WASET Conferences for 2018". WASET Watch. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  15. ^ a b Weber-Wulff, Debora (2015-04-04). "Brazilian Government recommends mock conference". Copy, Shake, and Paste: A blog about plagiarism and scientific misconduct. Archived from the original on 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  16. ^ Weber, Stefan (2018-07-19). ""Fake Science": Auch Österreichs Wissenschaft vom "WASET-Städtetourismus" betroffen" ["Fake Science": Austria's science community also affected by "WASET city tourism"]. Blog für wissenschaftliche Redlichkeit (in German). Archived from the original on 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  17. ^ a b c Tuffani, Mauricio (2015-03-03). "Eventos científicos "caça-níqueis" preocupam cientistas brasileiros" [‘Slot Machines’ Scientific Events Worry Brazilian Scientists]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-07-30. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |lay-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |lay-url= ignored (help)
  18. ^ a b Grove, Jack (2017-10-26). "Predatory conferences 'now outnumber official scholarly events'". Times Higher Education (THE). Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  19. ^ Kolata, Gina (2017-10-30). "Many Academics Are Eager to Publish in Worthless Journals". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  20. ^ Spears, Tom (2014-10-08). "Science fiction? Why the long-cherished peer-review system is under attack". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
  21. ^ Malboeuf, Marie-Claude (2017-09-20). "Fraudes: fausses revues scientifiques, faux congrès" [Fraud: fake scientific journals, fake congresses]. La Presse (Canadian newspaper) (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  22. ^ White, Andrew (2016-04-11). "Junk conference warning". University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics, QT Lab. Archived from the original on 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  23. ^ "Azerbaijani "academy" fools a lot of scientists from around the world". Panorama. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
  24. ^ "waset.org". Whois: Identity for everyone. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  25. ^ a b Kaplan, Sefa (2010-12-12). "Parayı bastıranı profesör yapıyorlar" [He who plunks down money gets made professor]. Hürriyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2015-02-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lay-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |lay-source= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |lay-url= ignored (help)
  26. ^ Gang, Erman (2016-04-01). "'Bilimsel şarlatanlığa' AKP koruması". SoL (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  27. ^ "ENFORMATIKA: World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology". Defunct website of Enformatika. 2007-03-29. Archived from the original on 2007-03-29.
  28. ^ "World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology". SCImago Journal Rank. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  29. ^ Bohannon, John (2013-10-04). "Who's Afraid of Peer Review?". Science. 342 (6154): 60–65. doi:10.1126/science.342.6154.60. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24092725.
  30. ^ Hornung, Peter; Klühspies, Anna; Mader, Fabian; Tillack, Anna (2018-07-19). "Pseudo-Verlage – Eine Bedrohung für die Wissenschaft" [Pseudo-Publishers – A Threat to Science]. Bayerischer Rundfunk (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  31. ^ "Mainzer Wissenschaftler von weltweitem Skandal betroffen" [Mainz scientists affected by worldwide scandal]. Südwestrundfunk (in German). 2018-07-19. Archived from the original on 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  32. ^ Eckert, Svea; Hornung, Peter (2018-07-19). "So einfach wurden wir Wissenschaftler" [This is how easily we became scientists]. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  33. ^ a b "DEF CON 26 Early Release: Inside the Fake Science Factory!". DEF CON® 26 Hacking Conference. 2018-09-18. Archived from the original on 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  34. ^ DEFCONConference (2018-09-17). "DEF CON 26 - Svea, Suggy, Till - Inside the Fake Science Factory". Youtube. Archived from the original on 2019-09-04. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  35. ^ Yongjin, Kim (2018-09-11). "The Secret of 'Fake Science' Factory". KCIJ Newstapa. Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2019-10-04.

External links

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