BIT Life Sciences
| Industry | Scientific meetings |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner | Xiaodan Mei |
| Website | www |
BIT Life Sciences (or BIT Congress Inc., BIT Group Global Ltd) is a for profit meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) company based in Dalian, China[1] that specializes in arranging multiple scientific congresses that have been accused of fraudulent scam[2] and have been described as "predatory".[3] The company is part of a wave of organizations that have appeared in China in past several years noted for arranging congresses with little academic merit and with the primary aim of generating revenue rather than scientific knowledge sharing.[4][5]
Business model
The modus operandi of the company usually involves sending multiple unsolicited spam email invitations to academics to speak at a congress (which is typically billed as a "World Congress"). Unlike most congresses in which invited speakers' expenses are borne by the organizers, BIT life charges speakers fees for attendance as well as often inviting speakers that may not necessarily be key opinion leaders in the actual field. In addition, unlike traditional model of scientific congresses in which abstracts are usually submitted and peer reviewed before being accepted for presentation, speakers are guaranteed a speaking role as long as the attendance fees are paid. Often, the congress websites will also falsely include speakers that have not confirmed their attendance.[6][7][8]
References
- ^ "BIT Congress Inc. Company Information". dnb.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ^ "Conference kerfuffle hits scientists". The-scientist.com. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ Cohen, John (2013-04-10). "Meetings That Flatter, but May Not Deliver". Science. 342 (6154): 76. doi:10.1126/science.342.6154.76.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Scientific Articles Accepted (Personal Checks, Too)". New York Times. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Warning on rising hoax conference invites". Medical Observer. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "In the pipeline". Corante. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Fake scientific conferences are like genuine scientific conferences". Scimedskeptic. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "More fake scientific conferences". Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.