New OA Publisher “Pubicon International Publications” Launches with 14 Journals

Pubicon ?

A company called Pubicon International Publications launched recently with 14 open-access journals. The publisher is based in Bhopal, India, so we found it strange and probably inappropriate that several of the journal titles begin with “American” and “British.” Also, rather uniquely, this Indian publisher even includes the Latin American Journal of Pharmaceutical Science in its journal portfolio — the first Latin American journal I know of published in India.

I’ve added this publisher to my list and recommend that scholars not submit their manuscripts to its journals. Here are some of the reasons:

“Submitted” is not the same as “accepted.”

1. Each of its journals’ websites displays the Elsevier logo along with a statement that the journal is “now submitted in embase Biomedical Answers, an Elsevier product.” This is an attempt to lure authors into submitting manuscripts, with an uncertain indication that their articles will be included in this prestigious index.

2. On its “Indexing” page, the publisher merely copies the logos of many organizations, most of which are not academic indexes. The logos of some bogus metrics companies are also included.

3. Its journals falsely claim to have the lowest article publishing charges: “Our APCs are the lowest amongst all publishers and we provide exemption for authors from low and middle income countries.” The actual charges are “International Authors: 107 USD (excluding sender’s charges)”. [I have seen APCs from other publishers as low as $20].

4. Several of its journals don’t have ISSNs and the journals do not supply DOIs.

5. The journals are all broad in scope and they require that article submissions be sent to a gmail address.

6. Much of the website content, including much of the author guidelines, is copied from other publishers without attribution.

7. The name “Pubicon” is poorly chosen and sounds strange in English.

A new source of bogus impact factors.

This publisher also makes available the Pubicon Science Index. This appears to chiefly be a counterfeit impact factor supply service. The publisher has even awarded impact factors to some of its own journals, like this one, the American Journal of Ethnomedicine, which has a “PSI impact factor” of 0.239.

Pubicon awards impact factors to its own journals.

This publisher exemplifies the near-complete abandonment of ethical and industry standards in scholarly publishing and the breakdown of research cultures in many regions of the world.

Please do not submit any papers to the journals of Pubicon.

Hat tip: Dr. Kathryn H. Jacobsen

Appendix: List of Pubicon International Publications as of 2014-11-30

1. American Journal of Advanced Drug Delivery (AJADD)
2. American Journal of Computer Science and Engineering Survey (AJCSES)
3. American Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology (AJCSIT)
4. American Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics (AJDDT)
5. American Journal of Ethnomedicine (AJethno)
6. American Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics (AJPP)
7. American Journal of Phytomedicine and Clinical Therapeutics (AJPCT)
8. British Biomedical Bulletin (BBB)
9. British Journal of Research (BJR)
10. Global Journal of Research and Review (GJRR)
11. International Annals of Advanced Scientific Research (IAASR)
12. International Annals of Ethnomedicine (IAE)
13. International Journal of Applied Science (IJAS)
14. Latin American Journal of Pharmaceutical Science (LAJPS)