Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ADVERTISING NEWS: Academic journal publishers deceived authors, FTC asserts, (Aug 26, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

Publishers of a number of academic journals deceived authors about the nature of the publications and hid fees ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars for publication, according to a complaint filed in a federal district court in Nevada (FTC v. OMICS Group Inc., FTC File No. 152 3133, Case No. 2:16-cv-02022).

OMICS Group Inc., iMedPub LLC, and Conference Series LLC published various online periodicals styled as academic journals since at least 2009, the FTC asserted in its complaint. To solicit articles from potential authors, the defendants purportedly represented that various academic experts served as editors, were members of the editorial boards, or were otherwise associated with the supposed journals, and that authors’ articles were subject to industry-standard peer review before publishing. In addition, the complaint claimed that the defendants represented that their journals were cited frequently and were listed in the well-known and prestigious database PubMed Central.

In reality, according to the FTC, academic experts were frequently not connected with the defendants’ journals, and many of the articles submitted for publishing did not undergo standard peer review before publishing. In addition, the articles were not included in PubMed Central and the defendants allegedly failed to disclose, or disclose adequately, that authors must pay a publishing fee for each published article. Consequently, authors frequently discovered that their articles would not be peer reviewed and they ended up owing fees ranging from several hundred to several thousands of dollars after the articles were "approved for publication." Attempts to withdraw the articles were frequently rejected, the FTC claimed, preventing these authors from publishing in other journals.

OMICS, iMedPub LLC, and Conference Series also allegedly organized scientific conferences in the United States and abroad, telling researchers that various academic experts agreed to participate in the conferences. However, the complaint asserts that these experts never agreed to participate in the conferences.

The FTC claims that the defendants violated the FTC Act through misrepresentations regarding journal publishing, misrepresentations regarding conferences, and deceptive failure to disclose publishing fees.

"The defendants in this case used false promises to convince researchers to submit articles presenting work that may have taken months or years to complete, and then held that work hostage over undisclosed publication fees ranging into the thousands of dollars," FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich stated. "It is vital that we stop scammers who seek to take advantage of the changing landscape of academic publishing."

Companies: OMICS Group Inc.; iMedPub LLC; Conference Series LLC

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