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As part of our Twitter account, we tweet snippets from emails that have been passed to us. The image below is typical of an email snippet that we have received.
We publish email trails for primarily to educate, but also for entertainment. If you want to read more about this series of articles, take a look at our introductory article, which provides information which we do not want to repeat in every article.
Alternatively, take a look at this link, which leads to articles that are similar to this one.
Journal details
This section provides details of the journal and publisher, along with the date that the original email was sent. We present it here, just so that we have a very quick overview of the key information.
EMAIL #1
An image of the first email is shown above. It says:
“Hope everything is well at your end.
My sincere apology if I’m disturbed you with my earlier emails in your business days. Ignorance of our earlier emails occurred due to your hectic works and I certainly understand your circumstances. Also, IJBSBE has begun to release the coming issue by the end of March so we require your valuable support in maintaining the pace and releasing the issue by designated time frame. In fact we’ve very limited time, so please consider my humble request and try to provide your submission within 24hrs.
I’d be grateful if you could submit without delay.
Thank You,“
We particularly like the subject line – “Rejoice with your paper“.
Response to EMAIL #1
“Many thanks
… but I am unable to submit a (high quality) paper in 24 hours. It is simply not possible..“
EMAIL #2
“Thanks for your response. I understand from your end and please let me know your time feasibility for submitting the article accordingly I’ll get back to you.
Await your prompt comeback.“
Response to EMAIL #2
“Thanks for your response.
I am waiting for a co-author, so rather than waste your time we’ll just submit to you, or where we think it is best suited, when it is ready.”
EMAIL #3
“Thanks for your reply. I understand from your end and try to submit your manuscript as soon as possible.
Await your earliest submission.“
Comments
We think that this was the end of this particular email trial. The last email (#3) was received on 8 Apr 2021. The next set of emails are probably a new thread but as they are for the same journal, and from the same person (Jyothi), we thought that we would include them here.
This new email thread has a subject line of “Two Page Submission“, but the title changes to “Supportive Submission” at EMAIL #6.
The first email in this thread was received on 29 Apr 2021.
EMAIL #4
“Hope you are safe & healthy in this pandemic time. I’d be very glad if you could provide your response towards my email.
I’m pleased to let you know that we need only single submission to achieve the target of April month and its quite anxious for us as we left only with 24hrs, if not it will impact our team work of this month. So we’ll be very thankful if you’d complete our target with at least a 2 page submission. I assure you that we’ll give our utmost support in entire process of your publication.
Await your timely support.
Thank You,
Jyothi“
We note that they ask for a two page submission within 24 hours (the bold text and highlighting is ours, just to draw your attention to it).
Response to EMAIL #4
“I have to apologise, but I do not have APC authorisation from my institution, which is required before I send a paper and commit my University to paying any fees.“
EMAIL #5
“Thanks for your reply. I understand your difficulty and as per my earlier assurance we seek only $199 to cover the DOI & life time accessibility costs of your publication. So, please submit your article immediately.
Await your prompt submission.
Thank You,
Jyothi“
Response to EMAIL #5
“Thank you
Unless I get APC authorisation, I am not authorised to submit a paper and commit the University to fees that they have not agreed to pay. I would then be personally liable to pay the fee.“
EMAIL #6
This is the email where the subject line changed to “Re: Supportive Submission“. We also note that Jyothi started copying the accounts department at Medcrave.
“Thanks for your reply. I understand from your end and request to pay the publication fee after receiving funding from your University. But at this moment support us with your quick submission.
Await your valuable assistance.
Jyothi“
Response to EMAIL #6
“Jyothi
Thanks for this offer, but what happens if (for whatever reason) my request for funding is not approved?“
EMAIL #7
“Thanks for your reply. I understand from your end, if your university will not approve the payment I’ll contact our financial manager and try to provide some more waiver so, please submit your article at the earliest.
Await your quick submission.
Jyothi“
Response to EMAIL #7
“Hi
Thanks again for responding, but I do not think you do understand. If I do not get authorisation from my university I will be liable for any fees. You say that you will “try and provide some more fee waiver” but i) you may not be able to, ii) it is only a further reduction so I would still be liable for any charges that my university did not cover and iii) you give no indication of how much a further waiver might be so I do not know the level of my liability.
I am unable to submit an article with these significant concerns. I hope that you understand more fully now.“
EMAIL #8
“Thanks for your response. I completely understand your words and to support your publication I request you to pay only $149 instead of $199. Hence please submit your article as soon as possible for publication in our IJBSBE.
Await your speedy comeback.
Thank You,
Jyothi“
Response to EMAIL #8
“Hi Jyothi
Many thanks for your understanding and the offer to reduce the fee to $149.
I assume that is only payable after peer review and if (and I know it is a big if) the article is accepted?
Do you happen to know how long the peer review process takes (typically – I realise that every paper is different)?
I am just wondering, if I can align my University auhorisation with the peer review comments and, if they do not approve to pay the article fee, then I can withdraw the paper so as not to leave me personally liable as even $149 is a lot of money for me. Would that work for you?“
Our Comments
When we read this email trail, the most telling point for us was the sense of urgency that the journal tries to instill in the potential contributor.
They are familiar tactics, such as asking for submission in 24 hours and that they are asking as they need to complete the latest issue.
The follow up emails all ask the reader to submit the paper immediately.
It is also interesting to see that they journal just ignores sensible questions such as “I will be personally liable, so what should I do if my university refuses to pay?” They always say “I understand” but do not provide any other information other than saying “please submit.“
Many aspects of this email trail should raise red flags but you have to decide for yourself whether it is worth submitting to this journal.
Final Thoughts
When reading this set of emails, it is obvious to us that the researcher has no intention of submitting a paper, but they just want to waste the journal’s time so that while they are responding to these emails, they are not writing to other authors.
This reminds us of the scam baiting that is practiced by people like KitBoga, Scammer Payback, Jim Browning and Atomic Shrimp. If you are not familiar with these, take a look at the following videos, which we find both amusing and instructive.