Open Access, spam and Academic scams (just say no)

Today I got an email from an 'open access' publisher called InTech asking me for a chapter for an upcoming book on quantum chemistry. While asking me to write something about quantum chemistry is not completely out of the question, it didn't take long to spot the scam:

1. There seemed to be no direction for what the book was about. If I've got anything to do with quantum chemistry these days I'm a philosopher of quantum chemistry, not a working quantum chemist (anymore)
2. The editor of the volume was someone I'd never heard of, and I know many quantum chemists by name.
   
3. The editor of the volume, from his affiliation, doesn't seem to work in quantum chemistry at all
   
4. The volume is not referenced in the major scientific citation indexes
   
5. I need to pay €590 to get published. Huh? I already write for free.
   

So here is the text of the mail, with some comments in between, and XXXXX's to protect the guilty:

Dear Dr. Hettema,
As a specialist in your field of research, we are pleased to invite you to contribute to our forthcoming Open Access book, "Quantum Chemistry", ISBN XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-0

Didn't that just tickle you. More please!

The book will be published by InTech, Open Access publisher of books and journals in the fields of science, technology and medicine.

Oooh, I like open access. Cue Homer Simpson spotting a doughnut… But it is unclear to me that what you are proposing will meet my definition of open access, which is based on the 'four freedoms' of the open software movement, and firmly on the 'libre' end of the spectrum. What I'm seeing here is more along the lines of 'gratis sponsored by author'.

InTech is a pioneer in the publication of Open Access books, with a collection currently comprising over 400 books written by more than 25,000 renowned authors. The complete collection is available for free full-text download on our reading platform, www.intechopen.com.

Wow, so this is my chance to be one of the 25,000 renowned, provided of course that I pass your stringent quality criteria…what are these?

This will be a reviewed book that will cover the latest research in the field, and will serve as a free, open access resource for scientists and researchers around the world. The book will be edited by Dr. XXXXXX, an experienced scientist in the field and written by a team of international experts.

Tickle, tickle. I've never heard of Dr X, and if he really is an experienced scientists in the field as you claim, that's odd (not impossible, just a tad improbable). I've been around in quantum chemistry for long enough to have a pretty good sense of who's who.

When you publish with InTech, you make your paper freely available online. Additionally, you:
- Increase your visibility, impact and citation rates;

Eeerm, do I really? You mention google as one of your major citation indexes….

- Keep the copyright to your work;
- Receive a hard copy of the complete book;

For the simple fee of €590 to get my paper in I'm sure that's a bargain.

- Help speed up research;
- Make your work freely available to everyone, benefiting the whole of society.
You have been invited to contribute based on your paper "Explanation and theory formation in quantum chemistry", your publishing history and the quality of your research. However, we are not asking you to republish your work, but we would like you to publish a new paper on one of the topics this book will cover.

Tickle, tickle….

I am the Publishing Process Manager for this book […]

Nice title. I work in business and haven't come across this one before and I've seen a few. I can stop it here. So now for some more fact finding.

The 'easy one click' links they provide in the email track you so they keep track of who visited their page to see the 'invitation'. At least they didn't hide the tracking in the URL., it's there in plain sight:

http://www.intechweb.org/welcome/3b179faa717d8e2afea0e75835c0d4b1/<you@your.institution>

I classify these sort of things as a scam preying on vulnerable junior scientists. Getting a chapter published in this travesty of an open access journal will not enhance your career one iota, you'll be out of pocket by €590 (which is a big deal for an 'indie' like me; the taxman will pay his share, but it's still a lot of money).

I think there are better models to get your stuff out than this one, for instance the one I'm quietly piloting at the moment: self arranged peer review with publication via Createspace.