It appears that JAAVSO is now being searched to recruit unsuspecting authors...
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Dear Dr. Tom Calderwood,
Greetings!
Journal of Physics & Astronomy would like to bring in notice to you that while searching for an eminent author in the field of Astronomy, we were able to find your knowledgeable article entitled "The Vega Project, Part I" and found it to be interesting and useful to scientific scholars.
Journal of Physics & Astronomy is honoured to invite you on behalf of Dr. Ireneusz Włodarczyk (International Astronomical Union member) to submit an Original Research or a Review, Case report, short commentaries, rapid communications, letter to the editor, perspectives, opinion, hypothesis or any type of article of about 500 words or more of
1-2 pages for the upcoming issue. So that we can we can process it quickly and publish it in the upcoming issue.
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Tom
Hi Tom,
This appears to be a solicitation from a small but probably legitimate online journal that covers a broad swath of physics and astronomy. I know that many of the top tier journals are quite selective about what they will publish at given times. Articles about the discovery of new variable stars are seldom published in the AJ or ApJ anymore if they are not written in such a way as to significantly expand the knowledge of a particular class of variable stars. Likewise, the major journals are becoming hesitant to publish summary papers about a newly discovered exoplanet. This is regardless of how well the designation of planetary status has been demonstrated in the paper. The journal would like to see a summary of several planet discoveries and how they contribute to the knowledge of exoplanets in general. Of course, extreme planets or really unusual variable stars are still going to get published but in the case of an ordinary looking object, you will likely have to move to a second tier journal in most cases.
I don't think it is a bad sign to note that the JAAVSO getes some notice. The papers are all listed in the ADS abstract system and citations are tracked and noted. I found the Journal of Physics and Astronomy has a web page that lists Dr. Wlodarczyk as the editor and there is an IAU page listing the membership of this Polish astronomer. I don't know for sure that this is not a scam but it looks like a lot of the different solicitations I get from small online journals. If I was doing something that was not peer reviewed, I would likely choose RNAAS. I have attached part of the web page for the Journal of Physics and Astronomy for reference.
Mike Joner
You can find (incomplete) lists of predatory journals online - the one we check more frequently is
https://beallslist.weebly.com/
The Journal of Physics and Astronomy seems to be legitimate...
Best wishes - clear skies,
Stella.
Hi, I posted earlier about this as reply to Stellas SQL injection thing. I actually kept up the pretence offering a paper I presented (on SU Aur) in the hope that they would get back to me so that I could find out more about them. The email message looked as though some variables such as author name,paper title etc (no pun intended) had been lifted and simply inserted as email text. For instance the salutation is always "Dear Dr [author name variable]" irrespective of whether "dr" is one's title or not. And if you go to the submissions section you will see they charge YOU to publish! So glad JAAVSO doesn't operate that way.
I have the IP address of the site which is: 104.24.29.104
Mike Poxon
Hi!
For what it's worth: I get the same message from papers published on astro-ph.
John Percy (JAAVSO Editor)
Any publisher who sends me a form-letter solicitation with bad grammar, containing obvious untruths* and offering me a 50% discount for immediate submission of materials is running a scam. Call it what you like.
Tom
* There was no paper at all - just a talk abstract.
Quite so! But the good news is, you would only have to pay $500 to have your 'paper' published ;-)
They haven't replied to me yet, strangely enough. Does anyone know the procedure for reporting scam sites/emails? I am really tempted to see if I do get a reply, but not holding out any real hope.
Actually, a flat fee of $500 to $1000 may not be unreasonable at all. Professional society journals, such as those of the IEEE or the APS, routinely have page charges. Last time I published anything, more than 10 years ago in an IEEE journal, it was $100 per page.
Since these journals receive no revenue from advertising, they have to charge to defray the cost of publication. It is not unreasonable at all, and I really wonder how anyone can feel insulted by being solicited to publish their work for a larger audience.
I have actually had feedback from the journal saying that they will also accept my paper on SU Aur. The salutation still says "Dr..." and the coordinator's name is now spelled differently - Jeniffer (one n, two f's) Stewart. Had to be a bit careful with this as I discovered that Jennifer (spelled properly) Stewart is the name of a porn star.
Their second email said that my paper on SU Aur was worthy of inclusion, even though they have never seen it - for the very good reason that I have not yet written it! I checked out some of the editors, and their names were certainly kosher. I suspect that these names have simply been lifted. I have since sent them another email saying that (truthfully) I politely decline their offer, being a mere amateur astronomer who cannot afford to spend $1000 to see a couple of papers published (in a journal I have never heard of)