Five days ago I apparently received two email invitations to contribute to two different anthologies. One of these were from Nova Science Publishers, to whom I've already submitted a book chapter upon invitation (on semioethics, cf. previous posts). "We have learned about your published work on environmental change", the invite read (earlier: "... on semiotics"). The worktitle this time is Environmental Change: Climate, Energy and Ecosystems. A fitting theme for me, by all means - but at the moment I have no suitable texts thought out (and a full schedule). See also Nova's page for the forthcoming Semiotics: Theory and Applications.
The other invite was from InTech, and signed by a Niksa Mandic. The book in question has the worktitle Globalization. "You are invited to participate in this book project based on your paper "Steps to a Semiotics of Being"...", I am told in the otherwise standardized email. Again, the theme is relevant for me. But while Nova doesn't charge its authors (unless they choose to make use of extra services/functions - open access included), InTech has the courage to ask for 590 Euro from each author. With up to 50 contributors per volume, it is pretty clear that their business model is not so much based on selling books as on profiting on complimenting scholars by inviting them to publish. They present themselves as an open access publisher, but their claim that each of their chapters are downloaded 1.000 times a month does not appear to be legitimate, if you check with their latest online publications.
The other invite was from InTech, and signed by a Niksa Mandic. The book in question has the worktitle Globalization. "You are invited to participate in this book project based on your paper "Steps to a Semiotics of Being"...", I am told in the otherwise standardized email. Again, the theme is relevant for me. But while Nova doesn't charge its authors (unless they choose to make use of extra services/functions - open access included), InTech has the courage to ask for 590 Euro from each author. With up to 50 contributors per volume, it is pretty clear that their business model is not so much based on selling books as on profiting on complimenting scholars by inviting them to publish. They present themselves as an open access publisher, but their claim that each of their chapters are downloaded 1.000 times a month does not appear to be legitimate, if you check with their latest online publications.
2 comments:
Morten,
Thank you for posting about your experiences. I too am a scientist who was contacted by Niksa Mandic via email. As a general rule, I don't click on links within email, so I happy that google lead me to your post.
So basically, this is like all of the crappy for-profit "educational" institutions in the US - trying to make money from scholastic endeavors that should be free or non-profit. Dirty pool, I say.
Thanks,
Brad
I'm curious about the "crappy for-profit 'educational' institutions in the US" that Brad mentioned.
Aren't they ALL for-profit at some level -- including public universities, in the U.S. and elsewhere?
As a fellow scientist, I guess that I'm always amused at the "I hate profit" comments that one sometimes sees. Tell me, do you hate profit so much that you work for free? If so, then I suppose that you are either independently wealthy or taking government handouts.
V/R,
Steve
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