By Jamie Durrani2021-01-18T09:36:00+00:00
Scammers infiltrated a chemistry journal’s peer-review system in order to accept and publish low quality papers. The sophisticated operation highlights the lengths to which some dishonest parties will go to undermine the review process.
The Journal of Nanoparticle Researchannounced that 19 articles were accepted, with some published online, after it fell victim to an attack by ‘an organised rogue editor network’.
Fraudsters impersonating respected academics approached the journal, which is published by Springer Nature, to suggest an idea for a themed issue on ‘the role of nanotechnology and internet of things in healthcare’. The imposters generated fake email addresses that mimicked those of real universities to add credibility to their claims.