Unmasking a Predator: predatoryreports.org

For some time now, Cabells has been aware of an organization, with no affiliation to Cabells whatsoever, operating under the name Predatory Reports and using the website domain “predatoryreports.org” – a clear infringement and brazen attempt to capitalize on our reputation and long-standing commitment to the research community. Despite the unethical and injurious hijacking of our Predatory Reports product name, we have attempted to communicate in good faith with this organization to come to an amicable resolution of this matter.

Unfortunately, additional (and disturbing) information regarding this operation’s tactics with the potential to negatively impact stakeholders across the academic and medical landscape has been brought to our attention. Predatoryreports.org’s scheme runs much deeper than the hijacking of our Predatory Reports product name, it would be remiss of us to not share the details of what we have found with our community.

Background

On the “About” page of the predatoryreports.org website, this message can be found:

Because we at Cabells are in favor of any ethical and lawful endeavor to safeguard the scholarly and medical research communities and protect the universe of research upon which our collective knowledge base is built, we first sought to rectify this matter in an expedient an uncontentious manner. We were not seeking to stop the “service” this organization was purportedly providing, we simply asked that they cease the unethical and predatory tactic of using our name to identify their services.

This organization has knowingly hijacked Cabells’ Predatory Reports name, as evidenced by this blog post from the “News” section of their website, which refers to Cabells’ Predatory Reports several times (including here and here). However, it should also be noted that this article (along with at least several others posted to their “News” section) has been plagiarized, in this case from the InterAcademy Partnership’s (IAP) summary report, “Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences.” In this report, to which Cabells contributed background and statistical information, Cabells is referenced several times as a trusted and recommended tool for verifying journal legitimacy. This organization has presented this post (and others as well, on a routine basis) as their own content, using text and figures with no attribution.

As with most predatory operations Cabells investigates, this outfit’s plagiarism of blog posts is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of illicit activity. At some point, without fail, it becomes about the money.

“As a gesture of good faith…”

Elsewhere on the “About” page of this operation’s website, this statement can be found:

Perhaps this should read instead, “without the willing support of any company.”

As stated earlier, Cabells has repeatedly reached out in good faith to the perpetrators of this predatory outfit, and we have received no cooperation. Rather, they have ignored any culpability and wrongful use of our name and someone posing as “David Frizin” and using the email frizindavid@gmail.com has offered to sell it back to us for an exorbitant amount of money.  

“David Frizin” first demonstrated that they had editorial control over content on predatoryreports.org by showing us, in email communications with our legal counsel, that they could remove our name and change their website (and domain name) to “Predatory Journals.”

“David’s” “good faith” did not last long however, and, with no payment forthcoming, the website has since reverted to using the Cabells’ Predatory Reports name:

Still, despite this frustrating and disturbing exchange, we sought to handle this matter with discretion and through the appropriate legal channels at our disposal, which we continue to do. Unfortunately, as we have come to find out, the unethical use of our Predatory Reports name was just the beginning…

Seeking a bribe

Cabells has been sent an email exchange between “David Frizin” and a publisher who has been included in their “The Predatory Publishers List (Part 1).” In this exchange, “David” shows the ability to remove the publisher from the predatoryreports.org listing, once again, as an act of “good faith”:

After receiving thanks for the removal, “David” then made clear that it was only temporary, to show that they are one of the editors of the website:

The “agreement” that “David” sought to establish “so that the publisher remains off the list” permanently? A payment of $50,000:

After demonstrating editorial control over the predatoryreports.org website by temporarily removing the publisher in question from their bogus list, “David” then stated the removal was only temporary, but for the sum of $50,000, could be permanent.

In summation, the perpetrators behind this predatory operation, predatoryreports.org:

1. Have essentially copied the list of publishers included in the long defunct beallslist.net
2. Have packaged it as their own new list in part by hijacking and infringing on the name our long-standing, trusted resource, Predatory Reports
3. Are seeking bribes from publishers in order to have their name removed from their list.

Cabells will continue to investigate and monitor this matter and will report our findings as new information becomes available. If you have any additional information on this deceptive operation, or have any questions for us on this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@cabells.com.