Bentham Science Publishers

{{Internet}}{{cquote|After the first flush of enthusiasm, however, researchers began to question Bentham's activities, not least because many of the invitations they were receiving seemed [[spam|decidedly badly targeted]]. For instance, psychologists were being invited to contribute papers on ornithology, health policy researchers were being invited to submit papers on analytical chemistry and economists were being invited to submit papers on sleep research or, even more oddly, invited to join the editorial board of educational journals. This inevitably raised concerns about the likely quality of the new journals, particularly as researchers were being asked to pay from $600 to $900 a time for the privilege of being published in them.|||Richard Poynder<ref name=poynder>[http://poynder.blogspot.com/2008/04/open-access-interviews-matthew-honan.html The Open Access Interviews: Matthew Honan] (Richard Poynder, ''Open And Shut?'', 2008-04-23)</ref>}}
'''Bentham Science Publishers''' straddles the fine line between "open access journal publisher" and "[[Vanity publishing|vanity press scam]]."

Bentham was founded in 1994 by Atta-ur-Rahman & Matthew Honan and enjoyed a reputation as a small but reputable and scholarly publisher. In April 2007, it announced that it would open more than 300 open access journals by the end of the year, though it later cut this to 200.<ref name=poynder />

The journals work on the model where the journal is available free, and authors pay to have their paper published. A new journal will often contact people in the field noting the journal's existence and requesting submissions. However, Bentham took it as far as repeatedly spamming people<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120314054538/http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0804/msg00027.html Re: Bentham Science Publishers] (Ted Bergstrom, liblicense-l, 2008-04-07)</ref><ref name=eysenbach>[http://gunther-eysenbach.blogspot.com/2008/03/black-sheep-among-open-access-journals.html Black sheep among Open Access Journals and Publishers] (Gunther Eisenbach, 2008-03-08)</ref>, often irrelevantly,<ref name=poynder/> and offering scientists membership on its journals' editorial boards out of the blue.<ref name=newscientist/> As of August 23, 2014, the Scientificspam.net DNS-based blocklist lists the 117.20.26.0/23 network from which Bentham spams in its entirety.<ref>[http://www.scientificspam.net/?s=bentham ESCALATION LISTING: 117.20.26.0/23 (Bentham)] scientificspam.net, 23 August 2014. {{quotebox|Over the course of our existence we’ve received spam from Bentham from multiple IP addresses in this Pakistani network. The abuse@ address indicated in the APNIC WHOIS for the operator is bouncing. Bentham is spamming, and expanding its presence.}}</ref> Membership of a journal's editorial board can be quite prestigious, but when people realised what sort of company they were dealing with and withdrew their acceptance, Bentham kept their names on the masthead and ignored all demands for removal.<ref name=poynder/> In April 2009, the ''Open Chemical Physics Journal'' published an article advocating [[9/11 conspiracy theories]] without anyone bothering to inform the journal's editor, who promptly resigned.<ref>[http://screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2009/04/bentham-editor-resigns-over-steven.html Bentham Editor Resigns over Steven Jones' Paper] (Screw Loose Change, 2009-04-28)</ref>

This aroused the interest of the curious, and Bentham was busted in 2009 accepting a paper for the ''Open Information Science Journal'' consisting of random sentences computer-generated with SCIgen, whose imaginary authors both worked at the Center for Research in Applied Phrenology (CRAP).<ref>[http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2009/06/10/nonsense-for-dollars/ Open Access Publisher Accepts Nonsense Manuscript for Dollars] (Phil Davis, ''The Scholarly Kitchen'', 2009-06-10)</ref><ref>Jessica Shepherd, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/18/science-editor-resigns-hoax-article Editor quits after journal accepts bogus science article]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 18 June 2009.</ref> The editor of said journal also quit when he found out what the publisher had done.<ref>[http://classic.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55759/ Editors quit after fake paper flap] (Bob Grant, ''The Scientist'', 2009-06-11)</ref> Bentham's director of publication claimed they merely sent a fake acceptance to flush out the hoaxer<ref name=newscientist>[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17288-spoof-paper-accepted-by-peerreviewed-journal.html CRAP paper accepted by journal] (Peter Ahdhouse, ''New Scientist'', 2009-09-28)</ref>.

Bentham's questionable behaviour, and the extensive documentation of it, led directly<ref name=eysenbach/> to the formation of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association,<ref>[http://oaspa.org/ Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association]</ref> which endeavours to serve as a mark of respectability in OA publishers. Not only is Bentham not a member, OASPA has blogged specifically concerning it.<ref>[https://archive.is/T2V9K Publishing ethics, open access, and OASPA] (''OASPA News and Commentary'', 2009-06-11) Archived from the original at oaspa.org.</ref>

Jeffrey Beall published ''Beall's List of Predatory, Open Access Publishers'', in 2014.<ref>[http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/01/02/list-of-predatory-publishers-2014/ Beall's List of Predatory, Open-Access Publishers by Jeffrey Beall, 2014 Edition]; [https://www.facebook.com/POA.Publishers Facebook group].</ref>

==See also==
*[[Beall's List]], a now-defunct listing of predatory journals

== External links ==
* [http://www.benthamscience.com/ Official site]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Publishers]]
[[Category:Scams]]
[[Category:Pseudojournals]]

Categories: Publishers, Scams, Pseudojournals