Something Fishy....Academic Publishing Scams

Hello Dissertators, from the Other Side! (Also known as CGU alumni!)

I apologize for not posting much since graduation...as I’m sure many of our recent graduates have also surmised, finishing is exhausting, the job search is all-consuming, moving out of Claremont and starting over somewhere new is a full-time job, and you just can’t look at your dissertation in any kind of meaningful way for a good 6 months (at the earliest) after graduation.

You’ve got enough to think about, but if at some point people would like to hear about Plan Bs for after graduation, I’d be happy to talk about some of the things I have been doing since graduation (In addition to adjuncting, I’ve been a Standardized Patient, a Dean, a handywoman, an editor, and an actor over the past year!) I’m also currently in the process of sending my book manuscript (dissertation!) for publication. Which brings me to today....a spam e-mail I received on my CGU account ostensibly from a publisher wanting to publish my dissertation (which the e-mail manages to call my “paper” – first red flag!)

Along the lines of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.....

There are many, many publishing scams out there. Because I teach Creative Writing, I often warn my students about Poetry and Fiction scams, as they are the most prevalent and tend to prey on the most hopeful. However, this week I received the following e-mail to my CGU e-mail account and I suspect that everyone who recently filed a dissertation with CGU (mine was spring 2010) probably got the exact same e-mail.

Here is the spam e-mail I received:

Dear (my name),

I came to know about your academic paper entitled "(my title here) submitted in 2010, while I was performing research at the The Claremont Graduate University's repository.
We are currently planning publications in this subject field and therefore we would be glad to know whether you would be interested in publishing the above mentioned work with us.

LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing is a member of an international group having nearly 10 years of experience in the publication of high-quality research works from well-known institutions worldwide.
In addition to producing printed scientific books, we also market them worldwide through more than 80,000 booksellers.

Kindly let know if you would be interested in receiving more detailed information in this regard.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
--
Yedisen Ramasamy
Acquisition Editor

I googled the name of the company and found several other people who also write about this particular scam. It’s kind of fun to see the different variations on the “acquisition editor’s” name:

http://chrisnf.blogspot.com/2009/06/academic-spam.html

http://crankycon.politicalbear.com/2009/07/10/now-this-is-a-brilliant-scam/

http://hjhop.blogspot.com/2008/12/shady-academic-publishing.html

Right now, all you are focused on is finishing. But after you finish, and after you celebrate, and probably about 8 months afterward when you can finally breathe and be normal again, it will be time to think about publishing. And that’s when an e-mail like this could really get you.

When you eventually get to the publishing stage, it is important to remember that you want to publish your dissertation with a reputable academic press. You will have to work on a query letter and proposal and choose the presses you contact very carefully, looking at the books they have published recently and whether or not your manuscript fits with what they publish.

Alas, the reputable press won’t just come knocking on its own. You will probably have to send out a lot of letters before you get any possibilities. But you’ll be an accomplished dissertator by then...if you can finish a dissertation, you can do anything!