Nature Publishing Group and Frontiers form alliance to further open science: Accusations of Spamming, Allegations of Poor Review Process, and Unprofessional Invitations

I recently read a string of emails from displeased authors and editors who have been tormented by emails and invitations from Frontier, owned by the Nature Publishing Group.

Frontiers publishes 38 Open Access journals and claims to have a vision to build the ultimate Open Science platform. Their goal is to empower the researcher and create the opportunities necessary to generate and share knowledge.

So far so good! But that kind of knowledge might as well come at the cost of quality publications. One of the people who received solicitation emails from Frontiers expressed his concern for the standard of their peer-review process:

“I find the Frontiers process inacceptable. What kind of quality science do you expect when you give instructions such as “The submitted article type requires only a short review, which means that it is not obligatory to invite reviewers. It is sufficient that you read this manuscript and perform a light review on it yourself. If you have any comments to the authors, please post those directly in the review forum. Otherwise you may take an acceptance decision on this manuscript directly.”

(http://scholarlyoa.com/2013/11/05/i-get-complaints-about-frontiers/#more-2557)

The publisher is also criticized for sending multiple invitations to researchers asking for either contributions or their editorial/reviewing services. Recipients have also dropped hints of predatory publishing:

“I have been asked to be a “review editor” for Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Physics, and open access journal which I see charges a high fee to publish papers.  It is part of the “Frontiers” group that is evidently associated with Nature.

It looks like they have “chief specialty editor”, and “associate editor,” and “review editors,” the latter being essentially glorified reviewers.  My guess is that the other two editors are going to be paid, so it looks a bit like a pyramid scheme, a lá Amway.  The review editors are supposed to help improve the papers, so it seems to be a fee-for-publishing (with help) kind of deal.  (I actually know the chief specialty and associate editor for this journal.)”

(http://scholarlyoa.com/2013/11/05/i-get-complaints-about-frontiers/#more-2557)

There is a growing concern that publishers, especially those with years of experience in the publishing industry should raise the bar of publications and refrain from shoddy work.