Filtered By: Scitech
SciTech

Fake scientific paper co-authored by Maggie Simpson makes it to eng'g journal



 
Who would have thought Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel—and one Kim Jong Fun—would be the co-authors of a paper accepted and published by scientific journals in the real world?
 
The faux study titled "Fuzzy, Homogeneous Configurations," was published by the Journal of Computational Intelligence and Electronic Systems and the Aperito Journal of NanoScience Technology, Vox.com reported.
 
Of course, the three are not the real authors of the paper.
 
And the paper itself has no real scientific value: it's just a string of random text cobbled by engineer Alex Smolyanitsky to expose the two journals.
 
"The fact that these journals would accept the paper is absurd, and the Simpsons connection is pretty funny. But it's also a troubling sign of a bigger problem in science publishing," Vox.com said.
 
"My only regret is that the second author isn't Ralph Wiggum," Smolyanitsky remarked.
 
'Predatory journals'
 
Vox.com said the two outlets are considered predatory journals, spamming scientists and offering to publish their work for a fee, without an actual peer review.
 
In Smolyanitsky's case, he was contacted by them, and promptly submitted the paper using the random text generator SCIgen.
 
As for Maggie and Edna, he thought them up because he wanted "something that gives out the fake immediately."
 
Yet, one journal accepted it immediately while the other took one month but published it just the same, and now sends Smolyanitsky an invoice for $459.
 
For-profit online journals
 
This was not the first time a predatory publisher was exposed, accidentally or on purpose.
 
Vox.com cited a recent incident where one journal accepted a paper with the title "Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List."
 
That paper started as a joke by two computer scientists who had to reply to unwanted conference invitations.
 
Vox.com said such dubious publishers trace their roots to the early 2000s, when open-access online journals were given out for free online, and supported themselves via fees paid by the actual researchers. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News
LOADING CONTENT