Federal Trade Commission Building, Washington, DC
In recent open access publishing news, a federal judge ordered “predatory” publisher OMICS and conference organizers iMedPub (both owned by Srinubabu Gedela) to pay fines totaling $50.1 million in a summary judgement that concludes a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In its press release about the lawsuit, the FTC charged that both companies “made deceptive claims to academics and researchers about the nature of their conferences and publications, and hid steep publication fees.” This news underscores that researchers must remain vigilant in choosing venues in which to share their scholarly output. Staff at the Scholarly Communications Office (SCO) of Emory Libraries have information that can help you find the best outlet for your research. Please see our page on “Evaluating the Quality of Open Access Journals” to download a new evaluation checklist developed by SCO staff or to connect with librarians who would be happy to provide a one-on-one publishing consultation.