From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 09:08:13 -0500

It occurs to me that there is one very simple way for places like
OASPA and DOAJ to check whether journals are actually using peer
review in a responsible manner, whatever their stated policies may be.
Just ask a journal whose integrity has been questioned to supply a
list of scholars who have been consulted as reviewers in the past year
or six months, without needing to have them identify which articles
they have reviewed. Then contact a random sample of those scholars to
ask them directly if they have prepared reports  for the journal
during this time period.  This should be a relatively simple procedure
to carry out. Does anyone know if this kind of inquiry has been
pursued?

Sandy Thatcher


> From: Dom Mitchell <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 14:45:01 +0200
>
> Two weeks ago DOAJ published a brief response to the Bohannon article:
>
> http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=news&nId=315&uiLanguage=en
>
> We promised then to come back with a second response once we had
> carried out some further analysis. We have published that response
> today:
>
> http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=news&nId=317&uiLanguage=en
>
> In it we explain what has happened to the journals in DOAJ that
> accepted Bohannon's fake paper and we explain why we think that
> Bohannon's choice of fake author names is damaging to scholarly
> publishing.
>
> Dom Mitchell
> Community Manager, DOAJ
> Tel: +46 (0)702044095 - mob/cell
>      +44 (0)207 097 8565
> Skype: dommitchellhw