It’s not the first time that I got academic spam from a supposedly reputable publisher, but the one I got today surprised me. Think about the most prestigious journals, and think about an editor who’s using the brand of the flagship journal to launch new journals.
The e-mail has very much the structure of those scam journals and grey area journals, with the exception that we get links to a supposedly reputable publisher. The journal in question has no focus, it’s trans-disciplinary and covers societal research on all areas of society.
I wonder how much further they can go without tarnishing the brand — though this may actually be a good thing (for science, not the publisher), in that we try to focus more on the content of research articles and less on the publication venue.
Didier Ruedin 