OMICS Publishing Group

OMICS Publishing Group
Parent companyOMICS Group Inc
StatusActive
Founded2007 (2007)
FounderGedela Srinubabu
Country of originIndia
Headquarters locationHyderabad, Telangana
DistributionWorldwide
Publication typesOpen access journals
Nonfiction topics
RevenueUS$11.6 million (2016)[1]
No. of employees1500[2]
Official websitewww.omicsonline.org/about.php

OMICS Publishing Group is a predatory publisher of open access academic journals.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It started publishing its first journal in 2008.[1] By 2015, it claimed over 700 journals, although about half of them were defunct.[10] Its subsidiaries and brands include Allied Academies, Conference Series LLC LTD, EuroSciCon LTD, Hilaris Publishing, iMedPub LTD, International Online Medical Council (IOMC), Longdom Publishing SL, Meetings International, Prime Scholars, Pulsus Group, Research & Reviews, SciTechnol, Trade Science Inc, Life Science Events, Walsh Medical Media, and IT Medical Team.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

OMICS has come under attack by numerous academics and the United States government over the validity of the peer review by OMICS journals, the appropriateness of its fees and marketing, and the apparent advertising of the names of scientists as journal editors or conference speakers without their knowledge or permission.[4][5][6][7][8][excessive citations] The U.S. National Institutes of Health sent a cease-and-desist letter to OMICS in 2013, demanding it to discontinue with false claims of affiliation with U.S. government entities or employees.[7] In August 2016, OMICS became the first academic publisher to be sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for deceptive practices; nearly three years later, the FTC was awarded a summary judgement of over US$50 million.

OMICS has responded to criticisms by avowing a commitment to open access publishing, claiming that detractors are traditional subscription-based publishers who feel threatened by their open-access publishing model.[10] It responded to the FTC suit by maintaining that their practices were legal and claiming that corporate interests were driving the suit. It has also threatened a prominent critic, Jeffrey Beall, with a $1 billion lawsuit for defamation.[18]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Bloom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Chanting success mantra, scientific way". The Hindu. 6 March 2016. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Beall2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CHE20120304 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CHE20100701 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nature was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference science was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TheHindu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Yadav, Shyamlal (19 July 2018). "Inside India's fake research paper shops: pay, publish, profit". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Predatory publishers criticised for 'unethical, unprincipled' tactics". Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 November 2015. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018.
  11. ^ Downes, Mike (October 2023). "There is no such thing as a predatory journal". Learned Publishing. 36 (4): 709–711. doi:10.1002/leap.1568.
  12. ^ Siler, Kyle; Vincent-Lamarre, Philippe; Sugimoto, Cassidy R.; Larivière, Vincent (26 October 2021). "Predatory publishers' latest scam: bootlegged and rebranded papers". Nature. 598 (7882): 563–565. Bibcode:2021Natur.598..563S. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-02906-8. hdl:1866/25816. PMID 34703002. S2CID 239999772.
  13. ^ Readfearn, Graham (12 January 2018). "All those OMICS linked companies in one place" (blog). Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  14. ^ Yadav, Shyamlal (22 July 2018). "Fake Science: Face behind biggest of all — '40 countries, million articles'". The Indian Express. Hyderabad. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  15. ^ McCrostie, James (9 April 2018). "Predatory conferences – A case of academic cannibalism". University World News. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  16. ^ Clyde, Smut (25 January 2023). "The Pullulating Polyps of OMICS". For Better Science.
  17. ^ Downes, Mike (October 2023). "The phantom of the author: predatory publisher OMICS is ghost-writing its own articles". Learned Publishing. 36 (4): 703–708. doi:10.1002/leap.1573.
  18. ^ New, Jake (15 May 2013). "Publisher Threatens to Sue Blogger for $1-Billion". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2013.