International Symposium on Peer Reviewing

[mikeg...@gmail.com]

I've just been informed that the International Symposium on Peer
Reviewing (http://www.iiis2009.org/wmsci/website/default.asp?vc=27)
will accept an extended abstract that I submitted to them about
GPeerReview (http://gashler.com/mike/gpeerreview.pdf) for publication.
Unfortunately, my school has declined to pay their ridiculous
registration fee, so now I need to decide how much this really means
to me. Do you guys think I should pay to have this published?

Arguments for it:
1- A lot of scholars won't pay attention to something until it is
published in a peer reviewed venue, and I'd really like to keep
promoting this idea.
2- By submitting, I agreed that I was planning to attend. (I was
planning to attend, but some things didn't go according to plan.)

Arguments against it:
1- They are charging $540 for me to publish a 1-page extended
abstract! Holy cow! I'm just a poor grad student.
2- I'm actually having a hard time determining whether this is a
legitimate conference, or just a scam to take money from well-
intentioned scholars.

Why I suspect ISPR might not be legitimate:
1- No one I've talked to has ever heard of it.
2- They want to charge me $540 to publish a 1-page extended abstract.
(That includes their student discount!)
3- They let submitters select some of the reviewers for their own
works. That's a weird thing to do, especially for a conference about
peer reviewing. The whole reviewing process was non-traditional and
weird.
4- The papers they had me review were of very low quality.
5- When I send them emails, they take a long time (weeks) to respond,
and sometimes don't respond at all.
6- They won't let me access my reviews, submit a camera-ready version,
or do anything else on their site until I register. They seem a little
paranoid about getting my money.
7- There are notices all over their site about the obligation of
registering.
8- My school won't pay. They're not impressed, so why should I be?

So, do you guys think I should pay up? Right now I'm leaning toward
just forgetting about it, but I'd like to hear your comments first.

-Mike

[Mark Everitt]

Yeah, that sounds like a con to me. I'd avoid this one. There will be
better opportunities!

[Matthews]

Dear Mike,

Even if it is not a scam, it is an over-the-top charge for a conference that is hardly likely to be oversubscribed, even if registration was free. Do not pay. Withdraw your abstract and target something better, such as the science policy section of Science, or a letter to New Scientist.

I just came across a site called sciencestage.com, a science publishing site, produced by a company in Germany and operating in English. It appears to be serious, but I have not yet figured out what kind of review system it offers.

Cheers, Peter

--
http://cooperative.ning.com

An international, online meeting place for research writers, editors, translators, and publishers

[Kevin Seale]

Mike,
Have you considered this congress? The registration is a little less than
the international symposium ($500). This congress runs every four years, and
will not run again until 2013.

Sixth International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication
September 10-12, 2009
Westin Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver, BC, Canada

http://www.ama-assn.org/public/peer/register.html

[Mike Gashler]

Thankyou, this looks like a much more credible venue. It appears to me that attendance costs $495, but setting up an exhibit costs $950. I don't see any place to merely submit a paper for publication. An exhibit might be a good way to present this idea. Perhaps in four years when I have a real job, this might be a good option.

-Mike