<p>Dear AISWORLD members,</p><p>I would like to share with you my following experience which has raised my suspicious and concerns about the credibility and quality of academic journals as well as the professionalism and ethics of the organisation of the following conference. </p>
<p>Some weeks ago, I was informed in AISWORLD about the 4th World Summit on the Knowledge Society (WSKS) by an e-mail sent by Miltiadis Lytras. I submitted a paper on the 26th of August 2011 and I received an e-mail acceptance of my paper four days later (i.e. 31 August 2011). The e-mail confirmed that my paper was accepted for publication in the conference proceedings as well as in an academic journal provided that I pay the conference registration until a specific day. The e-mail did not provide any feedback/reviews for my paper and it also guaranteed that people that had attended (and paid registration) for 2 WSKS conferences would have a publication published in an ISI journal that is sponsoring the conference.....! </p>
<p>I was surprised myself that my paper was accepted even for the conference publication, as the paper was a very basic and descriptive one. The writting style of this e-mail urging me to pay the registration fee in order not to miss the publication opportunity prompted to ask further details about the journal in which the paper will be published as well as details about the conference (e.g. venue), as the conference website does not provide any information apart from the many special issues in sponsoring academic journals that have been secured for the conference. I never got any response to this e-mail, but a week later I was sent another e-mail urging me again to pay the registration fee, otherwise my paper will be deleted from the conference and the journal publication. </p>
<p>To my interpretation this practice means and shows that:</p><p>- one conference registration fee can provide one paper publication in an non ISI journal </p><p>- two conference registration fees can provide a paper publication in an ISI journal</p>
<p>Even if robust review processes and quality standards are applied for creating these journal special issues (but for which I am not persuaded at all), how can someone exploit the special issues of respected journals for urging and tempting people to register at a conference? how ethical is this? and who controls such practices? </p>
<p>why should someone pay a registration fee of 600 euros for getting the following? (I copy paste below what is stated on the conference registration form that I was sent)</p><p>"This rate includes light lunch, coffee breaks, and Proceedings of SpringerCommunications in Computer and Information Science proceedings plus the costfor managing the journal version publication"</p>
<p>600 euros for registration fee is too much for what is given by the conference </p><p> who benefits from the conferences? why to pay a registration fee to a 'personal' and not an 'institutional or business' bank account as it is instructed in the registration form ? why to pay someone for managing the journal publication? the mentioned journals do not charge for a paper submission or review</p>
<p>are the journal editors aware and/or responsible of controling the above practices? </p><p>so, what is this? is it a business plot to make money and/or a clever way to publish in academic journals? </p><p>I provide below the original e-mails that were exchanged and that I am referring above, so that anyone can derive his/her own conclusions and that I am not imposing my perception/interpretation.</p>
<p>The conference website is found at: <a href="http://wsks.org/">http://wsks.org/</a> </p><p>and some of the academic journals that are mentioned to be related to the conference are:</p><p>-Information Systems Management,</p>
<p>-Computers in Human Behavior</p><p>-International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering</p><p>-Computer Applications in Engineering Education</p><p>-International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems</p>
<div> </div><div>Apologies for any disruption for raising this issue, but as I found this conference to be promoted through AISWORLD, I thought that its members should be informed about my experience. </div><p>I am very happy to receive any feedback about the above issue</p>
<p>with kind regards</p><p>Kathrin </p><div> </div><div><p>On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 4:53 PM, WSKS 2011 <<a href="mailto:wsks2011@easychair.org">wsks2011@easychair.org</a>> wrote:</p><p> </p><p>Dear Kathrin,<br>this is to inform you that your paper:</p>
<p>ID: 87<br>Knowledge management and web 2.0<br>Kathrin Gruger</p><p>has been accepted for presentation in the 4th WORLD SUMMIT ON THE KNOWLEDGE<br>SOCIETY and publication in the official proceedings. Additionaly there is a<br>
journal invitation for the extended version of your submission. (you have to<br>take this opportunity by registering to the conference ASAP).</p><p>Please:</p><p>1. Upload the latest till 5th of September a 6-10 pages version of your article<br>
and cc the source files to <a href="mailto:wsks2011@gmail.com">wsks2011@gmail.com</a>, <a href="mailto:miltiadis.lytras@gmail.com">miltiadis.lytras@gmail.com</a> with<br>subject WSKS - ID paper number given by easychair</p>
<p>2. Submit till 15th of October he extended version of your article, max 14pages<br>for journal publication (upon registration and attendance to WSKS)</p><p>3. You must register the latest till 5th of July. Each article need a<br>
registration</p><p>We are very happy since we arranged 8 ISI special issues for WSKS 2011. People<br>that have at least attended 2 WSKS will have a paper in ISI journal and more<br>other authors. It is a way to thank them for their support</p>
<p><br>Thanks to you WSKS 2011 will be an excellent event.</p><p>Please in order to avoid managerial overload confirm your intention to<br>register/attend to conference</p><p>Last but not least if you wish the extended version of your paper to be<br>
published on the 3(1) 2011 volume of IJKSR, <a href="http://www.igi-global.com/ijksr">http://www.igi-global.com/ijksr</a><br>just contact me ASAP.</p><p><a href="http://www.igi-global.com/ijksr">http://www.igi-global.com/ijksr</a></p>
<p>Once again thank you for your support.</p><p>Yassas myfriends<br>Miltiadis<br>Attachments: regform-wsks2011.docx</p><p> </p></div><p>On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Kathrin Gruger <<a href="mailto:kgruger@gmail.com>wrote">kgruger@gmail.com>wrote</a>:</p>
<p> </p><p>Dear Miltiadis,</p><p>many thanks for the good news. </p><p>Can you please clarify the dates until when I have to register ?</p><p>is it 5th July or 5th September?</p><p>I will have to apply and investigate whether I can get the conferenceexpenses reinbursed from my institution, so it may take some time (I guess Iwill know few days after I apply for this)</p>
<p>However, I am trying to find information about the conference cost, butthere is no information about accommodation suggestions on the conferencewebsite.</p><p>Where the conference will take place? where should I stay in Mykonos, so Ican be close to the venue and reduce taxi expenses?</p>
<p>do you have any cheap hotels to reccomend ?</p><p>Is there time for including my paper in the proceedings ? </p><p>in which journal will my paper get published? is it an ISI journal ?</p><p>many thanks for your prompt answer</p>
<p>kind regards</p><p>Kathrin</p><p> </p><p>On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 10:11 AM, WSKS 2011 <<a href="mailto:wsks2011@easychair.org%3Ewrote">wsks2011@easychair.org>wrote</a>:</p><p> </p><p>Dear Kathrin,<br>we want tot hank you for your submission of article that has been accepted for<br>
presentation in WSKS and publication in sponsoring journals.</p><p>Please make us an update related to your registration/payment.<br>We still missing this info.<br>Unfortunately if we dont hear from you we will have to delete your article.<br>
A registration is required the latest within one week by now.<br>Please drop me a mail.<br>Looking forward to see you in Mykonos<br>Kind Regards<br>Katerina</p><p> </p>