A good reminder that a critical approach to scholarly literature doens’t end with “Beall’s list“, and maybe doesn’t even begin there. I still think academic libraries/librarians should consider it part of their mission to teach students (and faculty) about current issues in trustworthiness of scholarly literature, and to approach ‘peer review’ critically.
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/press/2014/jul/7.htm
London, UK (08 July 2014) – SAGE announces the retraction of 60 articles implicated in a peer review and citation ring at the Journal of Vibration and Control (JVC). The full extent of the peer review ring has been uncovered following a 14 month SAGE-led investigation, and centres on the strongly suspected misconduct of Peter Chen, formerly of National Pingtung University of Education, Taiwan (NPUE) and possibly other authors at this institution.
In 2013 the then Editor-in-Chief of JVC, Professor Ali H. Nayfeh,and SAGE became aware of a potential peer review ring involving assumed and fabricated identities used to manipulate the online submission system SAGE Track powered by ScholarOne Manuscripts™. Immediate action was taken to prevent JVC from being exploited further, and a complex investigation throughout 2013 and 2014 was undertaken with the full cooperation of Professor Nayfeh and subsequently NPUE.
In total 60 articles have been retracted from JVC after evidence led to at least one author or reviewer being implicated in the peer review ring. Now that the investigation is complete, and the authors have been notified of the findings, we are in a position to make this statement.
Some more summary from retractionwatch.com, which notes this isn’t the first time fake identities have been fraudulently used in peer review.
Bibliographic Wilderness 