<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><font>[Forwarding from Jeffrey Beall, via the ScholComm list. --Peter Suber.]<br></font><br></font><div class="gmail_quote"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><br></font><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Colleagues,<u></u><u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">I am the author of <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/" target="_blank">Scholarly Open Access</a>, a blog that includes lists of questionable scholarly publishers and questionable independent journals. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">I'm writing to let people that I've been the victim of an ongoing, organized attempt to discredit me and my blog. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Specifically, I've been a victim of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spoofing" target="_blank">email spoofing</a>, in which someone is sending emails that appear to be from me but really are not. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">One of the spoofed emails is an offer to "reevaluate" a publisher's presence on my list for five thousand dollars. These emails try to make it look like I am extorting money from publishers. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Also, someone is going around setting up new blogs that reprint the spoofed email or that include contrived quotes from scholars. An example is <a href="http://editormedicinalchemistry.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/jeffrey-beall-is-blackmailing-small-open-access-publishers-through-his-predatory-publishers-blog/" target="_blank">here</a>. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Additionally, someone is leaving negative comments about me and my work on various OA-related blogs and websites, writing in the names of people prominent in the OA movement. One place this occurred was in the comments section of my October <i>Nature</i> piece. The publisher has removed these spurious statements and closed further comments.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">I'm going to continue my work identifying questionable and predatory publishers as best I can. Because many of the publishers on my list are true criminals, it's no surprise that they would respond in a criminal way. <u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">I realize my blog is not perfect; I've made mistakes and have tried to learn from them. Many of you have given me valuable advice, and I have tried to implement the good advice as best I could. I have not engaged in any of the activities that they are trying to frame me with.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Thanks for your understanding. <u></u><u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Jeffrey<u></u><u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="text-align:left"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif">Jeffrey Beall, MA, MSLS, Associate Professor<u></u><u></u></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="text-align:left">
<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38)">Scholarly Initiatives Librarian<br>Auraria Library<br>University of Colorado Denver<br>1100 Lawrence St.<br>Denver, Colo. 80204 USA<br><a href="tel:%28303%29%20556-5936" value="+13035565936" target="_blank">(303) 556-5936</a></span><span style="color:gray"><br>
</span><span style="color:blue"><a href="http://jeffrey.beall@ucdenver.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">jeffrey.beall@ucdenver.edu</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="text-align:left">
<span style="color:blue"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="text-align:left"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125)"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><img border="0" width="325" height="48" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CDDD00.B3F37DB0" alt="Description: Description: http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/departments/oiuc/brand/downloads/branddownloads/branddocuments/Logos-E-mail%20Signatures/emailSig_2campus.png"><u></u><u></u></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif"><u></u> <u></u></font></p></div></div></div><br>