Subject Hall of Shame 8/07: Web spamming by journal publishers
Posted by Carl Willis on 2007-08-15 01:44
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Those of us who love science and live science should not have to put up with parasitic behavior by those who are merely in the business of science. When public knowledge resources like the Internet are overrun by profiteers foraging for the lushest cash, we lose. It is important to recognize and beat back the greed in order to prevent a tragedy of the commons. In furtherance of that end, the following list is intended to document the practice of "Web spamming" ("Google spamming," "cloaking") of online journal content by technical publishing companies. For a definition and overview of this behavior (which is infuriating and which I am sure you will recognize), see this post:http://fusor.net/board/view.php?site=fusor&bn=fusor_general&key=1170119314
This is just a beginning and hardly an exhaustive list of offenders--I plan to update it. Please feel free to nominate additional offenders and post links to their cloaked content. In the list you will notice esteemed technical societies to which many of us might belong (e.g. American Institute of Physics) alongside companies whose long-established reputation for abuse makes their appearance on this list no surprise at all (e.g. Elsevier). IEEE appeared to have stopped Web spamming, if ever so briefly, in the days after my previous post targeting them. Today, with all the predictability of slugs returning to a melon at twilight, they're back at it. Finally, I would be amiss to not fault Google itself for tolerating such Web-spamming under its shady "Partners Program."
-Carl
WEB-SPAMMING HALL O' SHAME 7/08
(Explanation: the "example cloaked text" contains my requested search terms that show up in the Google snippet but not in the retrieved content.)
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Elsevier (www.elsevier.com)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=radioactivity+silicon+protons+hydrogenated&btnG=Search
Link: linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022309306001293 [4th result]
Example cloaked text: "radioactivity"
Springer (www.springer.com)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=uranyl+carbonate+anion+14C&btnG=Search
Link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/98503j6qh4292220/ [1st result]
Example cloaked text: “carbonate anion”
IEEE (www.ieee.org)
http://www.google.com/search?q=radioactivity+silicon+protons+hydrogenated+amorphous&hl=en&start=10&sa=N
Link: ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/7320/19792/00916074.pdf [13th result]
Example cloaked text: “hydrogenated”
AIP (www.aip.org)
http://www.google.com/search?q=radioactivity+silicon+protons+hydrogenated+amorphous&hl=en&start=20&sa=N
Link:http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JAPIAU000084000009004834000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes [22nd result]
Example cloaked text: “hydrogenated”
IOP (www.iop.org)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=spallation+muon+tungsten&btnG=Search
Link: http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0954-3899/29/8/396 [10th result]
Example cloaked text: “spallation”
**IngentaConnect (www.ingentaconnect.com)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Henry+Clepper+forestry+volume+designation&btnG=Search
Link:http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/jof/1974/00000072/00000005/art00014 [4th result]
Example cloaked text: "designation"
**Informaworld (www.informaworld.com)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hydrolysates+tribonema+aequale&btnG=Google+Search
Link:www.informaworld.com/ampp/siteindex?request=%2Findex%2F771032782.pdf [2nd result]
Example cloaked text: "hydrolysates"
APS (www.aps.org)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fission+activity+barium+lanthanum+hahn&btnG=Google+Search
Link: link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRev.59.323.2 [5th result]
Example cloaked text: "activity" "barium" "lanthanum" "hahn"
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**Hat tip to Pierre Far, BlogSci.com. See his post here: (http://blogsci.com/randoms/academic-publishers-as-spammers) |
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2007-08-15 01:44 Hall of Shame 8/07: Web spamming by journal publishers (Carl Willis) [Latest: 2007-09-05 21:05]