When we are not laughing at them, predatory and imaginary publishers really get academics down.They fill already swollen inboxes with rubbish, and some look professional enough to con people to part with open-access publication fees.

Recently, I received a couple of requests for submissions from a publisher that was new to me, It does however appear on the magnificently useful  list of such publishers maintained by Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at The University of Colorado, Denver (scholarlyao.com/publishers).

This one caught my eye, because while the majority usually have USA postal addresses, this one was apparently based in the grim north of my mother country, the UK.

The publisher is known as “Noble Research” (nobleresearch.org), and it has a nice, professional-looking website.

The first request I received went like this:

“With pleasure we invite you to contribute articles to the Journal of Diabetology and Endocrinology (JDE), an interna tional peer-reviewed open access journal published monthly by NobleResearch Publishers. We feel delighted to honor by provid ing a complete waiver to the authors for their articles for the first issue of the Journal of Diabetology and Endocrinology.”

And here’s the second one…

“With pleasure we invite you to contribute articles to the Journal of Mod ern Human Pathology (JMHP)-ISSN 2397-6845 (http://nobleresearch.org/Journal /11), an international peer-reviewed open access journal published monthly by NobleResearch Publishers (http://www.nobleresearch.org).”

Neither are in my field, but both cheerfully explained that they accept anything:

“We accept manuscripts of any types to make the Journal the real platform for discussion: original research, review, case reports, editorial, letter s to the editor, methodology, news and commentary, rapid communications, sh ort reports. Our professional staff adds further value to your paper throug h the copy-editing process, which minimize stylistic errors, grammatical er rors and improves readability.”

Both requests were signed by a “Dr Jonathan D Lucas:

In the first instance:

“Dr. Jonathan D Lucas
Editorial Office
NobleResearch Publishers
43 Virginia Street, Aberdeen, Scotland
P.O: AB1 15AX, United Kingdom
Email: ed itor.jde@nobleresearch.org”

and in the second:

“Dr. Jonathan D Lucas
Editorial Office
NobleResearch Publishers
475-Palatine Road
Northenden, Manchester
P.O: M22 4DA, United Kingdom.
Email: editor.jmhp@noblere search.org
http://www.nobleresearch.org”

Nothing unusual so far, except I’m really not convinced that their copy editing skills will “add value” to any paper.

Anyway, I digress. Curiosity got the better of me and I thought I’d take a look at the Manchester office of the publisher.

A quick search on google revealed the full address to be “Flat 1, 475 Palatine Road”. It seemed a little unusual that a publisher would  have a flat for an address but I tried to keep an open mind.

Here’s how the building looks, not too shabby at all, but clearly residential:

I began to wonder – maybe Dr Jonathan D Lucas is running a one-man operation from his flat in M22? – a quick look on Companies House would give the answer as to the size of the outfit.

Surprisingly, I found three businesses registered at that address, all owned by the same person, each with one director, again the same person. But it wasn’t Dr Jonathan D Lucas.

The owner/director of the following companies is a Mr Sreeman Etamsetti. Seemingly, no Dr Jonathan in sight…

…and LinkedIn suggests that the publisher might be down the pub:

The Aberdeen address is similarly residential, but provides a different story with regards to the business.

Not so noble.