March 2025 has seen “Stand up for Science” events take place in cities in both the U.S. and France. Reliable, reputable research is essential for fostering advances in human health. The Endocrine Society is extremely active in advocating for science funding and health policy, with particular emphasis on the endocrine space. The Society also has a long tradition of communicating science in our highly regarded journals, with Endocrinology being first published in 1917.
Publish or perish, goes the old saying. Whether that’s true, Endocrine Society members are often highly motivated to publish their research in scientific journals to advance the field. Publishing also offers pathways to peer recognition and professional development.
Many outstanding journals around the world exist for the benefit of clinicians and researchers. Unfortunately, some are not what they may first appear to be.
The Society’s journals adhere to the highest editorial and scientific standards. Our editors and editorial board members are vetted for their expertise and adherence to strict publishing standards and peer review.
Unscrupulous entities troll many scientific and medical fields, including endocrinology, with pitches to publish in journals that lack even minimal scientific rigor.
Having trust in the scientific process is crucial to maintaining an accurate understanding of the medical conditions that we study and treat. In addition to being potentially fraudulent, bad actors pose the threat of diminishing the very integrity of the work that we do.
Avoiding Scams
It goes without saying that we must be on guard to avoid falling prey to scams, both for personal reasons and for the reputation of our field. Unfortunately, bad actors are not rare.
The Endocrine Society recently warned members that an entity called Directive Publications is soliciting manuscript submissions and offering editorial board membership for a publication named “Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.”
Our diligent journal staff stated this entity is not affiliated with or sanctioned by the Endocrine Society and our official journal, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism®.
“We cannot verify the authenticity or accuracy of any information provided by it,” the Society notes.
In the warning, our journal staff also points out the subtle differences that aim to deceive. For instance, the Society’s journal uses “The” and an ampersand (The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism®) in official communications.
This kind of deception can easily fool the best of us. It’s prudent to review all solicitations carefully, including for journal names resembling the Society’s other journals:
- Endocrinology®
- Endocrine Reviews®
- Journal of the Endocrine Society®
- JCEM Case Reports®
Predatory Publishing
We offer resources to explain what’s behind predatory publishing. The term broadly refers to the publication of purportedly scholarly content where the journal or publisher approaches potential authors in a deceptive or fraudulent manner.
The deceptive pitch usually comes in the form of an email solicitation with an offer to get published, often using the author publication charge business model to collect payment.
The offer comes without any regard for quality assurance in editing, peer review, author services, or the fate of the author’s article in the indexed scholarly literature. Predatory journals or publishers may also deceive academics into serving as editorial board members or peer reviewers.
Our journal staff has taken steps to protect research integrity with stronger digital identity verification for authors.
As global publishing continues to move to a digitally driven economy, with numerous vulnerable points of entry for bad actors, publishers and institutions have to adapt to the need for enhanced author verification.
Read the editorial by Prof. Paul Stewart, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, on new journal requirements for manuscript submissions.
Fake Conferences
In a similar vein, the internet is awash with sites for scientific conferences that are bogus or offer little to no value. Warning signs include solicitations coming from unknown organizers with no verifiable academic background; a rapid acceptance rate of papers with little to no scrutiny; bogus endorsements from prominent academics and scientists.
Researchers pay money to speak at these events, but there is no adherence to quality of presentations or the abstract submissions, resulting in no benefit for the advancement of science.
Reliable, reputable research is essential for fostering advances in human health. The Endocrine Society is extremely active in advocating for science funding and health policy, with particular emphasis on the endocrine space.
George Washington University provides an informative webpage on predatory conferences and journals, offering excellent advice on what to be aware of.
Ensuring Integrity and Reliability
One clear way to avoid being scammed is to engage with the Society’s journals and our ENDO conference through our official website and emails directly from us.
This year, ENDO 2025 takes place July 12 – 15 in San Francisco, Calif. ENDO is far and away the premier annual meeting of endocrinology research and clinical care, attracting renowned investigators, expert clinicians, and educators from all over the world.
The Society’s journals adhere to the highest editorial and scientific standards. Our editors and editorial board members are vetted for their expertise and adherence to strict publishing standards and peer review. Members also enjoy the ability to publish free of charge in our journal Endocrinology.
It can be a buyer-beware world! But with a little bit of caution, we advance the field of endocrinology whilst also achieving personal progress.
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