Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 17:03:01 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: News from Ivory Tower Land
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

> shofmann at mindspring.com 4/21/2005 4:54:49 PM >>>
>>>>>> "MW" == Michael Walsh <MJW at press.jhu.edu> writes:
>
> MW> "Three MIT graduate students set out to show what kind of
gobbledygook
> MW> can pass muster at an academic conference these days, writing a
computer
> MW> program that generates fake, nonsensical papers. And sure enough,
a
> MW> Florida conference took the bait."
>
> MW>
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/04/21/academic.hoax.ap/index.html
>
>>From what I've read, that conference is run by the "Creation Con"
people of the
>academic world, in other words it's a conference more interested in
making
>money than bringing a group of subject-matter experts together. Their
standards
>are low relative to other conferences, and it's showing here, since
it's
>obvious that absolutely nobody actually *looked* at the paper they
>accepted. But heck, as long as people are buying convention
memberships and
>journal subscriptions....

Junior academics are desperate to get published.

mjw