Polite invitation turns out to be fraudulent

For the second time I received a nice email from “Dr. Kateryna Bielka, M.D”. She says complementary things about one of my published papers and, in a highly personalised manner, asks if I would consider publishing in an esteemed journal that she is working for. Like many academics my email in box is peppered with highly standardised invitations to publish in open access journals. Most are clever enough to parse one of my article titles into the email text they send out but this invitation appears much more human. And the journal in question is called Medical Research Archives

However, human it isn’t. In fact it is the second one I have received from this ‘person’. When you search for the name of the journal and couple it with ‘predatory open access’ you get a very informative account from the Scholarly Open Access blog at. https://scholarlyoa.com/2016/08/04/about-those-manipulative-spam-emails-from-internal-medicine-review/

You learn that the journal in question will charge between $1250 and $3000 to place your work, that it is closed access, and that the journal appears to have no subscribers at all. Not a very attractive proposition.

61 thoughts on “Polite invitation turns out to be fraudulent”

    • Same for me!

      Look below! The entire mail:

      Dear XXX,

      I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “XXX YYY ZZZ.”

      Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

      Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

      Best Regards,

      L. Smith, M.D.

      Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)

      Phone: +1.612.524.5565

      Online ISSN: 23751924

      Print ISSN: 23751916

      PubMed ID: 101668511

      Notice: This message and all attachments are only to be used by the person or business to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error or do not wish to receive further emails from this sender please notify us by replying to this message, or via mail at 340 S. Lemon Ave Walnut California ZIP Code 91789- USA. If you are not the named addressee you should not read, share, or copy this message.

    • The same thing happened to me, I was reading this thread and a few days later I got one from L. Smith, M.D. It looked like it might be real so I responded to inquire and I got a response that they wanted me to submit a paper, same scam different journal name.

  9. me here…..receive L. Smith request twice this week, for a paper in the agriculture field to be published in a MD journal……hmmm

  10. I don’t recall getting the first one. But L. Smith MD states that they sent me an earlier email, mentioned one of my publications (also not relevant for a medical journal) and tells me that my research aligns with one of their them issues. I was going to reply just out of courtesy. But now, I will block.

    • This exactly happened to me. I checked the mentioned date for the claimed email (earlier one), and I had not such an email in my inbox. But it was interesting to see that on the top of the claimed first email (that was brought in the below section of the text) the sent time was Wednesday, June 4, 2020; however, I remembered that June 4, 2020, was Thursday and not Wednesday. This was a hint for me to google it and now finding out that it is spam and fraudulent.

  12. M.D. L. Smith keeps on sending me emails for contribution to a special issue about COVID-19 of their MDA journal. He quotes a paper by me that has, however, absolutely nothing to do with any medical research.
    Very annoying. Especially the fact that it looks like a real person trying hard to get in touch with me. Fortunately websites such as this one exist for a check on predators…

  14. There just seemed to be something not authentic about L. Smith MD which made me pause. Thank God I did. Thanks for this site.

    • Yep. Repeat opinion re L. SMITH M.D. Been getting them for quite some time. Title of article/area of research he/his is interested in an accepting work changed with a new area of research Ive moved into…

  15. Just received a polite attempt to contact the corresponding author of a paper of mine that is not related to the medical field at all–the second one, after I ignored a first.

    Y.

  16. I received the same email by L. Smith, but when i reply him, my message is blocked. Thats why I reached here,, while searching his real email. LOL..

  18. Received a polite email about a paper of mine, and when I answered that I was not working anymore in that field, he replied:

    “Thank you for your email. I understand. Could you possibly recommend anyone who may be able to help?
    Maybe you could also tell me more about your current research, and I could see if it is a fit for one of our other issues.”

    After reading here, I’ll ignore

  19. I have also got one:
    Dear xxx,
    I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “xxxx ”
    Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

    Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)
    Phone: +1.612.524.5565
    Online ISSN: 23751924
    Print ISSN: 23751916
    PubMed ID: 101668511

    • Got exactly the same email from L. Smith, MD.

      Dear Dr. xxxx

      I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “………………………………………(my paper title)”

      Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

      Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

      Best Regards,

      L. Smith, M.D.

      Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)

      Phone: +1.612.524.5565

      Online ISSN: 23751924

      Print ISSN: 23751916

      PubMed ID: 101668511

    • Exactly the same email from L. Smith, M.D., I received as below:

      Dear Dr. xxxx
      I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “……(my paper title)”
      Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.
      Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

      Best Regards,

      L. Smith, M.D.
      Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)
      Phone: +1.612.524.5565
      Online ISSN: 23751924
      Print ISSN: 23751916
      PubMed ID: 101668511

  21. I received two mails with the same fake invitation from
    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)

    It is fraudolent journal, I suppose

  23. I just received this mail:

    Dear Dr. XXX,
    I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “XXXXX”.
    Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

    Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)
    Phone: +1.612.524.5565
    Online ISSN: 23751924
    Print ISSN: 23751916
    PubMed ID: 101668511

  25. I have received a similar message from L. Smith MD states that he asked me if I continue to make a research similar to one of my publications that are not sutable for a medical journal. One of my colleague told me that this person is a dangeorus person it should be blocked beacuse he try to enter all of the news account n°, or card VISA, etc.
    But now, I will block him.

  26. I got one as well as below,

    Dear Dr. Xxxxxxx
    I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “Xxxxxxxxxxxx”

    Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

    Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.

    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)

    Phone: +1.612.524.5565

    Online ISSN: 23751924

    Print ISSN: 23751916

    PubMed ID: 101668511

  28. Ainda bem que achei essa página, porque estava achando que era verdade! Também recebi um e.mail do L. Smith, MD para publicar um artigo.
    Obrigada pelos relatos e alerta!

  33. Same here. Got two emails from L. Smith MD,

    From: L. Smith, M.D.
    Sent: xxxx, June xx, 2020
    To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Subject: Re: idea

    I am still trying to get in touch with the corresponding author of “Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”. If you could please put me in contact with them it would be much appreciated.

    Are you still conducting research in this area?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.

  34. I also received the same fraudulent mail, and from the first time I was worried and suspecting something wrong.now I feel confident to reject such fake mail

  35. Teo emails attached. The second One made me feel guilty for having ignorare the First One. Then i look for the journal on the web and round this blog…. Thanks for posting.

    I am still trying to get in touch with the corresponding author of “Gene-environment interactions and vitamin D effects on cardiovascular risk.”. If you could please put me in contact with them it would be much appreciated.

    Are you still conducting research in this area?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.

    From: L. Smith, M.D.
    Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2020
    To: guiaccar@unina.it
    Subject: idea

    Dear Dr. Iaccarino,

    I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “Gene-environment interactions and vitamin D effects on cardiovascular risk.”

    Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

    Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

    Best Regards,

    L. Smith, M.D.

    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)

    Phone: +1.612.524.5565

    Online ISSN: 23751924

    Print ISSN: 23751916

    PubMed ID: 101668511

    Notice: This message and all attachments are only to be used by the person or business to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error or do not wish to receive further emails from this sender please notify us by replying to this message, or via mail at 340 S. Lemon Ave Walnut California ZIP Code 91789- USA. If you are not the named addressee you should not read, share, or copy this message.

  38. I also got the same email. The entire email is below. Why people do such cheap activities. I replied him that you are fake.

    Dear Dr. …….,
    I am hoping to contact the corresponding author of “Microbiological Induced Calcium Carbonate Process to Enhance the Properties of Cement Mortar”

    Would that be you? I was wondering if you are still working in this field as it aligns well with one of the theme issues I am planning for this year. Perhaps you could tell me more about your work in this area.

    Could you please get in touch with me so we may discuss this?

    Best Regards,
    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)
    Phone: +1.612.524.5565
    Online ISSN: 23751924
    Print ISSN: 23751916
    PubMed ID: 101668511

  40. Sane letters here from “L. Smith” in late June of 2020. The publication the fake doctor supposedly read involved medical scams. How’s that for irony?

  41. The dear docter is still slightly changing his line of attack, but with the same credentials:

    “Dear Dr. YY X,
    I was hoping to get your assistance with a special theme issue I am organizing for later this year. I very much enjoyed reading “xxxx” and am wondering what your current projects are.

    Would you be willing to take a look at the details of the issue and offer your advice on topics which would be important to include?

    Best Regards,
    L. Smith, M.D.

    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)
    Phone: +1.612-524-5565
    Online ISSN: 23751924
    Print ISSN: 23751916
    PubMed ID: 101668511″

  43. I got one aswell, Did anyone respond? I am tempted by using an intermediate email to let them know that I am willing to help if they transfer some bitcoins first…..

  44. Again, I received an honorable request from L. Smith, M.D. (Medical Research Archives) to help create a special theme issue for next year.

    “Dear X X,
    I was hoping to get your assistance with a special theme issue I am organizing for next year. I very much enjoyed reading “Low maternal melatonin level increases autism spectrum disorder risk in children” and am wondering what your current projects are.
    Would you be willing to take a look at the details of the issue and offer your advice on topics which would be important to include?
    Best Regards,
    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives(MRAJ)”

    Publication fee $ 3100. Publications are not found in PubMed. I will therefore not accept this request.

    • I got three emails from L. Smith, MD in the last ten days.
      E.g.

      Dear Dr. XXX,
      I am helping to organize a theme issue on Trends in Immunology to be published this year, and I was hoping to talk to you about your research in this area. I found your article “XXX” (titles of two of my articles) quite interesting.
      Would you be open to the idea of preparing an article to be featured in the theme issue?

      Sincerely,
      L. Smith, M.D.
      Medical Research Archives
      European Society of Medicine
      Online ISSN: 2375-1924
      Print ISSN: 2375-1916
      PubMed ID: 101668511

  46. I just received a similar email from L. Smith:

    Dear Dr. xxxxxxx,

    I am helping to organize a theme issue on Trends in Neurology to be published this year, and I was hoping to talk to you about your research in this area. I found your article “xxxxxxxxx” (title of my article) quite interesting.

    Would you be open to the idea of preparing an article to be featured in the theme issue?

    Sincerely,

    L. Smith, M.D.
    Medical Research Archives
    European Society of Medicine
    Online ISSN: 2375-1924
    Print ISSN: 2375-1916
    PubMed ID: 101668511

    Please do not print this email unless it is absolutely necessary. Every time you don’t print an email, you are helping the environment. This email a B2B communication. If you have received this email in error or would like to remove your data from our system please reply, or contact us at Rue le Corbusier 12 Geneva, 1208, Switzerland.

    Clearly a predatory publication.

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