Hello, dear fellow scientists.
Our company has recently been the target of a proliferation of false information aimed at damaging our reputation among those who have not yet done business with us.
Publications positioned as investigations contain unfounded accusations:
- https://publgate.com/articles/obman-tsenoy-v-sotni-tysyach-dollarov-kak-moshenniki-nazhivayutsya-na-uchenykh-iz-kazakhstana
- https://publgate.com/companies/primer-tipichnogo-moshennika-v-nauke-prodolzheniye-rassledovaniya-pro-akademiyu-statey
In this article, we've decided to provide an official and clear explanation of the situation, presenting the facts so you can independently assess the veracity of these statements and understand the source of these publications.
We wrote a detailed version of the story: why such allegations were made against us, and attached evidence of correspondence with the affected authors, as well as with representatives of the competing company Publ Science.KZ, which initiated the situation.
The content of the article includes 6 points:
- Why we decided to check the Uzhgorod Bulletin;
- Regarding threats and published articles containing false information about the Academy of Articles after the publication of our article;
- Unsubstantiated facts stated in Publ Gate articles;
- Reviews by authors published in the Uzhgorod Bulletin;
- The lawsuit they wanted to file against us;
- Conclusion.
We were very surprised by this approach from a competitor. The Academy of Articles initially did not seek to enter into conflict, but merely fulfilled numerous requests from its subscribers to analyze the scientific journal.
We support only healthy competition aimed at improving the quality of services and customer service, and we categorically condemn false and unfounded attacks.
Start
The situation with the Uzhgorod Herald journal began several months ago, when it unexpectedly published more than 500 articles by Kazakhstani scientists in various fields, despite the fact that the journal was positioned as a publication exclusively on physics.
We learned about this from scientists who read our materials and asked us to conduct an analysis:
After reviewing the journal and publishing the expert article, we received responses from the authors, who explained how their articles had been included in this publication. That same day, we received threats from interested parties, and a few days later, the articles were published on the resource. Publ Gate, accusing our company of involvement in the aforementioned scams.
Every statement in this article is supported by evidence. We strive exclusively for truth and justice to prevent similar situations in the future.
About the situation with the Uzhgorod Herald
Following the publication of our previous article, authors shared their stories about how their articles came to be included in this journal. Their responses were similar: they all collaborated with Publ Science KZ.
On the same day we published our analysis of the Uzhgorod Herald, our director received a threat from an unknown source. A week later, articles appeared on Publ Gate aimed at misinforming scientists and attempting to blame the Academy of Articles for the situation with the Uzhgorod Herald.
Original:
Translation:
Unsubstantiated facts stated in Publ Gate articles:
We've reviewed this situation and decided to present the facts for objective analysis. The articles contain information that is completely untrue.
For example, one article says:
"Furthermore, Vasyl's place of registration is Western Ukraine, Lviv Oblast, very close to Uzhhorod National University, whose journal Vasyl is so actively discussing on the Academy of Articles website."
However, as can be seen on the map, Uzhhorod University is located far from Lviv.
As shown in the screenshot below, Publ Science signed a memorandum with Uzhhorod National University in 2022. One of the key points of this memorandum is the promotion of journals to Scopus or Web of Science databases.
We knew that this journal was included in Scopus through the efforts of Publ Science, according to information from those who worked directly on its indexing.
Reviews by the authors were published in the Uzhgorod Bulletin
Below you can see all the responses published in the Uzhgorod Herald. For the authors' safety, names and other details are hidden—otherwise, the company could harm those who oppose its interests through reviews and victims. However, you can read the reviews written on the Kazakh resource 2GIS— https://2gis.kz/almaty/firm/70000001049799299/tab/reviews, by selecting reviews, negative reviews and looking at how many support likes each of them has, and also by carefully reading these reviews:
Feedback from affected customers
Lawsuit
Following the publication of our article on Uzhgorod Herald, we received a pre-trial lawsuit from a lawyer representing the Ukrainian Scientific Alliance, a company within the Publ Science group of companies.
The lawsuit demanded the article be removed for violating competition law and disseminating false information. However, our article did not mention any specific company.
Later, the journal was indeed excluded from the Scopus database, as we reported in the journal. So, the question is: what are we suing for? For the truth?
In addition to the lawsuit, we received an offer for a peaceful settlement.
Conclusion:
This article is written to restore the fairness, honesty and reputation of the Academy of Articles.
The Academy of Articles is always honest, open, and transparent with its clients. You can verify this by reading our reviews, stories of collaboration with our colleagues, and evaluating the company's activities through our informational articles, webinars, and social media.
People do not deserve to be treated this way, and we are committed to preventing such situations from happening to other scientists.
