Publisher backs down in dispute with society over journal name

What do Kentucky Fried Chicken and scientific publishing have in common?

Last month, the fast food chain objected to the use of the phrase “Finger Lakin’ Good” by a man in New York, claiming the phrase was too similar to KFC’s familiar “Finger Lickin’ Good” motto.

This week, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) forced an alleged predatory publisher to change the name of one of its journals that the society felt — fairly, it seems — was too close for comfort to one of its main titles.

In an email earlier this week, the ACR warned authors about the existence of the Journal of Arthritis and Rheumatology, a new open-access publication whose name is sometimes shortened to Arthritis and Rheumatology. To the ACR, that sounds an awful lot like the group’s own Arthritis & Rheumatology, which is published by Wiley.

Per the letter:

It has come to the attention of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) that e-mails have been sent to many of our members and possibly nonmember rheumatologists, soliciting submission of articles to a recently created open-access journal that is currently using the name “Journal of Arthritis and Rheumatology” (or, in some communications, simply “Arthritis and Rheumatology”). Solicitations for rheumatologists to join this journal’s editorial board have been sent as well.

Please do not confuse this journal with Arthritis & Rheumatology, which is one of the two official journals of the ACR. Gavin Publishers and its so-called “Journal of Arthritis and Rheumatology” have no connection whatsoever with the ACR.

Because the name of this new journal is virtually identical (intentionally or unintentionally) to the name of our journal, the ACR is concerned that recipients of these solicitations may think they are from our journal. …

Individuals who have received the above-mentioned e-mail solicitation and are considering replying to it may want to first Google “Gavin Publishers” for more information on this entity and its other journals.

We contacted Gavin, which has a spot on the now-defunct list of potential predatory publishers compiled by librarian Jeffrey Beall. A representative for the company told us that it had changed the name of its journal to Rheumatology: Open Access:

“we have changed our journal name because we have received a mail from ACR to change our journal name.”

That ought to satisfy the ACR. But we wonder: Will it please the folks over at Rheumatology ?

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