Monday, June 11, 2018

The International Conference on Computer Science and Information Engineering (ICCSIE) and the IAAST

I don’t know how to classify the International Conference on Computer Science and Information Engineering (ICCSIE). It is obviously Chinese, but who is really behind it? The domains on the emails and websites are ia-ast.org and iaaset.org. These are registered to “Zheng Zhou Jun Jian Jiao Yu Zi Xun You Xian Gong Si [in] he nan” and “Wang Yan Dong [in] He Nan,” respectively.

The first conference was advertised for 2015, in Ningbo. The contact information was sparse: “Conference Secretary: Miss Zhang, Tel:+86-371-55656603, Email: iccsieconf@163.com.” The second, for 2017, listed “Conference secretary: Echo Liu, TEL: 86-371-6336 9863, E-mail: iccsieconf@163.com.” The third and current conference web site lists “Conference Secretary: Linda You, Tel:+ 86-371-6336 9863, Email: iccsieconf@163.com.”

The one common “organizer” of these three conference is the International Association of Applied Science and Engineering Technology (IAASET). The website states (6/11/18) that the association’s mission “is to foster and conduct collaborative interdisciplinary research in state-of-the-art methodologies and technologies within its areas of expertise.” There is no indication of how it conducts research or what research it has conducted. Instead, it runs conferences in Asia based on the belief that “International academic conference is an important way of academic exchanges for people from academic fields around the whole world.” The website lists a “Committee” of academics, mostly from Taiwan. Although no member is from the mainland, its domain name (aiase.net) is registered to an unnamed person or entity in Hangzhou. The address on the website is RM18H, 27/F Ho King Comm Ctr, 2-16 Fayuen St, Mongkok Kowloon Hong Kong.

CORRECTION (8/7/18 ): IAASET is not the common organizer.

The honor falls to a more elusive International Association of Applied Science and Technology (IAAST). The conference website states that "ICCSIE2018 is organized by Beijing University of Technology and International Association of Applied Science and Technology (IAAST)." The university, Beigongda for short, is real enough, but what exactly is its role in this conference in Xi'an?

IAAST name appears in connection with another university, the Shanghai Maritime University, promoting another conference during the same month. The 2018 International Conference of Computing and System Engineering in Marine Engineering (ICCSEM2018) is slated to start just over two weeks from now, in Zhengzhou. This IAAST conference has no speakers and no meaningful program posted as of today. It has no organizing committee -- only an "Honorary Chairman." The email address and telephone number in the contact information are identical to those for the 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Information Engineering (ICCSIE2018). The "Conference Secretary" has the same name -- Linda You.
Email
  • From: ICCSIE2018 (iaaset@email.ia-ast.org)
    Sent: Sun 6/10/2018 9:41 PM
    Subject: Invitation——Computer Science and Information Engineering, Sep. 21-22, 2018, Xi’an, China
    Dear sir / madam,
    Greetings! On behalf of the organizing committee, we cordially hope you can join us at the 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Informataion Engineering (ICCSIE2018), which will be held on September 21-22 in Xi’an, China. We have read your paper entitled “Deadly statistics: quantifying an 'unacceptable risk' in capital punishment”, published in the journal “LAW PROBABILITY & RISK”. You are an internationally acclaimed scholar and educator. Your participation will be among the highlights of the Conference. We sincerely hope that you could accept our invitation.
    ICCSIE2018 is an annual conference that provides a forum for accessing to the most up-to-date and authoritative knowledge from both industrial and academic worlds, sharing best practice in the field of Computer Engineering, Information Engineering, Computer Architecture & Embedded System, Mobile Computing & Pervasive Computing, Software Engineering, and Digital Signal Processing. Your participation at ICCSIE2018 would add great value for your organization and our attendees. [← Judging from my selection, the great value does not come from any expertise in these fields.]
    Thank you for your timely consideration of this invitation, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
    Best Regards
    Organizing Committee of ICCSIE2018, Tel: + 86-371-6336 9863