Thursday, August 8, 2019

United Scientific Group will promulgate the noble research findings

United Scientific Group (USG) "will promulgate the noble research findings ... to make a step-change in the fields of science and technology." Despite such phrasing on the USG website, the address is in Texas ("8105, Suite 12, Rasor Blvd, Plano, TX 75024 USA") and the phone numbers are 408-426-4832 and 844-395-4102. The website lists Sudhakar A Yakkanti as "associate vice president" and Kenneth Blum as "founding president."

Both have substantial academic credentials, but Wikipedia reports that in addition to founding USG, Dr. Blum has sold dietary supplements to treat "reward deficiency syndrome," a term he coined but that has not been validated. The OMICS Group (widely regarded as a predatory publisher and conference organizer) was pleased to appoint him their 200th editor-in-chief. Indeed, OMICS called him "the father of Psychiatric Genetics," although Quackwatch has a less grandiose description.) He also keeps busy as an editor for Peerztech (which appointed a dog to one of its editorial boards), Austin Publishing Group, and ScienceForecast, not to mention writing an entire journal for USG devoted to his "reward deficiency syndrome" theory.

To join Dr. Blum at USG, Dr. Yakkanti "resigned his position as Editor-in-Chief .. and as member of other positions held at OMICS Group journals and conferences to pursue a new direction closer to his heart." The press release adds that "Dr. Yakkanti is appreciative of the time he spent with OMICS Group journals ... ."
Email
  • From: Medpath-2020 (secretary@medpathologyconference.com)
    Date: 6 August 2019 1:11 PM
    Subject: Medpath-2020 Houston
    Good Morning! We request your presence at the International Conference on Medical Pathology (MedPath-2020) which has been scheduled for February 17 - 19, 2020 in Houston, TX, USA. Medpath-2020 is a three-day event specifically designed for the discussion on rapidly evolving global Pathology research and industry. We would like to know the availability of you to share your recent research findings as podium presentation.
    Our Speakers Line-up:
    Gene P. Siegal, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
    Sridevi Devaraj, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX
    John Hicks, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
    Mari Mino-Kenudson, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
    Carl Morrison, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
    Andy N.D. Nguyen, University of Texas-Houston, Houston, TX
    Herbert Budka, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
    Jun Teruya, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX
    Meenakshi B. Bhattacharjee, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX
    Rudolph Castellani, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
    Awaiting your positive response. Thank you.
    Best Regards,
    Ramya Chelikani
    Conference Manager Medpath-2020
  • From: From: MedPath|Houston, TX [secretary@medpathologyconference.com]
    Date: 30 October 2019 8:23 AM
    Subject: Dr. David Kaye: Please Acknowledge
    Dear Dr. David Kaye,
    Good Morning! We tried to reach you several times to know your availability at International Conference on Medical Pathology scheduled for February 17 - 19, 2020 in Houston, TX, USA. We would like to know if you are interested to share your recent research findings as either podium or poster presentation at Medpath-2020. For more details please see: ...
    Note: We support your two nights accommodation at the conference venue hotel: Doubletree by Hilton Houston Intercontinental Airport. As we are planning to finalize scientific program kindly confirm your participation before November 05, 2019. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.
    Best regards,
    Ramya Chelikani
    Conference Manager Medpath-2020
    If you find this mail unsolicited, please click ... or Please reply with "Not Interested" as subject line if you do not wish to receive any further emails

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for this information on USG. I have several invitations to their NANO conferences in my inbox.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the link about USG:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6856005/

    ReplyDelete
  3. USG: They continue to advertise proudly their
    79 (!) cong "...e.g. Congresses /
    CONFERENCES By Our Experienced Team 79
    SPEAKERS Keynotes, Featured Speakers 3547
    PARTNERS We Provides All Industry Services 56
    (none of 'their partners' >>running logos has a link to real URL's)
    COUNTRIES We are in All Continents 75

    Due to COVID-19... etc:
    cf.: https://traditionalmedicine.unitedscientificgroup.org/ they state [Quote]:
    "The safety and well-being of our attendees, staff, and community continue to be at the forefront of our minds. After careful consideration of the evolving concerns around COVID-19, and in alignment with the best practices laid out by the CDC, WHO and other relevant entities, TMedPM-2020 committee has decided to conduct the meeting online instead of planned in-person physical meeting in Thailand. ...." [End of quote]
    Then - follow, please, the text and further links to find their written policy of
    'registration and accomodation refunds" in case of [necessary] cancellation...
    (They'll earn 150.- every case...)

    as well as their 6 Journals
    cf: 6 Journals: https://unitedscientificgroup.org/contact# choose TAB: JOURNALS
    Conferences: https://unitedscientificgroup.org/contact# choose TAB: CONFERENCES

    Also it seems they moved since their address now is indicated as:
    8105, Suite 112 (not any more: 12), Rasor Blvd
    Plano, TX 75024, USA
    Fax: +1-469-854-2278
    they provide a:
    Toll free: +1-844-395-4102
    and their phone Numbers have changed too:
    Tel : +1-469-854-2280/81
    Email : contact@uniscigroup.net




    Source:
    Answer by G. K. 2 days ago [2020-08-05] found in/at:
    https://www.researchgate.net/post/Dubious_conference_invitations_Just_spam_or_do_these_meetings_actually_take_place

    ReplyDelete
  4. Also invited to present at one of the conferences - but I am not an expert in the field in which they want me to present. The spammed me after mining my details from a paper in a journal.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fake US address and operates from India with undergraduate students, sister company of OMICS. For more details follow below link: https://scholarlyoa.com/omics-group-aims-to-trick-researchers-with-copycat-journal-titles/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the info. I've gotten numerous invitations to sign up for the 2022 meeting but I can't be bothered to attend a conference that can't manage to make their title grammatically correct: "it's applications"...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Although I publish very little and obviously have no university address, I received several emails to be a speaker at a catalysis congress. Never have I been involved with catalysis. My instinct is that the United Scientific Group is rather Predatory.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's a shame - I am a catalysis chemist, and I was curious because it seemed partly true but still using typical predatory conf language ("Catalysis Board came across your publications in noteworthy journal"). I wonder whether it's true that Richard Schrock (Nobelist) is speaking?

    ReplyDelete
  9. United scientific Group and Prism conferences are sister companies of OMICS predatory organisation. And the culprit founder is Ravikumar Dasari and Mr. Raghav Gupta who is a graduate.

    ReplyDelete