US consumer agency wins $50m order against predatory publisher OMICS

OMICS, a publisher of “predatory” academic journals that earn revenue by charging fees to authors, must pay $50.1m (£38m; €45m) to the US government after a federal court in Nevada found that its “unfair and deceptive practices” had breached the Federal Trade Commission Act.1

The company deceived thousands of authors and scientists who attended conferences organised by its de facto subsidiaries, the court found. It also misled authors about peer review, publishing fees, journal impact factors, and indexing of journals in public libraries.

If enforced, the fine could be a devastating blow to the company. It represents the entire income of OMICS from July 2011 to August 2017, less the money it already paid back to authors in refunds.

Any money recovered will be distributed by the Federal Trade Commission …