You would think finding out that a dog sits on several editorial boards would be a massive failure, at least on the owners part, right?
Wrong. Owner, Mike Daube, professor of health policy at Australia’s Curtin University, initially did it as a joke. The dog, Ollie, has very some eyebrow-raising interests such as “the benefits of abdominal massage for medium-sized canines.” Though it’s pretty funny, Daube decided he would use this time to not only get some laughs, but also take a stance on a large issue that goes unnoticed: shady journals.
“Every academic gets several of these emails a day, from sham journals,” he said. “They’re trying to take advantage of gullible younger academics, gullible researchers” who want more publications to add to their CVs. These journals may look prestigious, but they charge researchers to publish and don’t check credentials or peer review articles. And this is precisely how a dog could make it onto their editorial boards.”
Daube has used this failure successfully to bring about awareness!