Considering how hard it is to get published, it's alarming that there is one type of publication that shouldn't be publishing fiction but does...if you pay.
No, I'm not talking about vanity publishing--at least not the usual kind.
NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDY REVEALS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!
As revealed in an article by Elizabeth Segran at fastcompany.com, there are medical journals that will publish your article if you pay $500.
Harvard Medical researcher Mark Shrime decided to test how many journals would agree to publish a nonsense article he created with a random text generator. He called the article "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?', with the subtitle, "The surgical and neoplastic role of cacoa extract in breakfast cereals." The authors were listed as Pinkerton A. LeBrain and Orson Welles.
JOINTURE BETRAYED!
To give you an idea of the content, here's the first sentence: "In an intention dependent on questions on elsewhere, we betrayed possible jointure in throwing cocoa."
He submitted the article to 37 medical journals, 17 of which have accepted it, subject to payment of a processing fee of $500.
One of the journals called the study novel and innovative. Well, it's certainly novel.
He says there are directories that identify the reputable journals, but people who are not in the particular medical field in question may not be aware of such directories, and may take articles in the bogus publications as valid.
As my physician, Dr Random Text-Generator commented, "Property men the why smallest graceful day insisted required. Inquiry justice country old placing sitting any ten age." Feel free to quote him.
