There is no need for me to present the evidence showing that Srinubabu Gedela (CEO of OMICS) is fraudulent. He has already been convicted of fraud in an American court in a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The case was not defended, the finding was guilty and the sentence was a fine of $50.1 million. Identity theft was included among the charges, both in regard to names of academics appearing on editorial boards and as presenters at conferences. The charges relating to identity theft were included under the general heading of fraud rather than the more serious charge invoking the law regarding identity theft. In the USA, the penalties for identity theft, under both state and federal law, are severe and in certain cases can carry a penalty of 15 years imprisonment. Were it not for the fact that American academics, institutions and other interests were caught up in OMICS’s corrupt practices, the FTC would probably not have bothered to spend time and resources prosecuting an apparently fruitless case – fruitless because the defendants were offshore and unreachable.

The outcome, however, is far from fruitless. OMICS and its CEO have now been spectacularly branded as corrupt and fraudulent after very conspicuous legal proceedings, and since that conviction OMICS has shed most of its journals to other publishing outlets such as Hilaris, Longdom and Walsh Medical Media. The OMICS label has become a liability. Increasingly wise authors are not going there in the numbers they used to. This consequence is the reason why pursuing legal convictions against the worst offenders in the scam scholarly publishing industry is worth doing. At the very least it erodes their business model. And it is also a matter of principle. We should be doing all we can to put these frauds and criminals out of business.