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AICTE launches AeroVision Drone Labs in 47 technical institutions across India
New
Delhi, Dec 6: In a major step towards empowering technical education
and innovation, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in
collaboration with AVPL International Company launched 47 AeroVision
Drone Labs in AICTE-approved institutions across the nation.
This pioneering initiative marks a
significant leap in equipping students and faculty with practical
knowledge and cutting-edge skills in drone technology, paving the way
for India’s leadership in this emerging domain.
Highlighting the diversity and reach of the initiative, one of the
selected institutions is from Daman and Diu, an inclusion that
underscores AICTE’s commitment to promoting innovation in untouched and
underserved regions. This remarkable achievement demonstrates AICTE’s
resolve to ensure that advanced technical education and emerging
technologies are accessible across all corners of the nation.
Speaking at the launch, AICTE Chairman, Prof. T.G. Sitharam, expressed
his vision for this transformative program, “I am delighted to recognize
the first 47 institutions selected for the First Phase of this
visionary initiative. The inclusion of Daman and Diu is especially
noteworthy, symbolizing AICTE’s dedication to promoting innovation in
less explored areas. Together, we are not only keeping pace with the
future but actively shaping it, contributing to India’s vision of an
“Unnat and Viksit Bharat.”
AICTE Member Secretary, Prof. Rajive Kumar, emphasized the national
enthusiasm for drone technology, saying that, “Institutions from every
state and region, including tier 2 and tier 3 cities, have eagerly
embraced this opportunity. The selection of 47 institutions reflects our
commitment to building an innovation ecosystem across the country.”
Ms. Preet Sandhuu, Founder and Managing Director of AVPL International
outlined the importance of the initiative, stating, “These labs are
designed to create a skilled ecosystem in drone technology, preparing
professionals not only for drone piloting but also for assembly, repair,
and advanced technical roles. This initiative will address the rising
demand for skilled talent in a rapidly expanding industry.”
Until recently, journal hijackers
do not appear to have targeted titles from big publishers, in part
because their well-known website designs made such clones easy to
detect.
Typically, cloned versions of journals’ websites are of low quality
and don’t resemble the recognizable and professional designs of Springer
Nature and Elsevier. As described in previous posts, fraudulent publishers would usually
copy the ISSN, title and other metadata of niche and university
journals in order to avoid identification, and possibly index their
unauthorized content in bibliographic databases such as Scopus or Web of Science.
But earlier this month, William Black, founder and CEO of PSIref,
an online platform aggregating scholarly publication data which offers
advertising opportunities for publishers, sent me evidence of a new,
more sophisticated scam.
The company “Springer Global Publication”
– which is not affiliated with Springer Nature – has published dozens
of papers cloning the websites of journals officially published by
Elsevier, Springer, the American Medical Association and more. The
company had advertised a variety of services on its website, including
finding a writer for research papers, editing manuscripts, developing
research proposals, analyzing data and managing the peer review process.
This collection of services is a classic attribute of a paper mill.
Springer Global Publication did not respond to our request for
comment, but after we contacted them, they removed descriptions of their
services from their website, as well as links to papers published in
cloned journals. (See an update on this post.)
The design of the websites for the cloned journals is strikingly
similar to the original journals’ websites, even with pop-ups about
allowing cookies.
For example, the following screenshot is of a paper published in Language Sciences. However, the image comes not from an original website, but a cloned one.
Until recently, journal hijackers
do not appear to have targeted titles from big publishers, in part
because their well-known website designs made such clones easy to
detect.
Typically, cloned versions of journals’ websites are of low quality
and don’t resemble the recognizable and professional designs of Springer
Nature and Elsevier. As described in previous posts, fraudulent publishers would usually
copy the ISSN, title and other metadata of niche and university
journals in order to avoid identification, and possibly index their
unauthorized content in bibliographic databases such as Scopus or Web of Science.
But earlier this month, William Black, founder and CEO of PSIref,
an online platform aggregating scholarly publication data which offers
advertising opportunities for publishers, sent me evidence of a new,
more sophisticated scam.
The company “Springer Global Publication”
– which is not affiliated with Springer Nature – has published dozens
of papers cloning the websites of journals officially published by
Elsevier, Springer, the American Medical Association and more. The
company had advertised a variety of services on its website, including
finding a writer for research papers, editing manuscripts, developing
research proposals, analyzing data and managing the peer review process.
This collection of services is a classic attribute of a paper mill.
Springer Global Publication did not respond to our request for
comment, but after we contacted them, they removed descriptions of their
services from their website, as well as links to papers published in
cloned journals. (See an update on this post.)
The design of the websites for the cloned journals is strikingly
similar to the original journals’ websites, even with pop-ups about
allowing cookies.
For example, the following screenshot is of a paper published in Language Sciences. However, the image comes not from an original website, but a cloned one.
The fake version can be identified from the domain name, which is
sciencedirects.com, not sciencedirect.com, as in the original Elsevier
website.
This screenshot comes from the original journal, for comparison.
In another example, the following screenshot shows a paper published in Educational Technology Research and Development.
The design of this webpage mimics that of the original Springer
journal. The only detail revealing the scam is the domain name:
springer.uk.com instead of the official springer.com.
The design of the original journal is identical.
All of the papers published by “Springer Global Publications” are
assigned DOIs with its own prefix 10.70706, which does not resemble the
prefix of either Elsevier or Springer.
Overall, a search through Crossref identified 13 journals to which
“Springer Global Publications” has assigned DOIs. All of these journals
have similar names to those established by legitimate publishers:
Journals cloned by “Springer Global Publication”
Title of the journal
Original Publisher
Domain of the cloned journal
Domain of the original journal
Examples of dois assigned to papers in cloned journals
Ginny Hendricks of Crossref told us the organization would add the
questionable DOIs to their list to “investigate and take action.”
[Editor’s note: Crossref acquired the Retraction Watch Database last year and funds our efforts to maintain and update it.]
Representatives for Elsevier and Springer Nature both said the
publishers take such issues seriously. “We actively work through legal
means to shut down fraudulent websites as soon as possible,” the
Elsevier spokesperson said.
Springer Nature previously took action to remove fraudulent websites
cloning other journals, a spokesperson for the publisher said, and is
“currently investigating similar action to address these cases.”
Although this problematic publisher has registered only 13 journals
with Crossref, this type of scam allows the publication of papers in an
unlimited number of journals from legitimate publishers.
The website of “Springer Global Publication” also lists an additional three journals not registered with Crossref: Springer Global Journal of Literature & Linguistics, Springer Global Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Springer Global Journal of Economics and Management.
The domain of this company was registered on Sept. 18, 2024. Two
associated domains, springer.uk.com and sciencedirects.com, were
registered on Nov. 11, and Sept. 18, 2024, respectively.
Papers published on the cloned websites appear to have content
recycled from other sources. The company will most likely offer to
publish papers in legitimate and reputable journals, but submitted
papers will instead appear on cloned versions of the websites. This new
scam represents high-quality fraudulent websites, with a remarkable
resemblance to legitimate ones, capable of deceiving even experienced
researchers. Be aware!
