BIT Life Sciences (or BIT Congress Inc., BIT Group Global Ltd) is a for profit meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) company based in Dalian, China,[1] that specializes in arranging multiple scientific congresses that have been described as "predatory".[2][3] The company is part of a wave of organizations that have appeared in China in the past several years noted for arranging congresses with little academic merit and with the primary aim of generating revenue rather than scientific knowledge sharing.[4][5] Papers submitted are usually accepted without revisions within 24 hours, and BIT has frequently been spoofed (see this example: http://witchdoctor.ca/?p=892 Archived 2018-10-23 at the Wayback Machine).[citation needed]
| Industry | Scientific meetings |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner | Xiaodan Mei |
| Website | www |
Business model
editThe business model of this company usually involves sending unsolicited bulk email (spam) to invite attendees and speakers, at the same time, registration fee will be provided based on different levels of speakers in relevant fields. Unlike traditional model of scientific congresses in which abstracts are usually submitted and peer reviewed before being accepted for presentation, speakers are guaranteed a speaking role as long as the attendance fees are paid. [6][7][8]
References
edit- ^ "BIT Congress Inc. Company Information". dnb.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ^ "Conference kerfuffle hits scientists". The-scientist.com. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ Cohen, John (2013-04-10). "Meetings That Flatter, but May Not Deliver". Science. 342 (6154): 76–7. Bibcode:2013Sci...342...76C. doi:10.1126/science.342.6154.76. PMID 24092733.
- ^ Kolata, Gina (8 April 2013). "Scientific Articles Accepted (Personal Checks, Too)". New York Times. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Warning on rising hoax conference invites". Medical Observer. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "In the pipeline". Corante. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Fake scientific conferences are like genuine scientific conferences". Scimedskeptic. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "More fake scientific conferences". Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.