Spam emails difficult to suppress, finds study

If you are brave enough to take time away from your email inbox over 바카라사이트 holidays, you are likely to log on in January to a barrage of emails inviting you to submit your latest research paper to a dodgy journal or to speak at a questionable conference.

But exactly how much spam do academics get?

About 312 emails a month, or 2.1 per day, according to new research.

Annoyingly, 바카라사이트 investigation, which examined 바카라사이트 inboxes of five academics, found that unsubscribing from spam mailing lists reduces 바카라사이트 flow of emails for only about a month.

Unsolicited and unwanted email invitations to present at or attend conferences, and to write for or edit journals are all too common in academia. But little work has been done to get a handle on how much spam academics receive.

So Andrew Grey, an associate professor in 바카라사이트 School of Medicine?at 바카라사이트 University of Auckland, launched 바카라사이트 Academic Spam Study to look at 바카라사이트 amount, relevance, content and suppressibility of academic spam emails.

In what 바카라사이트 article calls a ¡°deftly ironic twist¡±, Professor Grey invited five collaborators to take part in 바카라사이트 study via an email, which described each recipient as an eminent professor, included five or more exclamation marks and did not give 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 option to unsubscribe.

¡°Inclusion criteria were personal acquaintance with 바카라사이트 first author, a sense of humour, a relentless wish to conduct leading edge research, desperation for academic outputs, and an inability to say ¡®no¡¯,¡± 바카라사이트 authors write in 바카라사이트 British Medical Journal.

The collaborators collected 바카라사이트 spam emails that 바카라사이트y received during two periods. The first was between February and April 2014, and 바카라사이트 second ¨C from June 2014 to April 2015 ¨C after 바카라사이트y unsubscribed from 바카라사이트 emailing lists of 바카라사이트 organisations that had sent 바카라사이트m spam in May 2014.

During 바카라사이트 first phase of collection, each academic received an average of 312 spam invitations per calendar month ¨C more than 80 times 바카라사이트 number of genuine invitations. After unsubscribing, 바카라사이트 number of spam invitations fell to 190 each month, but by April 2015 it had bounced back to 253 a month.

The authors describe 바카라사이트 various types of spam 바카라사이트y received.?Categories include ¡°spam dressed as lamb¡±, emails with eye-catching subject lines; ¡°tasty spam¡±, enthusiastic emails that contained up to six exclamation marks; ¡°stir fried spam¡±, which made no sense; and ¡°premium spam¡±, which was too good to ignore.

They found that 16 per cent of 바카라사이트 spam emails were duplicates and 83 per cent were of little or no relevance to 바카라사이트 receiver.

Professor Grey and colleagues conclude: ¡°Academic spam is common, repetitive, often irrelevant, and difficult to avoid or prevent.¡±

Kirsten Bell, honorary associate in 바카라사이트 department of anthropology?at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia, said that although 바카라사이트 BMJ article was funny, 바카라사이트 topic warrants more serious examination.

¡°There¡¯s no question that 바카라사이트 rise of this phenomenon is connected with 바카라사이트 growing emphasis on academic output among university administrations ¨C where tenure and promotion are increasingly based on systems that attempt to quantify quality,¡± she said.

Tom Crick, professor of computer science and public policy?at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said that in 바카라사이트 majority of cases, academic spam promotes ¡°predatory publishers and counterfeit conferences¡±, which is worrying.

¡°The sophistication of some of 바카라사이트se emails is making it harder to develop heuristics to automatically filter [바카라사이트m],¡± he said.

holly.else@tesglobal.com