Problems at Elsevier

From the Ouroboros blog: Elsevier publishes fake journal for Merck
(Elsevier publishes the well-known Transportation Research parts A – F and other journals in the transportation field (Research in Transportation Economics, Transport Geography, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Transport Policy, and Journal of Air Transport Management) (disclosure: in which journals I have published and/or still have papers under review, but the long review process is another complaint)).
Read the article and the links within the article (especially The Tree of Life) for some fascinating information about the state of for-profit academic publishing.
Ouroboros writes

When it’s not gouging academic libraries with outlandish subscriptional fees, Elsevier finds other ways to boost its bottom line: Publishing bogus journals for pharmaceutical companies. From The Scientist:

Merck paid an undisclosed sum to Elsevier to produce several volumes of a publication that had the look of a peer-reviewed medical journal, but contained only reprinted or summarized articles–most of which presented data favorable to Merck products–that appeared to act solely as marketing tools with no disclosure of company sponsorship.


Another critique of Elsevier’s practices from Ars Technica at:
Editorial: publishing economics harm science’s credibility