Last week we found out that Merck paid Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed journal.  This week we found out that Elsevier produced five other pay-for-publication journals.  The  names of the journals haven't been disclosed, but Elsevier is conducting an "internal review".

I'm amazed that this isn't causing more of a stir.  There are laws in the US about labeling article-like advertisements in magazines so that they will not be confused with content.  If an advertiser dupes a teenager into thinking that Seventeen endorses a sunless tanner, our legal system finds that unacceptable.  Messing around with journals dupes doctors and researchers into thinking that science endorses a product.  If there's not a law about that, perhaps it's time for one. 

A couple of good posts on the subject from librarian bloggers:
Merck's ghostwriters, haunted papers, and fake Elsevier Journals
More On Elsevier, Fake Journals, and Mysteries Of Exposure