Unsolicited Emails Following Preprint Publications as an Emerging Academic Issue

Spam, unwanted, or unsolicited emails negatively affect academics in the form of potentially harmful content or links, while deceptive spam can waste scientists’ time and resources. In this report, we make a note of unsolicited journal-advertising spam that is sent to the authors of preprints after they are published. Eleven of the authors’ preprints that were published between February and June 2023 were examined. Spam with the titles of six preprints were used in the email subject area of 44 emails, one in particular (a Research Square preprint) being the subject of 35 emails (∼80%) between March and August 2023.