Dr N. Rama Murthy

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Dear Readers,

In this issue, we have brought out articles of interest to diverse set of readers, students,  researchers and large scale e-commerce platform developers.

In the first article titled ‘BECKN protocol: Developing an Ubiquitous Network for Traders’, the author, through answers to a series of questions in an interview, describes the need for a protocol with an open specification for use by large size population for economic transactions. In this regard, he shares features of made-in India BECKN protocol which is a first-of-its-kind, and built-for-the-world. BECKN is a protocol that anybody can easily adopt and is characterized by minimal-footprint public digital infrastructure that is open, without a rival, and non-exclusive. It is suitable for a digital economy that is more inclusive, more consumer and small-business friendly.

In the second article titled ‘Introducing Predatory Journals and Conferences’, the author exposes the reader to the menace of ‘Predatory’ journals/conferences which are fraudulent  and pseudo scientific. Pseudo journals can be in the form of open- access journals that  publish articles on-line with little or no preview. They are characterized by low academic  standards and lack credibility. Their scope is overly broad and does not fit well with authors’  areas of research work which are expected to be focused. Their publication frequency is either irregular or not stated. They may have either the same or similar name as that of a legitimate journal.

Predatory conferences are the offshoots of predatory publishing. Such conferences  are not organized by learned societies, but by event organizers with the aim of profitmaking. Such conferences lend opportunity to authors to publish their work quickly in  conference proceedings published by these event organizers for a fee. Without a critical  evaluation by learned reviewers/researchers, predatory journals that publish flawed  results and conclusions would cloud the existing scientific literature. Hence, there is a  need for awareness among researchers regarding predatory journals and conferences. Included in this issue, is the summary of a full report on the subject of predatory journals  and conferences prepared by the Inter Academy Partnership (IAP), a global network of over 140 science, engineering and medical academies that work together to support the role of  science in seeking solutions to the world's most challenging problems.

The distinction between publications coming out of predatory and reputed outlets is  growing less apparent (largely as the former make inroads into the latter) and presents a huge  challenge for efforts to curb them. 

In continuation with his earlier publications on the same topic, the article titled ‘Gamified  Approach to Learn Algorithms (GALA) - Exploring Non-Linear Recursion’, the author  demonstrates through a series of interesting puzzles, development of complex algorithms  by initially decomposing the original problem into several sub-problem(s) or base case(s)  which may be either of similar types or even of different types and later on using them  to develop algorithm for the original case by recursive invocation. Usage of different size  sub-problems in recursive invocation is known non-linear recursion. The author has left  three examples as exercises for the interested readers for tracing them out, to help them  in better understanding of use of base cases and recursive invocation.

Wishing our readers a happy reading experience