There is a possibility a client is attempting to run a pay-to-publish peer reviewing

[jmj1985]

Hello all,

I am an academic proofreader, and I have a client who has tasked me with the editing and partial rewriting of a website for a conference organizing company that they are running.  There are several red flags that I am concerned about.  One is that he's claiming a role in the publishing and vetting of content (papers, publication opportunities) despite trying to sell his services to a wide variety of academic specialties -- a strong red flag in the academic community, where expertise is prized.  A second is that he has several spellings of the name on the website (variant capitalizations really), and is not being clear on which version of the name is the one that is on legal documents, and thus the proper name.  He also dragged his feet in funding milestones, was highly unclear on expectations, and is trying to get me to communicate via skype.

I am inclined to end the contract, but a) I want to get him flagged as a problem and b) I am worried about my job success score and opening myself up to bad commentary.

Please advise.

Thank you.

[petra_r]

Is there anything illegal about what the client is asking you to do?

I don't see any terms of service violation in your list of things you don't agree with, so there is nothing to flag.

If the contract goes South and you end up with poor feedback (public and / or private) then Yes, that will affect your JSS.

[jmj1985]

Well, I think it could be a kind of fraud that is common in academia, where people run supposedly peer-reviewed journals and articles that aren't really peer-reviewed, which takes scholars research and delegitimizes it.  He's also claiming that the company has existed for nine years, when it has really existed for two, though he claims to have been working in this capacity for nine years. He hasn't asked for anything explicitly illegal, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it is a scam.  We are currently in communication, and he has sent me a link to a similarly shady website.

[jmj1985]

If I pre-emptively cancel this contract, will it negatively affect my JSS?

[petra_r]

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@Jennifer M J wrote:

If I pre-emptively cancel this contract, will it negatively affect my JSS?

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 That depends on the client's feedback.

If nothing was paid and no feedback or poor (private) feedback it could hit your JSS significantly. There will be no public feedback though when nothing was paid, but with your JSS already low another hit will knock you likely under 80%

[jmj1985]

So, basically, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. Is there a mediation service available to me if he chooses to do that?

[petra_r]

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@Jennifer M J wrote:

Is there a mediation service available to me if he chooses to do that?

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 No.

On what basis? The JSS is meant to measure the percentage of your contracts that resulted in a "great client experience"

You "thinking" that there "might" be something that is frowned upon is not a ToS violation and frankly the time to check whether a client's business aligns with your values is before accepting the contract, not after.

[jmj1985]

Thank you for the clarification.

[tlbp]

Cancel, live with the consequences and move on to the next contract. If the client gives you a bad review, briefly describe why you ended the contract in a way that doesn't disclose confidential information or commit defamation and leave it at that. Yes, it is unfortunate, but you if you continue working with the client, you might still get a bad review out of it and you'll feel bad about the work you did.