The editor-in-chief of an academic journal has resigned after his publication accepted a hoax article.

The Open Information Science Journal failed to spot that the incomprehensible computer-generated paper was a fake. This was despite heavy hints from its authors, who claimed they were from the Centre for Research in Applied Phrenology – which forms the acronym Crap.

The journal, which claims to subject every paper to the scrutiny of other academics, so-called "peer review", accepted the paper.

Philip Davis, a graduate student at Cornell University in New York, who was behind the hoax, said he wanted to test the editorial standards of the journal’s publisher, Bentham Science Publishers…

Davis, with the help of Kent Anderson, a member of the publishing team at the New England Journal of Medicine, created the hoax computer science paper. The pair submitted their paper, Deconstructing Access Points, under false names. Four months later, they were told it had been accepted and the fee to have it published was $800 (almost £500).

Davis then withdrew the paper and revealed it as a hoax. Bambang Parmanto has since stepped down as editor-in-chief of the Open Information Science Journal. Parmanto told New Scientist that he never saw the paper.

Mahmood Alam, Bentham’s director of publications, told New Scientist: "In this particular case, we were aware that the article submitted was a hoax and we tried to find out the identity of the individual by pretending the article had been accepted for publication when in fact it was not." Davis told the magazine that he had not been directly contacted…

Too many apostrophes, not enough proof readers. That was the opinion of
legions of angry Mercury News readers who wrote to demand a correction
of Stanford University’s bronze plaque outside the Gordon Carriage
House, which was featured in an article and photograph published
Wednesday.

The plaque explains that "the Stanford’s purchased `the farm’ from the Gordon’s in 1876."   

While historically accurate, the sentence outraged Bay Area punctuation
police, who seek to remind Stanford that apostrophes are meant for
indicating possession, not pluralization.

"It’s hard to believe that not a single person associated with writing
the text or ordering, making, or installing the plaque noticed,” wrote
Stephanie Cerra. “I’d expect better from a project associated with
Stanford."

"Quick, somebody, replace the plaque before it becomes the university
condoned precedent for all those illiterate merchant vendors’
`Tomato’s,’ `Pea’s,’ `Bean’s,’ `Shoe’s,’ etc. signs that sprout on
roadsides and in our markets," wrote Edward Strong . "Where was the
Mercury editor to let this appear without comment?"

"The mistake is an embarrassment to the community as well as to the
university," according to Marcine Landon . Charle Tilford proposed
that "Someone from their English Department should get out there with
a grinder!"

Carl Madson offered a possible explanation: "Maybe it’s a Cal prank."   

Stanford assures local comma-kazes that "We are keenly aware of the problem at this point."   

Said university spokeswoman Kate Chesley : "The project manager has
been asked to remove the plaque and fix the errors," er, not error’s.