OmniScriptum Publishing Group

OmniScriptum Publishing Group
legal form	GmbH
Seat	Saarbrücken , Germany
management	Wolfgang Philipp Müller (Managing Director of phG )
Number of employees	180
Branch	publishing company
Website	www.omniscriptum.com

VDM Publishing is a German print-on-demand - publishing group based in Saarbrücken and offices on Mauritius and in Moldavia .

history

Example of a copy-and-paste book from the publisher

Fastbook Publishing logo

The first publisher of this group, Verlag Dr. Müller ( VMD ), was founded in 2002 by Wolfgang Philipp Müller. In 2011, VDM Verlag was renamed AV Akademikerverlag and is now part of the OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG publishing house. In 2007, the group began distributing their products through Lightning Source , Amazon.com , Amazon.de and the German company Books on Demand .

Business model

The OmniScriptum Publishing Group is an international publishing group. There are various publishers and companies in it. OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG is also part of the OmniScriptum Publishing Group and, as the parent publishing house, houses various publishing brands. The individual publishing brands serve different genres and languages. The science publishers specialize in the publication of scientific theses such as bachelor, master and diploma theses as well as dissertations ; there are also the fields of fiction and fiction as well as special interest publishers . Publication and all services are free for authors. Acquisition employees look for authors on the Internet and at universities and send them a publication offer by email. Book covers, blurbs etc. are designed by the author himself using an online form. The OmniScriptum Publishing Group says of itself that it publishes more than 25,000 new titles every year, making it “one of the leading publishing houses for academic research”.

The OmniScriptum science publishers such as B. AV Akademikerverlag , Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften and Saarbrücker Verlag for Law publish exclusively academic papers such as diploma and master's theses, research reports and dissertations.

The OmniScriptum publishers Alphascript , Betascript and Fastbook Publishing specialized in selling Wikipedia articles as print-on-demand books through online bookshops . The production of new Wikipedia books ceased in early 2013.

criticism

The books are largely produced automatically and their content is not edited. The Wikipedia books, which are no longer produced, were perceived as misleading by many customers. At the beginning of 2010, they made up just under 3% of Amazon.com's range. Amazon.com saw no reason to intervene as it says it wants to offer its customers the largest possible selection of books. In July 2011, more than 300,000 books by the publishers Alphascript , Betascript and Fastbook Publishing were found on amazon.de.

The publications consisting of Wikipedia content were repeatedly criticized by various media and consumer advocates for their lack of transparency and excessive prices. Systematic consumer deception was discussed in the same context. The publishing group reacted to this and since then has made a clear reference to all Wikipedia books that these are published Wikipedia articles. The OmniScriptum Publishing Group is now completely reluctant to publish Wikipedia content in book form.

Scientific manuscripts, for example publications by the publishers AV Akademikerverlag , Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften and Saarbrücker Verlag für Rechtswissenschaft are usually not proofread, because OmniScriptum assumes that academic texts are of "sufficiently high quality". For economic reasons, proofreading does not take place either, as otherwise no publication free of charge for the author would be possible. Armin Himmelrath says about this offer: “One should be careful, this is not a real scientific publication. It is known at the universities that it seems dubious. So it is not suitable for your own publication list. "

In March 2012, the former world wrestler Adolf Seger asked the Mauritius-based OmniScriptum subsidiary Betascript Publishing to issue a declaration of discontinuance because of a book that was sold as his "biography". The 84-page booklet was a collection of Wikipedia articles, actually only contained one page about the athlete's life and cost 34 euros. An amicable agreement was reached and the book was taken off the market by OmniScriptum.

The historian Klaus Graf , a staunch supporter of Open Access , is divided on the activities of the publishing group. On the one hand, he describes the Wikipedia articles published by VDM as books as "deceiving consumers" and speaks of the "Spam-Verlag VDM"; on the other hand, he condemns the practice of many libraries of basically not purchasing publications from the VDM publishing group, because, for example, "[an accepted habilitation thesis in German-speaking countries [...] should be acquired by academic libraries", regardless of the publisher in which it was published.

OmniScriptum Group company

Date of establishment and registered office in brackets

Publishers of OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG

VDM Verlag Dr. Müller (2002, Saarbrücken)
AV Akademikerverlag (2011, Saarbrücken)
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (Saarbrücken)
Textbook publisher
Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (Saarbrücken)
EUE Editions Universitaires Européennes (2010, Saarbrücken)
Classic Edition publisher (2009, Saarbrücken)
Saarbrücken Publishing House for Law (2009, Saarbrücken)
PUA Publicaciones Universitarias Argentinas (2011, Saarbrücken)
Fromm Verlag (2010, Saarbrücken)
Dictus Publishing (2010, Saarbrücken)
Doyen Verlag (2010, Saarbrücken)
FastBook Publishing (2009, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill , Mauritius)
Alphascript Publishing (2009, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Mauritius)
Betascript Publishing (2010, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Mauritius)
The trainer publisher for advice, training and coaching (Saarbrücken)
Blogging books
Golden Rocket Publisher for Fiction
Scholar's Press

Other service companies

OmniScriptum Marketing DEU GmbH & Co. KG (2008, Saarbrücken)
MoreBooks! Publishing GmbH (2009, Chișinău in Moldova)

Web links

Kai Schlieter: Publishing 2.0: Cupping on Demand , the daily newspaper, July 18, 2011.
Andreas Weigel : Open your eyes when buying books . Warning against publishers who are doing a profitable fraudulent labeling with overpriced Wikipedia article collections . Homepage section with detailed reviews, media reports and a list of links on the topic (November 2011)
Julian Kirchherr: VDM-Verlag: The academic garbage dump . In: Zeit Online , November 15, 2012 - “With a sophisticated business model, a science publisher sells inferior literature at exorbitant prices. He doesn't even stop at Wikipedia articles ”.
Lena Greiner: Published theses: Big mistakes? Bad grades? No matter! Spiegel Online unispiegel, April 13, 2015

Individual evidence

↑ Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Philipp Müller CEO VDM Publishing Group (PDF) VDM Publishing. November 1, 2009. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved on February 13, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b VDM Verlag Dr. Müller eK company profile from 2007 (PDF) VDM Publishing. August 9, 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved on February 10, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b VDM Group company profile from 2009 (PDF) VDM Publishing. September 25, 2009. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved on February 10, 2010.
↑ ^a ^b BuchMarkt: VDM goes to Moldavia with a new subsidiary
↑ VDM visiting Lightning Source, UK; Retrieved July 16, 2008
↑ VDM Verlag is expanding its range of free book publications with ISBN . Offenes-Presseportal.de. June 8, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved on February 27, 2010.
↑ Press releases: Norderstedt, April 12, 2007, VDM and BoD start cooperation . bod.ch. April 12, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved on February 27, 2010.
↑ Melissa Corlett: Melissa Corlett from Mauritius describes her workday at VDM Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. (PDF) In: VDM Publishing (Hrsg.): Forum VDM . No. 4/2008, 2008, pp. 5-6.
↑ Emese Fabian: The fabulous life of an acquisition editor Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. (PDF) In: VDM Publishing (Ed.): Forum VDM . No. 1/2009, 2009, pp. 12-13.
↑ vdm-publishing.com
↑ Slashdot: Print-on-demand publisher VDM infects Amazon
↑ ^a ^b Kai Schlieter: Cupping on demand . In: the daily newspaper . July 18, 2011, p. 4 ( taz.de ).
^ Corinna Nohn: Dubious online encyclopedias - The great Wikinepp . In: sueddeutsche.de, September 30, 2010
↑ Thomas Thiel: Wikipedia and Amazon The Marketplace should fix it, faz.net
↑ Nina May: Wikikopiedia - How publishers earn money with printed Wikipedia articles and mislead customers. ( Memento from September 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
↑ Dubious publishers - theses: be careful when publishers make publication offers , moderation: Paulus Müller, interviewer: Armin Himmelrath , broadcast on November 20, 2019 in Deutschlandfunk Nova , online at deutschlandfunknova.de
^ Adolf Seger: Lawsuit against Print-on-Demand-Verlag
↑ Bad books? Publication opportunities in the 21st century as a challenge for libraries .
^ AV Akademikerverlag: Imprint
↑ Imprint & data protection. Retrieved August 8, 2019 .
↑ Editions universitaires européennes: mentions légales & protection des données ( French ) VDM Publishing. Archived from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
↑ Book report: Verlag Classic Edition publishes reprints. New Imprint-Verlag of the VDM Group ( Memento from August 24, 2010 on WebCite )
↑ SVR publishes books on law. New publisher of the VDM group . In: Buchreport.de . Harenberg Kommunikation Verlags- und Medien-GmbH & Co. KG . September 22, 2009. Archived from the original on August 24, 2010. Retrieved on August 3, 2010.
^ SVH in close cooperation with the Argentine University Press . In: Svr-verlag.de . Saarbrücker Verlag for Law (VDM Publishing). January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved on February 20, 2011.
↑ PUA Publicaciones Universitarias Argentinas: Pie de imprenta y política de privacidad ( Spanish ) In: Public-ua.com . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved on February 20, 2011.
↑ Fromm Verlag: Imprint . In: Frommverlag.de . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on August 27, 2010. Retrieved on August 27, 2010.
↑ Welcome to Dictus Publishing . In: Dictus-publishing.eu . Lambert Academic Publishing (VDM Publishing). 2010. Archived from the original on March 6, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
↑ Doyen Verlag - Imprint . In: Doyen-verlag.de . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on September 22, 2010. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
↑ The trainer publisher: Imprint
↑ Bloggingbooks: Imprint
^ Verlag Goldene Rakete: Imprint
↑ Verlag Scholar's Press: Imprint
↑ VDM has its own service company: VSG offers comprehensive services for scientific authors . In: Buchreport.de . Harenberg Kommunikation Verlags- und Medien-GmbH & Co. KG . September 26, 2008. Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.

[VDM_CEO-1] Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Philipp Müller CEO VDM Publishing Group (PDF) VDM Publishing. November 1, 2009. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved on February 13, 2010.

[VDM_2007-2] VDM Verlag Dr. Müller eK company profile from 2007 (PDF) VDM Publishing. August 9, 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved on February 10, 2010.

[VDM_2009-3] VDM Group company profile from 2009 (PDF) VDM Publishing. September 25, 2009. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved on February 10, 2010.

[Moldawien-4] BuchMarkt: VDM goes to Moldavia with a new subsidiary

[5] VDM visiting Lightning Source, UK; Retrieved July 16, 2008

[VDM_Amazon.com-6] VDM Verlag is expanding its range of free book publications with ISBN . Offenes-Presseportal.de. June 8, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved on February 27, 2010.

[VDM_BoD_2007-7] Press releases: Norderstedt, April 12, 2007, VDM and BoD start cooperation . bod.ch. April 12, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved on February 27, 2010.

[ForumVDM4/2008-8] Melissa Corlett: Melissa Corlett from Mauritius describes her workday at VDM Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. (PDF) In: VDM Publishing (Hrsg.): Forum VDM . No. 4/2008, 2008, pp. 5-6.

[ForumVDM1/2009-9] Emese Fabian: The fabulous life of an acquisition editor Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. (PDF) In: VDM Publishing (Ed.): Forum VDM . No. 1/2009, 2009, pp. 12-13.

[vdm-10] vdm-publishing.com

[11] Slashdot: Print-on-demand publisher VDM infects Amazon

[taz_2011-07-18-12] Kai Schlieter: Cupping on demand . In: the daily newspaper . July 18, 2011, p. 4 ( taz.de ).

[13] Corinna Nohn: Dubious online encyclopedias - The great Wikinepp . In: sueddeutsche.de, September 30, 2010

[14] Thomas Thiel: Wikipedia and Amazon The Marketplace should fix it, faz.net

[15] Nina May: Wikikopiedia - How publishers earn money with printed Wikipedia articles and mislead customers. ( Memento from September 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

[16] Dubious publishers - theses: be careful when publishers make publication offers , moderation: Paulus Müller, interviewer: Armin Himmelrath , broadcast on November 20, 2019 in Deutschlandfunk Nova , online at deutschlandfunknova.de

[17] Adolf Seger: Lawsuit against Print-on-Demand-Verlag

[18] Bad books? Publication opportunities in the 21st century as a challenge for libraries .

[19] AV Akademikerverlag: Imprint

[20] Imprint & data protection. Retrieved August 8, 2019 .

[EUE-21] Editions universitaires européennes: mentions légales & protection des données ( French ) VDM Publishing. Archived from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2010.

[22] Book report: Verlag Classic Edition publishes reprints. New Imprint-Verlag of the VDM Group ( Memento from August 24, 2010 on WebCite )

[23] SVR publishes books on law. New publisher of the VDM group . In: Buchreport.de . Harenberg Kommunikation Verlags- und Medien-GmbH & Co. KG . September 22, 2009. Archived from the original on August 24, 2010. Retrieved on August 3, 2010.

[pua2011-01-12-24] SVH in close cooperation with the Argentine University Press . In: Svr-verlag.de . Saarbrücker Verlag for Law (VDM Publishing). January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved on February 20, 2011.

[25] PUA Publicaciones Universitarias Argentinas: Pie de imprenta y política de privacidad ( Spanish ) In: Public-ua.com . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved on February 20, 2011.

[26] Fromm Verlag: Imprint . In: Frommverlag.de . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on August 27, 2010. Retrieved on August 27, 2010.

[27] Welcome to Dictus Publishing . In: Dictus-publishing.eu . Lambert Academic Publishing (VDM Publishing). 2010. Archived from the original on March 6, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.

[28] Doyen Verlag - Imprint . In: Doyen-verlag.de . Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (VDM Publishing). Archived from the original on September 22, 2010. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.

[29] The trainer publisher: Imprint

[30] Bloggingbooks: Imprint

[31] Verlag Goldene Rakete: Imprint

[32] Verlag Scholar's Press: Imprint

[VSG-33] VDM has its own service company: VSG offers comprehensive services for scientific authors . In: Buchreport.de . Harenberg Kommunikation Verlags- und Medien-GmbH & Co. KG . September 26, 2008. Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.