[FOM] Sergeyev-gate

[Mikhail Katz]

Dear FoM colleagues,

Some of you may be aware of the grossone production of Yaroslav
Sergeyev.  Sergeyev makes grandiose claims to have ushered in a
revolution specifically in the area of foundations.  It would be good
to see a reaction from specialists in the field of FoM.

The latest piece by Yaroslav Sergeyev was recently published by the
journal Foundations of Science (FoS), published by Springer, at
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-018-9566-y and it prompts the following
reflections.

(1) Sergeyev's reputation has been firmly established already in 2017
through the unanimous disowning statement by the editorial board of
EMS Surveys, where his article was published by mistake, accessible at
http://www.ems-ph.org/journals/notice/emss/ed_note.pdf and this was
followed by the resignation of both Editors-in-Chief who had the
integrity to own up to their error.

(2) The mathematical community expressed itself clearly enough with
regard to Sergeyev through reviews published by both MathSciNet and
Zentralblatt; these can be found respectively at
https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=3725242 and
https://zbmath.org/?q=an%3A06856857

(3) The 2018 publication is a disgrace upon the journal FoS and an
embarrassment for its publisher, Springer Nature.

(4) I call upon editor Sandro Sozzo of FoS responsible for publishing
Sergeyev to resign from his position in recognition of his error.

(5) In view of the above I am compelled to reconsider FoS as a
possible venue for publication of my articles until the appropriate
actions of the Editorial Board of FoS are taken, and call on my
colleagues in mathematics and the sciences to act accordingly.

(6) A number of colleagues from (in alphabetical order) England,
France, Israel, Russia, and the US have already written to the CEO of
Springer Nature, Daniel Ropers.  If you agree with the comments below,
please send an appropriate letter of protest to
daniel.ropers at springer.com and renate.bayaz at springer.com (with a CC:
to me if possible).

Sincerely,

Mikhail Katz
Professor
Department of Mathematics
Bar Ilan University
Israel