[gtrubetskoy]

There was a fascinating Defcon 26 talk on "predatory publishing" which may explain how this kind of thing happens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ras_VYgA77Q

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open-access_publishi...

[eesmith]

From the article, "It was a “phantom reference” that had been created merely to illustrate Elsevier’s desired reference format." and "nearly 90% of the citations were for conference proceedings papers, and nearly two-thirds of these appeared in Procedia conference volumes, which are published by Elsevier."

Thus, it is unlikely to be due to predatory publishing.

[smartbit]

at 35c3 another good talk Inside the Fake Science Factories https://media.ccc.de/v/35c3-9744-inside_the_fake_science_fac... English audio track available.