John Bohannon's article, "Who's Afraid of Peer Review?" reveals the flaws in the peer review process of open-access journals through a series of experiments. Bohannon submitted 304 versions of a spoof paper to various open-access journals, which described the anticancer properties of a chemical extracted from a lichen. Despite the paper's numerous scientific flaws, over half of the journals accepted it without noticing these issues. This investigation highlights the lack of rigorous peer review in many open-access journals, often driven by financial incentives rather than traditional subscriptions. The article also exposes the global distribution of open-access publishers, editors, and bank accounts, revealing that many are based in developing countries but profit from Western markets. The findings suggest that while some journals have high-quality control, many others lack proper peer review, leading to a "Wild West" in academic publishing.John Bohannon's article, "Who's Afraid of Peer Review?" reveals the flaws in the peer review process of open-access journals through a series of experiments. Bohannon submitted 304 versions of a spoof paper to various open-access journals, which described the anticancer properties of a chemical extracted from a lichen. Despite the paper's numerous scientific flaws, over half of the journals accepted it without noticing these issues. This investigation highlights the lack of rigorous peer review in many open-access journals, often driven by financial incentives rather than traditional subscriptions. The article also exposes the global distribution of open-access publishers, editors, and bank accounts, revealing that many are based in developing countries but profit from Western markets. The findings suggest that while some journals have high-quality control, many others lack proper peer review, leading to a "Wild West" in academic publishing.