Predatory Invitations After the First Contact: Study Protocol and Preliminary Feasibility Observations on Persistence, Personalization, and Campaign Structure

Abstract

This study protocol asks what becomes visible when unsolicited academic invitations are analyzed as ordered contact sequences rather than isolated messages. It specifies a longitudinal single-recipient design that separates message morphology, functional persuasion mechanisms, campaign topology, and represented editorial identity. It extends the author's extended-phenotype and Parasitic Spontaneous Order framework by operationalizing solicitation variants, retention, structured variation, possible horizontal transmission, and outcome-linked selection. Preliminary, non-exhaustive observations establish feasibility for studying persistence after non-response, paper-level personalization, sender rotation, friction-reducing submission pathways, and borrowed authority signals. The protocol distinguishes its evolutionary hypothesis from independent mass mailing, central campaign design, and legitimate outreach. It does not estimate population prevalence or establish adaptation, common operators, data leakage, or differential reproductive success.