Stribling doubts the paper fooled anyone who actually read it, which keeps the hoax a notch below a famous 1996 prank in which physicist Alan Sokal persuaded a Duke University journal called "Social Text" to publish a bogus article titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity."

But in addition to mocking academic jargon, the pranks sheds light on what Stribling sees as a problem: conferences with low standards that pander to academics looking to pad their resumes, but which harm the reputations of more reputable gatherings.

"We certainly exposed this conference as being willing to publish any paper regardless of whether it's been peer reviewed, which is kind of a dangerous precedent to set," said Stribling, adding the students had been angered by spam from conference organizers soliciting papers. "It's kind of dangerous to be able to pass anything off as scientifically valid."