What is Scientific Spam?

bl.scientificspam.net checks IPs and rhsbl.scientificspam.net checks domains. Volunteers run it, and they stay anonymous on purpose.

What the operator says

"a niche DNSBL for listing “scientific” spammers" Scientific Spam, read 1 Nov 2026.

What it really measures

Bulk mail to academics. Researchers' addresses get lifted from places like PubMed and used for mailing lists. The team says bigger lists have limited sight of this because it is so targeted, and that the small volumes make it less interesting to them. Its data comes from academics and from spam traps, some of them addresses that once belonged to academics.

Why you might be there

The team's rule is mail to researchers who never asked for it, from you or someone on your network. It can also be a wider listing against your network's owner, and then your provider has to talk to them directly.

What to think about

• The team does not list for hacked accounts or missing authentication, so fixing those will not help here.
• Listings do not expire. Nothing happens until someone asks.
• If you mail universities, take it seriously. The team reports about 2 billion lookups of its IP list in 2024, though it does not say who uses it.

How to get off it

There is no web lookup. Check with a DNS lookup first, and read the text record, which points to why you are listed. Then email rocket dot scientists at scientificspam dot net:

• in plain text, English is best, and from an address that can receive their reply
• name the listed IP or domain
• show you read their explanation
• explain how you ended the spam

Comments and tweets are not acted on.

Want a hand getting this delisted? Here is how to write to a list's operator, or ask a person on our free SOS Hotline. Tell us the list and the IP or domain, and we reply within 48 to 72 hours.

A separate job: cleaning your list does not remove a listing. If you also want to know who on your list is safe to send to, clean your first 1,000 free.