If you are a doctor, or any professional for the matter, you have undoubtedly been flattered by an invitation to be a member of the prestigious fraternity known as Who’s Who (and come in a variety of flavors such as Cambridge Who’s Who, Marquis Who’s Who, the Who’s Who Registry of Academic Excellence, etc). 
Usually it comes in the form of an email or letter, but sometimes, as in my case, as a phone call. A pleasant-sounding chap informed me that I was chosen from among thousands of my peers to be included in this year’s edition. The last time I was ‘chosen’ to be in a Who’s Who directory was when I was in High School.
Now, I was a bit busy in clinic and somewhat distracted so I started answering the gentleman’s questions concerning my training and professional associations, figuring that inclusion in the publication was a given and that purchasing it was not obligatory. But I was wrong. It turned out to be a hard sell for a leather-bound tome as well as a wood-mounted certificate. And if you didn’t want the goodies, then they weren’t interested in adding you to their list.
Ben Rothke from CSOonline has a great investigative piece on the clever little scam of the Who’s Who industry, which basically peer-pressures ‘honorees’ into paying for glorified vanity publications that nobody really reads or subscribes to.
