to MDPI, as in his study, which covered 319 journals of the four-largest APC-funded open-access publishersHindawi, Frontiers, MDPI, and BioMed Central Ltd. (BMC)between 2012 and 2018, . 2019), with those articles likely not to have undergone an acceptable editorial and peer-review process. Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. It should be pointed out that, despite the significant advance in the definition proposed by Grudniewicz et al. The first relevant fact of their analysis is that some journals use very similar names to other journals with established reputations, which can be one of the characteristics of predatory journals, with which they could be seen to prey upon those less well informed on the subject of predatory journals (Xia et al. Eigengrad 3 yr. ago. As addressed in the discussion further work is necessary to understand whether these differences are meaningful and whether they persist when compared to a larger and more representative sample of journals in their respective subject areas. If our attention is focussed on the intra-MDPI citation rate trends between 2018 and 2019, we see that 46 out of the 53 journals increased their intra-MDPI citation rates. Journals Suppressed from 2018 JCR Data2019 releasein https://help.incites.clarivate.com/incitesLiveJCR/JCRGroup/titleSuppressions.html), which as a consequence, will receive no impact factor for 1 year, due to the distortion of the rank of the journal in each category that no longer accurately reflects the journals true participation, by way of citation, in the scholarly literature of its subject (https://support.clarivate.com/ScientificandAcademicResearch/s/article/Journal-Citation-Reports-Explanation-of-Missing-Dropped-or-Suppressed-Journals?language=en_US). Selective databases, such as Scopus, PubMed, and Journal Citation Reports (JCRs), form an index of journals, a sort of whitelist that is used for the purposes of assessing researchers and taking decisions on grant funding (Cortegiani et al. Check. 2020). (2017) have reminded us. 2018), MEDLINE, or Embase (Hayden 2020) with the appearance of legitimate scientific journals. (2017) warned researchers from the biomedical field that APCs lower than 150$ were suspect. Certainly, the number of special issues published or scheduled in 1 year reveals no quality-related information, although the fact that the number of special issues in JCR-indexed MDPI-journals is so much higher than the number of ordinary issues per year coupled with their constant increase since 2018 inevitably awakens suspicions of a lucrative business aim. It is interesting to note that the size of the Editorial Board was, in all cases, larger in the MDPI-journals than in the leading JCR-indexed journals belonging to the same categories (Table 2). As indicators of their objectives and strategy, this study analysed journals' behavior in relation to the following measures: similarity of journal name, content output, APCs, frequency of publication, editorial board size, peer review process (particularly peer review time as peer review is the most common procedure to assure published manuscript quality), journal Impact Factor, and self-citation (due to its direct impact on journals' reputation metrics). The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2019) clarified that predatory publishing generally refers to the systematic for-profit publication of purportedly scholarly content (in journals and articles, monographs, books, or conference proceedings) in a deceptive or fraudulent way and without any regard for quality assurance [ so] these journals exist solely for profit without any commitment to publication ethics or integrity of any kind. Even though, on the one hand, the Journal Impact Factor is qualified by Ioannidis and Thombs (2019) as the most widely used, misused and abused bibliometric index in academic science, it is, on the other hand, a widely used tool for curricula evaluation and for making grant awards, as well as being used as a selection criterion for the dissemination of scientific results. All the more so, if it is taken into account that, in addition, the editorial staff of MDPI is formed of researchers who have to organize their time for revision among their other professional activities (research, teaching, dissemination, evaluation, grant applications, etc. The most prominent and prestigious journals in a scientific field are promoted to Level 2 (publishing 20% of the literature in that field) (https://dbh.nsd.uib.no/publiseringskanaler/VedtakNiva2). There were 53 MDPI-indexed journals in the JCR (2018), 20 of which were ranked Q1, 25 were ranked Q2, and only 8 were ranked Q3 (see Table 1). These lists very soon become outdated and incomplete, especially if the resources to keep them updated are scarce. Field Chief Editor Giuseppe Giaccone at Georgetown University is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. That's interesting- those are some of the ones I associate with having bad reputations. In fact, high impact factors may merely be due to citation cartels instead of true and legitimate scientific interest (Ioannidis and Thombs 2019). The COPE definition of predatory journals is no different in essence to the definition of Grudniewicz et al. (2019), so as to recognize predatory journals (and not to fall prey to them), it nevertheless omits an express reference to the quality of peer revision. Where an MDPI-journal was ranked in more than one category, the leading journal with a higher impact factor in those categories in 2018 was selected for comparison (Table 2). From December 2019 to January 2020, almost all MDPI-journals (94.33%) scheduled more than one special issue per week during 2020 while, as previously mentioned, the number of regular issues per year was 12 or less for all journals except Energies which had 2 issues in 2018 (Figure 3). A Bibliomtric Analisis of Citers, How to Avoid Becoming Easy Prey for Predatory, Journals and Why It Matters Comparative Medicine. Moreover, the term predatory journal was found by Jeffery Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado. This analysis of the practices of MDPI is of relevance to researchers and for research institutions and funding bodies as well as for JCR itself, which could see its prestige compromised, if it incorporated predatory journals among its indexed journals. Cukier et al. Is frontiers a good publisher? (https://thinkcheckattend.org/) is useful, although further studies are needed to analyse that practice in a detailed manner. Each of us is different. Frontiers in Oncology publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research across the entire field of cancer research. IJERPH, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; IJGI, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information; IJMS, International Journal of Molecular Sciences; JCM, Journal of Clinical Medicine; JMSE, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. Frontiers is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with other offices in London, Madrid, Seattle and Brussels. ahttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/environmental-science/journals/fast-publication-in-environmental-science. analysed 93 checklists in a systematic review of checklists for identifying predatory journals from biomedical fields. The aim of this investigation is to assess whether the subset of MDPI-journals that are indexed in JCR fit various criteria used in some definitions of a predatory journal. Figure 2: Analysis of Impact Factor and CiteScore rankings in the JCR Oncology category and CiteScore Oncology category. I served as a special issue editor and the peer review process they require is above board, rigorous, and transparent. The analysis of journal self-citations is relevant (see Table 2), because the increase in the numerator of the Journal Impact Factor4 boosts it and may be a stratagem to improve the position of a journal in the ranking through coercive citations, online queuing and self-cited editorials (Martin 2016; Wilhite et al. (2020) highlight, publishers could not explain not following best practices since there are settled by the industry principles for transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing. Lastly, predatory journals are a threat to scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula. COPE and OASPA have retained Frontiers as a member after concerns were raised. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. Second, only limited insights are possible because not all the journals in the control group are in the framework of gold open access (which would allow a direct comparison). Grey lines represent all journals in each category ranked by their 2017 Impact Factor and CiteScore percentiles, with Frontiers in Oncology shown as a red dot. However, significant differences have been found between large publishers (publishing more than 100 journals) that charge an average fee of 796$ and the publishers of a single journal that charge an average fee of 83$ (Shen and Bjork, 2015). In addition, publication in a predatory journal implies the possible squandering of valuable resources: people, animals, and money, as Moher et al. mimicking names. 2020). The didactic explanation of Broome was as follows: The speed to publication for reputable journals is certainly longer with time from submission to first decision by the editor ranging from 4 to 12 weeks for most journals and varies even by article. Original list Go to update This is an archived version of the Beall's list - a list of potential predatory publishers created by a librarian Jeffrey Beall. Frontiers in Oncology. The easiest way is to use a reference manager: The citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs. Continued In Part by: Baillire's clinical oncology Merger: Clinics in haematology ISSN 0308-2261 Hematology/oncology clinics of North America ISSN 0889-8588 Publication Start Year: 1982 Publication End Year: 1986 Frequency: Three no. 2020). (2020). Frontiers in Oncology publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research across the entire field of cancer research. Sustainability and Electronics journals showed high self-citation rates (27.69% and 27.46%, respectively) followed by Minerals (26.15%). The results presented above showed that the 53 MDPI-journals under analysis possess, to a greater or lesser degree, some of the criteria from various definitions for the identification of predatory journals and may deviate from best editorial and publication practices when e.g. The use of JCR has been extended, both for the evaluation of academics and institutions of all types, legitimizing the journals that are indexed, which evaluate the publications included in scholarly records when taking decisions on promotion, tenure, grants, etc. In spite of its important role in science, it was considered too subjective an aspectpartly because, as with journal quality and deceitfulness, it is impossible to assess(Grudniewicz et al. IMR Press All research efforts deserve support and recognition IMR Press is a publisher of open access peer-reviewed biomedical and life sciences journals. 2020) for inclusion in an objective definition. A contextual framework is therefore required to assess MDPI-journal self-citations. All journals published by a predatory publisher are potentially predatory unless stated otherwise. fhttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/engineering/journals/fast-publication-in-mechanical-engineering. A platinum/diamond open-access model might be close to an ideal academic publishing modelaccording to the terminology of Siler (2020)since it prioritizes professional rather than market logics and then eliminates the drive to publish as many articles as possible to maximize revenue. On the Cost of Journal Use in the Digital Era, Demarcating Spectrums of Predatory Publishing: Economic and Institutional Sources of Academic Legitimacy, Journal of Association for Information Science and Technology, A Study of Open Access Journals Using Article Processing Charges, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Understanding Quality in Research: Avoiding Predatory Journals, Excessively Long Editorial Decisions and Excessiveley Long Publication Times by Journals: Causes, Risks, Consequences, and Proposed Solutions, Predatory Journals Authors and Readers Beware, Researchers May Be Part of the Problem in Predatory Publishing, The Influence of Editorial Decisions and the Academic Network on Self-Citations and Journal Impact Factors, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Thechnology. The impact score (IS), also denoted as Journal impact score (JIS), of an academic journal is a measure of the yearly . (2019): predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices. Similar pernicious effects can be expected from citation stacking when journals cite each other to raise their impact factors (Heneberg 2016). 2015; Beall 2016; Alrawadieh 2020). The same information was collected from journal web pages, WOS (Core Collection) and JCR for leading journals in each JCR category where the MDPI-journals were indexed. Check the journal's contact information 4. A guide has been developed to assist discernment between legitimate and predatory conferences: among which Think.Check.Attend. However, since these journals are all the top journals by Impact Factor in their respective subject categories it is not possible to know whether the differences observed between the two groups are meaningful, a wider sample is necessary to draw definitive conclusions. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. 2019). The author assumes responsibility for any error that may have arisen throughout the protracted, long-winded and at times somewhat artisanal data-collection process. Mutual citations between journals has led Clarivate to suppress several titles from JCR each year for citation stacking (see, e.g. BibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. Some examples of the MDPI-journals with names similar to other journals are Cells, Cancers, Polymers, Remote Sensing, Animals and Genes, which seem remarkably similar to other journals established earlier and edited by Elsevier (Cell, Polymer, Gene, Remote Sensing of Environment), Wiley (Cancer), and Cambridge University Press (Animal). I don't see Frontiers as predatory. In 2019, almost all 53 MDPI-journals under analysis had intra-MDPI citation rates well above 20% (all except Universe11.87% and Catalysts18.73%), reaching values as high as 56.94% in Electronics, 51.07% in the IJGI, 47.56% in Remote Sensing, and 46.55% in Sustainability (Table 3). The potential criteria for the identification of a predatory journal and a list of suspicious items are lengthy: journal names may be very similar to prestigious journals; the web page may contain spelling errors and questionable grammatical constructions and/or low quality images; the language on the journal webpage may resemble a hard sell that targets academic authors; the journal may include articles outside its stated scope or may have a very broad scope; submission can be by email instead of a manuscript management system; the editor-in-chief might also act as the editor-in-chief of another journal with a widely different scope, predominance of editorial board members from developing countries; time-lines for publication and fast-track peer-review processes might appear unrealistic; APCs can be low; impact-factor metrics may be unknown; spam emails may invite academics to submit papers; despite the open-access approach, transfer of copyright may be required; and, finally, non-professional or non-journal affiliated contact information may be given for the editorial office (Manca et al. Even then there's a good chance that . As the above results show, the review periods for all JCR-indexed MDPI-journals are similar and are commonly shorter than considered normal, despite the variation in number of published articles and themes. These results showed that the MDPI journals under analysis fitted some features of the definition of predatory journals (Grudniewicz et al. 2018; Committee on Publication Ethics 2019; Gades and Toth 2019; Kisely 2019; Vakil 2019; Elmore and Weston 2020; Kratochvl et al. Besides, an increasingly high rate of citations from other MDPI-journals was observed. 2020). The extent to which predatory journals can harm scientific practice increases as the numbers of such journals expand, in so far as they undermine scientific integrity, quality, and credibility, especially if those journals leak into prestigious databases. Rotten System. Self-citation and citation cartels deviate from best editorial and publication practices by breaking with publication ethics and integrity, which are defining characteristics of predatory journals according to Grudniewicz et al. After Frontiers was listed as a potential predatory publisher, Nature News has reported on the scientists' protests about this addition to the "controversial 'Beall's List'". ghttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/engineering/journals/fast-publication-in-process-and-industrial-engineering. One form of avoiding the proliferation of predatory journals based on the gold open-access model, which can favour quantity over quality, would be to promote a platinum/diamond open-access model, in which neither the authors nor the readers pay for access to the articles and the costs of the publication process are met by associations or institutions (e.g. Stop This Waste of People, Animals and Money, Analysis of Citation Patterns and Impact of Predatory Sources in the Nursing Literature, Ingreasing Awareness about Predatory Publishers, Journal of the American Psychiatric New Association, Readers Beware! All Frontiers journals are published under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs. 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