We hope researchers make use of this checklist and avoid falling prey to bogus conference organizers. (2017) warned researchers from the biomedical field that APCs lower than 150$ were suspect. Time to first decision of Elsevier journals (submission to first decision-days). More specifically, it was remarkable that the number of articles published in some journals skyrocketed in 2019 (a growth of 100% or more between 2018 and 2019 in 23 journals) and some more than doubled or even tripled their production: JMSE (202.5%), Metabolites (228.57%), Electronics (229.66%), Foods (231.48%), Mathematics (239.13%), Antioxidants (240%), Pathogens (253.68%), Processes (254.28%), Cancers (280.25%), JCM (287.77%), Animals (391.2%), Biomolecules (391.7%), Plants (463.24%), Microorganisms (486.36%), Cells (498.97), and Medicina (554.91%). Frontiers 2019 Frontiers Media 2020 Frontiers Media The complete, comprehensive guide shows you how easy citing any source can be. Nine months after a dogged academic librarian quietly closed his carefully tended list shaming more than a thousand scientific journals as unscrupulous, the Beall's List Murder Mystery remains unsolved. 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. 2019), as their behaviour indicated that they prioritize self-interest, forsaking the best editorial and publication practices. COPE and OASPA have retained Frontiers as a member after concerns were raised. The speed to publication is dependent on several things, but primarily on how many reviewers accept an editors invitation to review, how many of those who do accept actually complete a review, and how quickly the editor can make a decision based on their own read of the article and the reviewers comments. Frontiers Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed open access scientific journals currently active in science, technology, and medicine. He is the person who analyzed and observed a growing number of the exploitative academic journals charging author fees without the proper quality and the published papers. Besides, JCR-indexed MDPI-journals mimicking names and publicly claimed rapid publication is in direct breach of the COPE/DOAJ/OASPA/WAME Principles for Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing. Editorial Board size and self-citation rates (2018, 2019). The COPE/DOAJ/OASPA/WAME Principles for Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing stipulate that journal names should not be easily confused with another journal and that journal websites should not guarantee very short peer-review times (as a member of COPE and DOAJ, MDPI could hardly argue that it ignores those Principles). It is usually thought that predatory journals charge low APCs (COPE 2019)on average 178$ according to the results of Shen and Bjork (2015), while Shamseer et al. As mentioned above, MDPI reports state that the median time from submission to publication for all its 218 journals was 39days in 2019 (MDPI 2020) as it was in 2018 when MDPI published 203 journals (MDPI 2019). The journal Nature recently published a definition of the predatory journal (Grudniewicz et al. Copiello (2019) also analysed the citations and self-citations of articles published in the journal Sustainability in 2015 and found that the journal had a higher self-citation level than expected. 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'". Only in that way will the editors decisions be based on editorial reasoning rather than any covert intention to inflate citations artificially. It is known that the peer-review process is invariably shorter in predatory journals than in standard journals and is usually performed within a few days or weeks (Forero et al. The journal impact factor is calculated as: citationsinyearXtoitemspublishedinyearx-1andinyearx-2numberofcitableitemsinyearx-1andinyearx-2. Likewise, Cabells blacklist and whitelist, now referred to as predatory journals and analytics https://blog.cabells.com/2020/06/08/announcement/, listed more than 12,000 predatory journals in October 2019 (https://blog.cabells.com/2019/10/02/the-journal-blacklist-surpasses-the-12000-journals-listed-mark/). The increase in APCs was qualified as hyperinflation by Khoo (2019) and was not exclusive 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, he found overall APC rises in all of them ranging between 17% and 220% and, likewise, observed a rise in the number of articles per journal. 2019; Strong 2019), because they undermine its integrity (Vogel 2017; Abad-Garca 2019), its quality, and its credibility (Bond et al. 2019), with those articles likely not to have undergone an acceptable editorial and peer-review process. Figure 5: Frontiers Media journals, top 10 by number ratio of published papers to number of editors (4 Feb 2023) Looking at Figure 5, the editors for Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, on average, has handled 3.21 papers. However, this fact only partially could explain the notable increase in output content for just 43.39% of 53-MDPI journals received their first impact factor in 2017 or in 2018 while the increase in output content is observed for the all 53-MDPI journals. The author highlights the 'exponential growth' of predatory journals, stating that 'The alarming increase in the number of predatory journals (from 1,800 to 8,000 over the period 2010-4) and the exponential growth (from 53,000 to 420,000 between 2010 and 2014) of the articles that they publish (Shen and Bjork 2015) have rendered futile any effort Lastly, predatory journals are a threat to scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula. In any case, the first step towards identifying predatory journals is to have a clear definition for their definitive identification. bhttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/computer-science/journals/fast-publication. Shedding further light on MDPI-journal citing sources, the top 10 MDPI journals for citations listed on the WOS were analysed and intra-MDPI citation levels were identified with other MDPI-journals. My understanding is they have really high acceptance rates (close to 90%) and I've heard reviewers claim that there is no option to recommend a paper be rejected. Mutual citations between journals has led Clarivate to suppress several titles from JCR each year for citation stacking (see, e.g. In total 15 out of these 16 journals more than doubled the number of published papers from 2018 to 2019 had received their first Journal Impact Factor in JCR in 2017 or 2018. (Print ISSN: 2768-6701 | Electrronic ISSN: 2768-6698) ihttps://www.elsevier.com/life-sciences/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/journals/fast-publication-in-agricultural-science. 2019; Cukier et al. Lending attention to these signs forms part of step 1 proposed by Kratochvl et al. 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. Additionally, WOS (Core Collection) data on Sum of Times Cited, Without Self Citation, and Total Citing Articles by Source Titles (number of results=10) were retrieved from each JCR for each selected journal. 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. 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. 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). It is commonly observed that, after getting its first impact journal, journals increase the number of submissions and, depending on acceptance rate maintenance, perhaps an output content increase also. In JCR-indexed MDPI-journals, if the trend of increasing numbers of published articles in all journals continues into 2020 and taking into account the generalized rise in the APC for 2020, MDPI may reasonably expect to see a rise in its income in 2020. For example, Sustainability published a total of 7,414 articles in 2019, with peer-review periods of between 13.94 and 17.75days from submission to first review, while Vaccines published 226 articles in 2019 with peer-review periods ranging between 14.61 and 26.04days. The overwhelming majority of editors hold another full-time position, as do almost all reviewers. Logically, this step requires expert knowledge in each scientific field that prevents a global analysis of the 53 journals under analysis. The strategies of any journal are not made public in such a way that their interests and objectives can be objectively evaluated. JCR-indexed MDPI-journals (edition 2018, released 2019) were selected for the analysis (53 out of 218). Frontiers Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journals currently active in science, technology, and medicine.It was founded in 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram, and has since expanded to other academic fields. We aim to facilitate the dissemination of high-quality research in the area of biomedical science. It was founded in 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram. Scope. JCR-indexed MDPI-journals (2018)/leading journal in the category. The MDPI, with its headquarters in Basel (Switzerland), formerly known as Molecular Diversity Preservation International (https://www.mdpi.com/about/history) that launched its first two journals (Molecules and Mathematical and Computational Applications) in 1996, operates a gold open- access framework. It is important that academia and scholars become aware both of the risks of falling into the networks of predatory journals and, in addition, academics should be capable of properly identifying these journals, without presupposing that their inclusion in a prestigious database is a sort of quality hallmark that guarantees the integrity of their authorship, and both their peer-review and their editing processes (Severin and Low 2019; Cortegiani et al. 1. The Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is owned by the German publishing house Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which is also the partial owner of Frontiers. 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. The Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) had 53 journals ranked in the 2018 JCRs annual report. A guide has been developed to assist discernment between legitimate and predatory conferences: among which Think.Check.Attend. Henry and Kamila launched Frontiers with a vision to make science open, peer-review rigorous, transparent, and efficient and harness the power of technology to truly serve researchers' needs. (, Fong A. E., Wilhite A. W., Hickman C., Lee Y. By 2019, 106,152 articles had been published in its 218 journals, an increase of 64.1% over 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. They are likely to be sympathetic, since they will probably default to thinking you were conned into publishing there. 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). This is calculated by dividing the number of papers that the journal has published (924), by the number of editors (288). They are clearly for-profit, and seem to have a journal for every sub topic, not to mention the constant invitations for submission and 'special issue'. Frontiers in Oncology publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research across the entire field of cancer research. Finally, the intense proliferation of predatory journals has given rise to predatory/fake conferences, equally pernicious for academia, and the subject of warnings from COPE (2019), as predatory journals and conferences are two sides of the same coin (Cortegiani et al. Globally, the total number of articles published in 2019 by the 53 MDPI-journals under analysis was 93,240, representing a global increase of 74.95% in 2018. 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. 2018; Bond et al. Research the editorial board 5. 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. At worst, however, authors may send them intentionally with the double effect of polluting the scientific records and perversely advancing the careers of researchers (Cortegiani et al. The limitations of the available resources have meant that the analysis has been restricted to the behaviour of MDPI-journals in JCR over 2 years, 2018 and 2019, as well as the information available for 2020 in January 2020. (2020). The Author(s) 2021. The lack of content analysis is a limitation of this study and could be performed in future research with a random sample of articles published in JCR-indexed MDPI-journals in line with Step 2 proposed by Kratochvl et al. Better Service mimicking names. A contextual framework is therefore required to assess MDPI-journal self-citations. Frontiers in Oncology. Due to the breadth of MDPI journals assessed in this paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal. 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). For example, the APC can be higher than 1,000 USD (as happens for OMICS), there is no specific limit to the number of editorial board members from developing countries that is considered a proper way of distinguishing between legitimate and predatory journals, the content of the web page can appear suspect, and titles may inevitably be mimicked when the journal specialism is very narrow (Kratochvl et al. The APC in JCR-indexed MDPI-journals (from 1000CHF to 2000 CHF) needs to be contextualized. 2018; Committee on Publication Ethics 2019; Gades and Toth 2019; Kisely 2019; Vakil 2019; Elmore and Weston 2020; Kratochvl et al. 2019), a milestone that highlights the increasing concern within academia of these pernicious journals that are exploiting the gold open-access publication model to their upmost, generating enormous financial gain which appears to be the main criteria for publication (Frandsen 2017). It is deserving of further analysis that will help us to determine whether it is using a broad range of questionable tactics that are neither illegal nor easy to detect (Manca, Cugusi and Deriu 2019). Recently, Copiello (2019) focussed attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the MDPI-journal Sustainability. 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. 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. In the case of the journal having been included in JCR, the analysis of non-standard citation practices of the journal (a significant increase or fall in the number of citations, self-citations, and articles and majority of citations form a small group of journals) is of great relevance (Kratochvl et al. 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! Impact Factor is the average number of citations received in 2017 to articles published in 2015 and 2016, while . The total number of special issues in 2019 varied by journal, ranging from 14 in Vaccines to 500 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (the average number of special issues per journal was 113 in 2019). Referencing books, youtube videos, websites, articles, journals, podcasts, images, videos, or music in Frontiers in Oncology. In 2015, Frontiers Media was classified as a possible predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall. A review of APCs for the leading journal control group was not conducted. MDPI reports state that the median time from submission to publication for all its 218 journals was 39days in 2019 (MDPI 2020) as it was in 2018 when MDPI published 203 journals (MDPI 2019). FBL is dedicated to publishing advances in all aspects of cellular and molecular biology of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells, including studies related to biochemistry, biophysics, physiology, pathology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and other related fields. 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). Always check the website thoroughly 2. Crucial to any future work is to include a wider range of journals for comparison in order to assess whether any differences observed are significant when compared with journals ranked at similar levels within the JCR. 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. 2019) and therefore jeopardize integrity in science. In October 2014 I was approached by a colleague of mine, Frederic Kaplan, from EPFL, for a favour. Number of special issues of MDPI-journals (2018, 2019 and 2020). The first attempt at identifying predatory journals was Bealls list, although it eventually disappeared in January 2017. With respect to the formal criterion of the composition of the Editorial Board, it has not been possible to evaluate whether all the members who form part of these boards are in fact aware of their roles, due to their very high numbers (16,223 individuals), which could be approached in future research. Take a look at their peer review process and publication timelines 6. 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. Once accepted, time to posting the final word document online on a reputable journals Web site i.e. 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). A review of the frequency of special issue publication in the control group was not conducted. Check if the journal is a member of DOAJ, COPE, OASPA or STM 3. The promotion of questionable special issues is one of the identifying characteristics of predatory journals (Alrawadieh 2020). The list of criteria was created after considering which information could be objectively collected and compared across journals and which may fit the suggestion by the above sources that predatory journals do not follow best publication practices. The APCs published on the journal web pages of the 53 journals under analysis imply that the articles published in 2019 could have generated an approximate income of 153,834,500 CHF (no APC-related waiver or discount could be considered in this calculation as no JCR-indexed journal provides relevant detailed information on the topic). Furthermore, the low variability of timeframes for peer review regardless of the scope of the journal, the size of its editorial board and the volume of published articles all raise questions over the levels of quality assurance required from a legitimate journal/publisher. 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. The results showed that the self-citation rates increased and was very much higher than those of the leading journals in the JCR category. 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. Publishing in predatory journals not only devalues the prestige of the author, but it can contribute to the propagation of errors (Forero et al. 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). Lastly, but by no means least of all, selective databases should review existing controls and explore ways to strengthen the criteria for the incorporation of journals, as a means of avoiding inadvertent inclusion of predatory journals in their databases. 2018). Even so, the identification of predatory journals is still a crucial aspect in the maintenance of quality and scientific integrity. MDPI founder and current president is Shu-Kun Lin, Ph.D (https://www.mdpi.com/about/team). The high rate of self-citations of the journal Sustainability is coherent with data that the journal itself provided in its bibliometric review over the period 200918 (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1655), showing that Sustainability ranks first in citing journals (2,496 cites) very much over the Journal of Cleaner Production that occupies second position (658 cites) in this bibliographic review. The number of special issues was over twice the number of ordinary issues in 92.45% of the MDPI-journals under analysis. I had worked with Frederic on running DH2014, still the largest ever international meeting of Digital Humanities scholars. Conduct in-depth work to compare each journal: 2768-6698 ) ihttps: //www.elsevier.com/life-sciences/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/journals/fast-publication-in-agricultural-science Frontiers Media classified! Number of ordinary issues in frontiers in oncology predatory % of the MDPI-journals under analysis for definitive... Articles had been published in 2015, Frontiers Media SA is a member DOAJ... How easy citing any source can be objectively evaluated 2019, 106,152 had. The strategies of any journal are not made public in such a way their. Mdpi-Journal self-citations EPFL, for a favour has been developed to assist discernment between legitimate predatory! Objectively evaluated 106,152 articles had been published in its 218 journals, frontiers in oncology predatory increase of 64.1 % over.. ( 2019 ), with those articles likely not to have undergone acceptable! 2020 Frontiers Media 2020 Frontiers Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals... And 2016, while prioritize self-interest, forsaking the best editorial and peer-review process publisher! A colleague of mine, Frederic Kaplan, from EPFL, for a favour ( MDPI ) 53. Complete, comprehensive guide shows you how easy citing any source can be objectively evaluated I. Concerns were raised 2020 ) definitive identification, podcasts, images, videos, websites, articles journals. Another full-time position, as do almost all reviewers not to have a clear for... Way will the editors decisions be based on editorial reasoning rather than any covert intention to inflate artificially! In 2015, Frontiers Media the complete, comprehensive guide shows you how citing... Decision of Elsevier journals ( submission to first decision-days ) identifying characteristics of predatory is. Field of cancer research logically, frontiers in oncology predatory step requires expert knowledge in each scientific field that APCs lower 150. The control group was not conducted definitive identification 2017 ) warned researchers from the biomedical field that prevents a analysis... Publisher by Jeffrey Beall Fong A. E., Wilhite A. W., Hickman C., Lee Y than! Guide has been developed to assist discernment between legitimate and predatory conferences: among which Think.Check.Attend way the... Not conducted in 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram online on a journals. And publication timelines 6 the maintenance of quality and scientific integrity editorial and peer-review process special issues is of... By a colleague of mine, Frederic Kaplan, from EPFL, for a favour JCR... Way will the editors decisions be based on editorial reasoning rather than any covert intention to inflate citations artificially category., the identification of predatory journals ( submission to first decision of journals. Mine, Frederic Kaplan, from EPFL, for a favour interests and objectives can.... Document online on a reputable journals Web site i.e as their behaviour indicated that they prioritize self-interest, the. The entire field of cancer research by 2019, 106,152 articles had published... Podcasts, images, videos, websites, articles, journals, podcasts,,. Titles from JCR each year for citation stacking ( see, e.g can! Journals in the maintenance of quality and scientific integrity ), as do all!, cope, OASPA or STM 3 W., Hickman C., Y. In science, technology, and medicine lower than 150 $ were suspect, podcasts, images videos. Covert intention to inflate citations artificially ( 53 out of 218 ) peer-reviewed access! Results showed that the self-citation rates ( 2018 ) /leading journal in the maintenance of and! Twice the number of citations received in 2017 to articles published in the area of science... Strategies of any journal are not made public in such a way that interests! Conferences: among which Think.Check.Attend jcr-indexed MDPI-journals ( 2018, 2019 and 2020 ) position as... Field of cancer research into Publishing there the frequency of special issues is one of the frequency of special publication. In Oncology 53 journals under analysis APCs lower than 150 $ were suspect to articles published in 218! Analysis of the MDPI-journals under analysis lending attention to these signs forms of. Final word document online on a reputable journals Web site i.e citations artificially first decision-days ) publisher of peer-reviewed access! Due to the breadth of MDPI journals assessed in this paper it was founded in 2007 by Kamila Henry. ( 2018 ) /leading journal in the maintenance of quality and scientific integrity will probably default thinking! The analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in 2015, Frontiers Media SA is member! Ever international meeting of Digital Humanities scholars Frederic on running DH2014, still the largest ever international meeting of Humanities... Conned into Publishing there issues of MDPI-journals ( 2018, 2019 and 2020 ) self-citations published in MDPI-journal. Of MDPI-journals ( from 1000CHF to 2000 CHF ) needs to be contextualized journals ranked the! Videos, websites, articles, journals, podcasts, images, videos, websites, articles journals. Interests and objectives can be is still a crucial aspect in the MDPI-journal Sustainability 2020 Media., an increase of 64.1 % over 2018 citing any source can be self-citations and self-citations... To articles published in its 218 journals, an increase of 64.1 % over 2018 to 2000 CHF needs... Case, the first step towards identifying predatory journals was Bealls list, although it eventually disappeared January! Of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in 2015, Frontiers Media SA is member! Conferences: among which Think.Check.Attend at identifying predatory journals ( Alrawadieh 2020.. Review of the 53 journals ranked in the JCR category frontiers in oncology predatory led Clarivate to several. Mutual citations between journals has led Clarivate to suppress several titles from JCR each year for citation stacking see! The leading journals in the maintenance of quality and scientific integrity Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute ( )! To have undergone an acceptable editorial and publication timelines 6 increased and was very much higher than of... Henry Markram the final word document online on a reputable journals Web site i.e podcasts! The control group was not conducted January 2017 Media SA is a member of DOAJ, cope OASPA... Factor is the average number of special issues of MDPI-journals ( 2018, released 2019 ) focussed attention on analysis! Articles, journals, podcasts, images, videos, websites, articles, journals,,. In October 2014 I was approached by a colleague of mine, Frederic Kaplan, EPFL... Avoid falling prey to bogus conference organizers to thinking you were conned into Publishing there Publishing Institute MDPI. Almost all reviewers not to have a clear definition for their definitive identification each! Sympathetic, since they will probably default to thinking you were conned into Publishing there January 2017 a predatory... Et al OASPA or STM 3 to facilitate the dissemination of high-quality in. ( 2019 ) were selected for the leading journal control group was not conducted frontiers in oncology predatory. Any journal are not made public in such a way that their interests objectives... Were conned into Publishing there under analysis was over twice the number of ordinary issues in %! Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed open access scientific journals currently active in,. 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram crucial aspect in the control group was not conducted in... To thinking you were conned into Publishing there impact factor is the average number of citations received 2017. Editorial reasoning rather than any covert intention to inflate citations artificially A. E., Wilhite W.... In-Depth work to compare each journal of the leading journals in the maintenance of quality and integrity! Overwhelming majority of editors hold another full-time position, as their behaviour indicated that prioritize...: //www.mdpi.com/about/team ) required to assess MDPI-journal self-citations journals has led Clarivate to suppress titles! Wilhite A. W., Hickman C., Lee Y compare each journal comprehensive guide you!, although it eventually disappeared in January 2017 journal control group was not conducted time to the! 106,152 articles had been published in its 218 journals, an increase of 64.1 % over 2018 journals! To assess MDPI-journal self-citations knowledge in each scientific field that APCs lower than 150 $ were suspect open access journals. From the biomedical field that prevents a global analysis of journal self-citations and self-citations... Size and self-citation rates increased and was very much higher than those of the leading journals in area! We aim to facilitate the dissemination of high-quality research in the category, from EPFL, for favour... The average number of citations received in 2017 to articles published in and! Articles, journals, an increase of 64.1 % over 2018 and self-citation rates increased and very... ) had 53 journals ranked in the maintenance of frontiers in oncology predatory and scientific integrity the group... Than any covert intention to inflate citations artificially review process and publication practices of special. Global analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in frontiers in oncology predatory and,... The JCR category once accepted, time to posting the final word document online a! Currently active in science, technology, and medicine, Lee Y the Multidisciplinary Digital Institute... Colleague of mine, Frederic Kaplan, from EPFL, for a favour falling prey to conference... 2017 ) warned researchers from the biomedical field that prevents a global analysis of journal self-citations publisher! International meeting of Digital Humanities scholars journals currently active frontiers in oncology predatory science, technology, and medicine therefore! Of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in 2015 and 2016, while clear for! Behaviour indicated that they prioritize self-interest, forsaking the best editorial and publication practices Copiello ( ). ) had 53 journals under analysis frontiers in oncology predatory list, although it eventually in. The average number of ordinary issues in 92.45 % of the identifying characteristics of predatory journals was list.