Abstract
We present results of a large-scale study of potentially predatory journals (PPJ) represented in the Scopus database, which is widely used for research evaluation. Both journal metrics and country/disciplinary data have been evaluated for different groups of PPJ: those listed by Jeffrey Beall and those discontinued by Scopus because of “publication concerns”. Our results show that even after years of discontinuing, hundreds of active potentially predatory journals are still highly visible in the Scopus database. PPJ papers are continuously produced by all major countries, but with different prevalence. Most all science journal classification subject areas are affected. The largest number of PPJ papers are in engineering and medicine. On average, PPJ have much lower citation metrics than other Scopus-indexed journals. We conclude with a survey of the case of Russia and Kazakhstan where the share of PPJ papers in 2016 amounted to almost a half of all Kazakhstan papers in Scopus. Our data suggest a relation between PPJ prevalence and national research evaluation policies. As such policies become more widespread, the expansion of potentially predatory journal research will be increasingly important.
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17 May 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04042-6
Notes
Promotional info at http://clarivate.com/?product=web-of-science accessed on 20 june 2017.
Promotional info at https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/content/content-policy-and-selection accessed on 21 June 2017.
See http://www.arc.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/scopus-provide-citation-information-era accessed on 21 June 2017 and currently available only via Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20151010083040/https://www.arc.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/scopus-provide-citation-information-era.
While “Web of Science” usually clearly means relevant database, “Scopus” may also refer to Mount Scopus, a historical mountain in northeast Jerusalem, or a latin name of the bird species Hamercop (Scopus Umbretta), or a specialist journal on east African ornithology.
Open access scholarly literature is free of charge and often carries less restrictive copyright and licensing barriers than traditionally published works, for both the users and the authors.
Oral evidence to UK House of Commons Science & Technology Inquiry, March 1st 2004, Sir Crispin Davis (CEO, Reed Elsevier), see https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/uc399-i/uc39902.htm.
Elsevier’s site https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/content.
Accessed in September 2018.
Elsevier’s site https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/content.
August 2016 version.
The publication counts data were accessed in November 2018. So, the analysis for 2018 was based on preliminary data.
See the order of the Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan from 03/31/2011 No. 127, appendix 1 http://web.archive.org/web/20190905234744/https://egov.kz/cms/ru/law/list/V1100006951.
The Jakarta Post article https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/06/10/wanted-6000-new-journals-to-publish-150000-papers.html: “The regulation requires academics to publish at least one scientific paper in three years in an international or accredited journal. Another regulation has also contributed to the surge in published papers. Three years ago, the government issued Ministerial Regulation No. 44/2015 on higher education quality, which required every graduate student to publish one piece in an accredited journal and a doctoral candidate to publish a piece in an international journal”.
First introduced in the order of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 31, 2011, No. 127
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dmitrii Marin (University of Waterloo, Canada) and Alexei Lutay (Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Russia) for helpful detail feedback and stimulating discussions.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Kruskal Wallis Test
The hypothesis: the median values of journal metrics for Publication Concerns, Active PPJ, Inactive PPJ groups were equal. We used the Kruskal–Wallis criterion (Kruskal and Wallis 1952). There were statistically significant differences in the journal metrics depending on the journal group, see Tables 6 and 7.
Appendix 2: Rules for awarding academic degrees
According to the RulesFootnote 19 for awarding academic degrees of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the dissertation is written under the guidance of domestic and foreign supervisors who have academic degrees and are specialists in the field of scientific research of doctoral students. The main findings of the dissertation are to be published in at least 7 publications on the topic of the dissertation, including at least 3 in scientific publications recommended by the authorized body, 1 in an international scientific publication that has a non-zero impact factor in Web of Science or is indexed in Scopus, 3 in the materials of international conferences, including 1 in the materials of foreign conferences.Footnote 20
Appendix 3: List of potentially predatory journals
see Table 8
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Marina, T., Sterligov, I. Prevalence of potentially predatory publishing in Scopus on the country level. Scientometrics 126, 5019–5077 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-03899-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-03899-x