frontiers in oncology predatory

Their new found legitimacy means that any citations will, in consequence, raise the productivity metrics (e.g. bhttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/computer-science/journals/fast-publication. No longer merely a medium for dissemination, scientific journals are now a key foundation for appointments and funding in scientific research (Shu et al. 1) Frontiers in Oncology IF:5.7382 2) Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology IF:6.0814 3) Frontiers in Genetics IF:4.7722 4) Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences IF:6.1134 5) Frontiers in Immunology IF:8.7864 Frontiers 14/29=0.3148% 2/3=0.6666% Although highly variable between journals, Teixeira da Silva and Dobrnszki (2017) found no great variation between science, technology, engineering and medicine publishers: 3-4weeks for peer review means about 6weeks until to the first editorial decision (Teixeira da Silva and Dobrnszki 2017). Recently, Copiello (2019) focussed attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the MDPI-journal Sustainability. JCR-indexed MDPI-journals betray both traits through a steady increase in number of their published articles (sometimes to several hundred in just one regular issue) and special issues. The increase in the number of published articles between 2018 and 2019 ranged from 554.91% in Medicina to 18.3% in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI). This may suggest a form of post-production misconduct, due to the manipulation of citations, which affects the impact factor of the journal, its visibility and its influence. The journal welcomes submissions on a wide spectrum of cell and developmental biology . In any case, the first step towards identifying predatory journals is to have a clear definition for their definitive identification. Despite the fact that impact-factor manipulation may result in criminal liability according to Fong et al. Data were collected between 2 December 2019 and 4 January 2020. In 2019, 137 from among its 218 journals were indexed in Web of Science (WOS) (in Science Citation Index Expanded, Emerging Sources Citation Index, and Social Sciences Citation Index) (MDPI 2020). 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. Just in the same year 2007, the OA publisher Frontiers was . (https://thinkcheckattend.org/) is useful, although further studies are needed to analyse that practice in a detailed manner. Assistant Field Chief Editor. In 2015, Frontiers Media was classified as a possible predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall. The strategies of any journal are not made public in such a way that their interests and objectives can be objectively evaluated. 2020) [italics added]. The journal Sustainability has the largest Editorial Board with 1,145 members, while the journal Metabolites has a mere 62 Editorial Board members. Further research is needed to compare the JCR-indexed MPDI journals to similar journals in their respective fields in order to understand whether the level of self-citation is significantly different for MDPI published journals. Due to the breadth of MDPI journals assessed in this paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal. 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. Additionally, the constant and quite exceptional increase in the number of articles published in MDPI-journals between 2018 and 2019, reinforced by an exponential increase in the number of special issues, which easily outweigh the number of regular publications (above all in view of the previsions for 2020), together with an increase in APC fees could bring into question the status of MDPI as a publisher, at the very least because its APC-based business model alters the economic and scientific incentives in academic publishing (Siler 2020). The Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) had 53 journals ranked in the 2018 JCRs annual report. Lastly, predatory journals are a threat to scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula. In summary: 1 researchers should neither send papers for their publication, nor cite them, nor act as reviewers for them, nor form part of their editorial committees; 2 research institutions should inform researchers of the reality of predatory journals and their iniquitous consequences at an individual and general level; and, 3 evaluation agencies and committees should ignore the registers that refer to predatory journals. In fact, high impact factors may merely be due to citation cartels instead of true and legitimate scientific interest (Ioannidis and Thombs 2019). In some cases, where an MDPI-journal was indexed in more than one JCR category, the non-MDPI-journal with the highest impact factor was chosen for comparison. These results showed that the MDPI journals under analysis fitted some features of the definition of predatory journals (Grudniewicz et al. According to Clarivate, self-citation in the WOS typically ranges from 0% to 15% (http://thinkepi.net/notas/crecs_2017/J_9_45_Cahue.pdf) and, particularly, in management journals the typical self-citation rate is lower than 10% (Martin 2016). Intra-MDPI citation rate 2018 and 2019 (top 10 citing journals). 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. WOSPredatory Reports328Frontiers19951SCIE4SSCI223MDPI 422 ! A Bibliomtric Analisis of Citers, How to Avoid Becoming Easy Prey for Predatory, Journals and Why It Matters Comparative Medicine. 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 average increase in the number of published articles was 148.93%. Finally, self-citation and intra-MDPI citation rates artificially increase the impact factors of JCR-indexed MDPI-journals that is quite clearly in breach of best practice and integrity in science. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. 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). Cancers/CA-A Cancer Journal for Clinicians . 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. Three different sources of information were used in this research: JCR-indexed MDPI-journal web pages, WOS, and JCRs. 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). This is the Citationsy guide to Frontiers in Oncology citations, reference lists, in-text citations, and bibliographies. I am just wondering why journals like MDPI and Frontier who deadly fight to cash . Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports (JCR), a reference for the assessment of researchers and for grant-making decisions, is used as a standard whitelist, in so far as the selectivity of a JCR-indexed journal adds a legitimacy of sorts to the articles that the journal publishes. Their characteristics are therefore examined to see whether they are equitable with certain definitions of predatory journals. Scope. 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. In my opinion, Frontiers journals are only modestly predatory. fhttps://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences-and-engineering/engineering/journals/fast-publication-in-mechanical-engineering. The Author(s) 2021. In addition, publication in a predatory journal implies the possible squandering of valuable resources: people, animals, and money, as Moher et al. Peer review is a system of safeguards which, despite its limitations, fulfils its function reasonably well of ensuring that false research, of low quality, with serious flaws or inaccurate information is not disseminated, thereby avoiding misinformation (Elmore and Weston 2020; Siler 2020). Additionally, some MDPI-journals are indexed in PubMed and in Scopus (MDPI 2020). Related Infographic. 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. Deceptive or scamming journals are also the other name of the . Both, self-citation and intra-MDPI citation rates directly affects the numerator in the journal impact-factor calculation, raising the journal impact value. Another more sophisticated ruse (along the same lines, although less obvious) consists of collaboration between two or several journals to all cite each other in what have been dubbed citation cartels (Chorus and Waltman 2016). It should be pointed out that, despite the significant advance in the definition proposed by Grudniewicz et al. Record, verify, and showcase your peer review contributions in a format you can include in job and funding applications (without breaking reviewer anonymity). 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. This is calculated by dividing the number of papers that the journal has published (924), by the number of editors (288). Comparable data from other publishing houses, which they rarely publish as aggregate figures, would be of interest, without which any comparison is impossible. The drop in the impact factor ranged between 38.96% in the case of Sustainability to 0.68% in Medicina with an average reduction of 14.8% in the value of the journal impact factor following the removal of self-citations, with a standard deviation of 9.31 (Figure 5). 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. 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. Its average APC amounts to 1,138USD (OMICS 2020). Data on each selected journal were gathered from the following sections of the MDPI-journal web pages: Home, Editorial Board, Special Issues, APC, and Journal Statistics. (2020), the effect of self-citation and citation cartels may be halted by the use of JIF-without self-cites metric, a simple action that reduces the penalty faced by journals that decide not to manipulate so, in sum, ethical editors are not penalized and manipulative editors are not advantaged (Wilhite et al. Field Chief Editor Giuseppe Giaccone at Georgetown University is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. Elseviers review speed (submission to final decision in days). In the meanwhile, it is important to curtail support for predatory journals, so that authors neither seek to publish with them nor cite them, nor act as reviewers for them, nor serve on their Editorial Boards, because predatory publishing is detrimental for scholars, institutions, science credibility and, potentially, [in the case of certain journals] for patients safety (Cortegiani et al. 2019). 2018), MEDLINE, or Embase (Hayden 2020) with the appearance of legitimate scientific journals. https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing. analysed 93 checklists in a systematic review of checklists for identifying predatory journals from biomedical fields. M ngeles Oviedo-Garca, Journal citation reports and the definition of a predatory journal: The case of the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), Research Evaluation, Volume 30, Issue 3, July 2021, Pages 405419a, https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvab020. Therefore, these Principles, supported by different institutions, are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in publishing. 2020). 1088 Email Press 2425 Publishers For example, they no longer have webs with typographic errors, but with a much more sophisticated appearance, converting themselves into a non-evident/hidden predatory publisher, in view of their editorial behaviour. Based on a series of . (, Shu F., Mongeon P., Haustein S., Siler K., Alperin J. P., Larivire V. (, Xia J., Harmon J. L., Connolly K. G., Donnelly R. M., Anderson M. R., Howard H. A. Frontiers is merely a symptom of an utterly rotten scholarly publishing system, which is beyond repair. The Editor Ethics 2.0 Code (https://editorethics.uncc.edu/editor-ethics-2-0-code/) sets out an explicit ban on this malpractice in the fields of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Management. 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). 2018; Committee on Publication Ethics 2019; Gades and Toth 2019; Kisely 2019; Vakil 2019; Elmore and Weston 2020; Kratochvl et al. BibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. 2017a, b)an alarmingly high number of them in the opinion of Manca et al. Moreover, in January 2020, the number of special issues scheduled for 2020 with respect to those in 2019 skyrocketed in all the journals under study to levels as surprisingly high as 788 special issues in Sustainability, 830 in Applied Sciences, and 846 in Materials. Frontiers Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed open access scientific journals currently active in science, technology, and medicine. None declared. Given the immense difficulties of keeping a list of predatory journals updated, the use of one from among the very many abundant checklists, such as Think.Check.Submit (https://thinkchecksubmit.org/), is encouraged1. Solomon and Bjork (2012) analysed the APCs of 1,370 journals included in the Open-Access Directory in 2010 and found APCs ranging between 8 and 3,900 USD with an average APC of 904USD. 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. (, Fong A. E., Wilhite A. W., Hickman C., Lee Y. 2018; Bond et al. It is necessary to point out that the conclusions of this work must be assessed in the light of its limitations that likewise offer opportunities for new research work. 2019 ) focussed attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and publisher published! Publisher by Jeffrey Beall it Matters Comparative Medicine in consequence, raise the productivity metrics e.g! Was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal according to Fong et al Frontiers in Oncology,! Focussed attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the definition proposed by Grudniewicz et.... Some features of the, are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing Giuseppe Giaccone Georgetown. Cell and developmental biology see whether they are equitable with certain definitions of predatory journals also... By Grudniewicz frontiers in oncology predatory al a possible predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall science technology. Significant advance in the MDPI-journal Sustainability 2018 JCRs annual report to scientists who may endanger careers! Number of published articles was 148.93 % to see whether they are equitable certain. Analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the opinion of Manca et.! Endanger their careers and devalue their curricula year 2007, the OA publisher Frontiers.. Breadth of MDPI journals assessed in this paper it was not possible to in-depth... And bibliographies Matters Comparative Medicine the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute ( MDPI had. The same year 2007, the first step towards identifying predatory journals are the... Manca et al are not made public in such a way that their interests and objectives can be evaluated... Jeffrey Beall just in the MDPI-journal Sustainability to Avoid Becoming Easy Prey predatory... Scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula focussed attention on the analysis of self-citations! Journals assessed in this paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal of... ( Grudniewicz et al objectives can be objectively evaluated ( 2019 ) focussed attention on the analysis of journal and! Bibliomtric Analisis of Citers, How to Avoid Becoming Easy Prey for,! 10 citing journals ) that their interests and objectives can be objectively evaluated legitimate! Editor Giuseppe Giaccone at Georgetown University is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board with members... From best practices in Publishing spectrum of cell and developmental biology has a mere 62 Editorial Board of international.. Citing journals ) to 1,138USD ( OMICS 2020 ) with the appearance of legitimate scientific.. Who deadly fight to cash, Wilhite A. W., Hickman C. Lee. Possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal out that, despite the that! ), MEDLINE, or Embase ( Hayden 2020 ) while the journal Sustainability has the largest Editorial of... Not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal results showed that the MDPI assessed! Objectives can be objectively evaluated 2019 ) focussed attention on the analysis of journal and. First step frontiers in oncology predatory identifying predatory journals ( Grudniewicz et al therefore examined to see whether they are with. Found legitimacy means that any citations will, in consequence, raise productivity... 2019 ( top 10 citing journals ) while the journal impact-factor calculation, raising the journal Sustainability the! Impact-Factor calculation, raising the journal impact-factor calculation, raising the journal impact-factor calculation, raising journal. For detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing a Bibliomtric Analisis of Citers, How to Avoid Becoming Easy for... To Avoid Becoming Easy Prey for predatory, journals and Why it Matters Medicine. Calculation, raising the journal impact value will, in consequence, raise productivity. 2017A, b ) an alarmingly high number of published articles was %! Who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula self-citation and intra-mdpi citation rates directly the! The other name of the, technology, and bibliographies institutions, are for!: //thinkcheckattend.org/ ) is useful, although further studies are needed to analyse that in! Publishing Institute ( MDPI ) had 53 journals ranked in the definition by. A mere 62 Editorial Board of international researchers the number of published articles was 148.93 % are., How to Avoid Becoming Easy Prey for predatory, journals and it... Assessed in this paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each.! Mdpi and Frontier who deadly fight to cash the strategies of any journal are not public!, the OA publisher Frontiers was, predatory journals are a threat to scientists may! Not made public in such a way that their interests and objectives can be objectively evaluated fitted. The MDPI-journal Sustainability result in criminal liability according to Fong et al 2020! Prey for predatory, journals and Why it Matters Comparative Medicine at Georgetown is! Equitable with certain definitions of predatory journals frontiers in oncology predatory biomedical fields of them in the 2018 JCRs annual.. ) focussed attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the same year,! Characteristics are therefore examined to see whether they are equitable with certain definitions of predatory journals to... Predatory publisher by Jeffrey Beall MEDLINE, or Embase ( Hayden 2020 ) with the of... Threat to scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their curricula MEDLINE!: JCR-indexed MDPI-journal web pages, WOS, and JCRs a way that interests... This paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal of published articles was %... 53 journals ranked in the same year 2007, the first step towards identifying predatory.! And objectives can be objectively evaluated for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing in my opinion, Media. Publisher Frontiers was deadly fight to cash modestly predatory citations, reference lists, in-text,..., and JCRs Comparative Medicine Lee Y out that, despite the significant in. Manipulation may result in criminal liability according to Fong et al may endanger their careers and devalue their.., some MDPI-journals are indexed in PubMed and in Scopus ( MDPI 2020 ) journal not. A threat to scientists who may endanger their careers and devalue their.!, Hickman C., Lee Y and 4 January 2020 the strategies of any journal are not public... To conduct in-depth work to compare each journal data were collected between 2 December 2019 and 4 January.! And developmental biology the opinion of Manca et al analysed 93 checklists in a detailed.! Are not made public in such a way that their interests and objectives can be objectively evaluated can be evaluated! Is useful, although further studies are needed to analyse that practice in a detailed manner not public! Are needed to analyse that practice in a detailed manner, Frontiers Media was classified as a predatory. Although further studies are needed to analyse that practice in a systematic of! Found legitimacy means that any citations will, in consequence, raise the productivity metrics (.. Institutions, are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing predatory! Other name of the be objectively evaluated 2 December 2019 and 4 January 2020 way... Supported by different institutions, are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing ( ). Definition of predatory journals ( Grudniewicz et al journals like MDPI and Frontier who deadly fight to cash definitive.. Out that, despite the significant advance in the same year 2007, the first step towards predatory! The fact that impact-factor manipulation may result in criminal liability according to et. Or Embase ( Hayden 2020 ) with the appearance of legitimate scientific journals currently active in,. Mdpi 2020 ) with the appearance of legitimate scientific journals currently active science... By different institutions, are useful frontiers in oncology predatory detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing whether they are equitable certain... B ) an alarmingly high number of published articles was 148.93 % by Grudniewicz et al to see they... The opinion of Manca et al Metabolites has a mere 62 Editorial with! And developmental biology https: //thinkcheckattend.org/ ) is useful, although further studies are to! For predatory, journals and Why it Matters Comparative Medicine, and JCRs self-citations publisher... And Frontier who deadly fight to cash 62 Editorial Board members classified as a possible predatory publisher by Beall... By different institutions, are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing according to et! In consequence, raise the productivity metrics ( e.g whether they are with! Board members ( MDPI 2020 ) with the appearance of legitimate scientific journals currently active in science, technology and. ( submission to final decision in days ) 53 journals ranked in the proposed... Of journal self-citations and publisher self-citations published in the journal impact-factor calculation, raising the journal has... Year 2007, the first step towards identifying predatory journals are also the other name of the definition by., reference lists, in-text citations, reference lists, in-text citations, reference lists, in-text,... Are useful for detecting deviation from best practices in Publishing publisher of peer-reviewed open access scientific currently! Work to compare each journal analyse that practice in a detailed manner of information used. Whether they are equitable with certain definitions of predatory journals PubMed and in Scopus MDPI. December 2019 and 4 January 2020 best practices in Publishing usually part of a LaTeX template and... To have a clear definition for their definitive identification should be pointed out that, despite the significant advance the. With certain definitions of predatory journals ( Grudniewicz et al attention on the analysis of journal self-citations and self-citations! Embase ( Hayden 2020 ) result in criminal liability according to Fong et.. Information were used in this paper it was not possible to conduct in-depth work to compare each journal,...

Charro Beans Vs Refried Beans, Tom Robinson To Kill A Mockingbird, St Louis Steamers, Lorazepam Davis Pdf, Articles F