{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,28]],"date-time":"2026-06-28T05:34:38Z","timestamp":1782624878221,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,2]],"date-time":"2021-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630540800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,2]],"date-time":"2021-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630540800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004281","name":"Narodowe Centrum Nauki","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UMO-2017\/26\/E\/HS2\/00019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UMO-2017\/26\/E\/HS2\/00019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004281","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Scientometrics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>One of the most fundamental issues in academia today is understanding the differences between legitimate and questionable publishing. While decision-makers and managers consider journals indexed in popular citation indexes such as Web of Science or Scopus as legitimate, they use two lists of questionable journals (Beall\u2019s and Cabell\u2019s), one of which has not been updated for a few years, to identify the so-called predatory journals. The main aim of our study is to reveal the contribution of the journals accepted as legitimate by the authorities to the visibility of questionable journals. For this purpose, 65 questionable journals from social sciences and 2338 Web-of-Science-indexed journals that cited these questionable journals were examined in-depth in terms of index coverages, subject categories, impact factors and self-citation patterns. We have analysed 3234 unique cited papers from questionable journals and 5964 unique citing papers (6750 citations of cited papers) from Web of Science journals. We found that 13% of the questionable papers were cited by WoS journals and 37% of the citations were from impact-factor journals. The findings show that neither the impact factor of citing journals nor the size of cited journals is a good predictor of the number of citations to the questionable journals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,3]],"date-time":"2021-09-03T19:28:50Z","timestamp":1630697330000},"page":"8541-8560","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Citation patterns between impact-factor and questionable journals"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"126","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6530-3609","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emanuel","family":"Kulczycki","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8217-2815","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marek","family":"Ho\u0142owiecki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7102-493X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zehra","family":"Ta\u015fk\u0131n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1097-9032","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Franciszek","family":"Krawczyk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"4121_CR3","unstructured":"Anderson, R. (2017). Cabell\u2019s new predatory journal blacklist: A review. Scholarly Kitchen. https:\/\/scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org\/2017\/07\/25\/cabells-new-predatory-journal-blacklist-review\/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScholarlyKitchen+%28The+Scholarly+Kitchen%29."},{"key":"4121_CR4","unstructured":"Anderson, R. (2019). Citation Contamination: References to Predatory journals in the legitimate scientific literature\u2014The Scholarly Kitchen. Scholarly Kitchen. https:\/\/scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org\/2019\/10\/28\/citation-contamination-references-to-predatory-journals-in-the-legitimate-scientific-literature\/."},{"issue":"4","key":"4121_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1072","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joi.2018.08.011","volume":"12","author":"M Antonoyiannakis","year":"2018","unstructured":"Antonoyiannakis, M. (2018). Impact factors and the central limit theorem: Why citation averages are scale dependent. Journal of Informetrics, 12(4), 1072\u20131088. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.joi.2018.08.011","journal-title":"Journal of Informetrics"},{"key":"4121_CR100","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Bagues, M., Sylos-Labini, M., & Zinovyeva, N. (2019). A walk on the wild side: \u2018Predatory\u2019 journals and information asymmetries in scientific evaluations. Research Policy, 48(2), 462\u2013477. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.respol.2018.04.013","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2018.04.013"},{"key":"4121_CR101","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489(7415), 179\u2013179. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/489179a","DOI":"10.1038\/489179a"},{"issue":"2","key":"4121_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.31269\/triplec.v11i2.525","volume":"11","author":"J Beall","year":"2013","unstructured":"Beall, J. (2013). The open-access movement is not really about open access. TripleC, 11(2), 589\u2013597.","journal-title":"TripleC"},{"issue":"2","key":"4121_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.3390\/publications8020017","volume":"8","author":"B-C Bj\u00f6rk","year":"2020","unstructured":"Bj\u00f6rk, B.-C., Kanto-Karvonen, S., & Harviainen, J. T. (2020). How frequently are articles in predatory open access journals cited. Publications, 8(2), 17. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/publications8020017","journal-title":"Publications"},{"issue":"6154","key":"4121_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1126\/science.342.6154.60","volume":"342","author":"J Bohannon","year":"2013","unstructured":"Bohannon, J. (2013). Who\u2019s afraid of peer review? Science, 342(6154), 60\u201365. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.342.6154.60","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"4121_CR9","unstructured":"Cabells. (2021). Get a quote. https:\/\/www2.cabells.com\/get-quote."},{"issue":"4","key":"4121_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"284","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1097-4571(198907)40:4<284::AID-ASI10>3.0.CO;2-Z","volume":"40","author":"V Cano","year":"1989","unstructured":"Cano, V. (1989). Citation behavior: Classification, utility, and location. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40(4), 284\u2013290.","journal-title":"Journal of the American Society for Information Science"},{"key":"4121_CR11","unstructured":"Clarivate. (2018). Web of Science: Editorial statement about dropped journals. https:\/\/support.clarivate.com\/ScientificandAcademicResearch\/s\/article\/Web-of-Science-Editorial-statement-about-dropped-journals?language=en_US."},{"key":"4121_CR1","unstructured":"Clarivate Analytics. (2012). OECD Category Scheme. http:\/\/help.prod-incites.com\/inCites2Live\/filterValuesGroup\/researchAreaSchema\/oecdCategoryScheme.html."},{"key":"4121_CR2","unstructured":"Clarivate Analytics. (2021). Journal Citation Reports editorial expression of concern. Web of Science Group. https:\/\/clarivate.com\/webofsciencegroup\/essays\/jcr-editorial-expression-of-concern\/."},{"key":"4121_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1001","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.15256.1","volume":"7","author":"KD Cobey","year":"2018","unstructured":"Cobey, K. D., Lalu, M. M., Skidmore, B., Ahmadzai, N., Grudniewicz, A., & Moher, D. (2018). What is a predatory journal? A scoping review. F1000Research., 7, 1001. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.15256.1","journal-title":"F1000Research."},{"issue":"4","key":"4121_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1296","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joi.2018.10.008","volume":"12","author":"SB Demir","year":"2018","unstructured":"Demir, S. B. (2018a). Predatory journals: Who publishes in them and why? Journal of Informetrics, 12(4), 1296\u20131311. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.joi.2018.10.008","journal-title":"Journal of Informetrics"},{"key":"4121_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0961000618784159","author":"SB Demir","year":"2018","unstructured":"Demir, S. B. (2018b). Scholarly databases under scrutiny. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0961000618784159","journal-title":"Journal of Librarianship and Information Science"},{"key":"4121_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-019-01151-4","author":"H Else","year":"2019","unstructured":"Else, H. (2019). Impact factors are still widely used in academic evaluations. Nature. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/d41586-019-01151-4","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"11","key":"4121_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0224541","volume":"14","author":"J Eykens","year":"2019","unstructured":"Eykens, J., Guns, R., Rahman, A. I. M. J., & Engels, T. C. E. (2019). Identifying publications in questionable journals in the context of performance-based research funding. PLoS ONE, 14(11), e0224541. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0224541","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1087\/20150105","volume":"28","author":"W Ezinwa Nwagwu","year":"2015","unstructured":"Ezinwa Nwagwu, W., & Ojemeni, O. (2015). Penetration of Nigerian predatory biomedical open access journals 2007\u20132012: A bibiliometric study. Learned Publishing, 28(1), 23\u201334. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1087\/20150105","journal-title":"Learned Publishing"},{"issue":"3","key":"4121_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1513","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-017-2520-x","volume":"113","author":"TF Frandsen","year":"2017","unstructured":"Frandsen, T. F. (2017). Are predatory journals undermining the credibility of science? A bibliometric analysis of citers. Scientometrics, 113(3), 1513\u20131528. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-017-2520-x","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1002\/leap.1214","volume":"32","author":"TF Frandsen","year":"2019","unstructured":"Frandsen, T. F. (2019). Why do researchers decide to publish in questionable journals? A review of the literature: Why authors publish in questionable journals. Learned Publishing, 32(1), 57\u201362. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/leap.1214","journal-title":"Learned Publishing"},{"issue":"3","key":"4121_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1345","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-019-03101-3","volume":"119","author":"F Gonz\u00e1lez-Sala","year":"2019","unstructured":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Sala, F., Osca-Lluch, J., & Haba-Osca, J. (2019). Are journal and author self-citations a visibility strategy? Scientometrics, 119(3), 1345\u20131364. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-019-03101-3","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"issue":"7786","key":"4121_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"210","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-019-03759-y","volume":"576","author":"A Grudniewicz","year":"2019","unstructured":"Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., Ardern, C., Balcom, L., Barros, T., Berger, M., Ciro, J. B., Cugusi, L., Donaldson, M. R., Egger, M., Graham, I. D., Hodgkinson, M., Khan, K. M., Mabizela, M., Manca, A., \u2026 Lalu, M. M. (2019). Predatory journals: No definition, no defence. Nature, 576(7786), 210\u2013212. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/d41586-019-03759-y","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"4121_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.acalib.2020.102271","author":"F Krawczyk","year":"2020","unstructured":"Krawczyk, F., & Kulczycki, E. (2020). How is open access accused of being predatory? The impact of Beall\u2019s lists of predatory journals on academic publishing. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.acalib.2020.102271","journal-title":"The Journal of Academic Librarianship"},{"key":"4121_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/frma.2016.00001","author":"L Leydesdorff","year":"2016","unstructured":"Leydesdorff, L., Bornmann, L., Comins, J. A., & Milojevi\u0107, S. (2016). Citations: Indicators of quality? The impact fallacy. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frma.2016.00001","journal-title":"Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics"},{"key":"4121_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-020-03729-6","author":"S Moussa","year":"2021","unstructured":"Moussa, S. (2021). Citation contagion: A citation analysis of selected predatory marketing journals. Scientometrics. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03729-6","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"4121_CR25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/qss_a_00033","author":"G Nelhans","year":"2020","unstructured":"Nelhans, G., & Bodin, T. (2020). Methodological considerations for identifying questionable publishing in a national context: The case of Swedish Higher Education Institutions. Quantitative Science Studies. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/qss_a_00033","journal-title":"Quantitative Science Studies"},{"issue":"3","key":"4121_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1111\/jnu.12557","volume":"52","author":"MH Oermann","year":"2020","unstructured":"Oermann, M. H., Nicoll, L. H., Ashton, K. S., Edie, A. H., Amarasekara, S., Chinn, P. L., Carter-Templeton, H., & Ledbetter, L. S. (2020). Analysis of citation patterns and impact of predatory sources in the nursing literature. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(3), 311\u2013319. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/jnu.12557","journal-title":"Journal of Nursing Scholarship"},{"issue":"6","key":"4121_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"664","DOI":"10.1016\/j.outlook.2019.05.001","volume":"67","author":"MH Oermann","year":"2019","unstructured":"Oermann, M. H., Nicoll, L. H., Carter-Templeton, H., Woodward, A., Kidayi, P. L., Neal, L. B., Edie, A. H., Ashton, K. S., Chinn, P. L., & Amarasekara, S. (2019). Citations of articles in predatory nursing journals. Nursing Outlook, 67(6), 664\u2013670. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.outlook.2019.05.001","journal-title":"Nursing Outlook"},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.5860\/crl.79.1.52","volume":"79","author":"J Olivarez","year":"2018","unstructured":"Olivarez, J., Bales, S., Sare, L., & vanDuinkerken, W. (2018). Format aside: Applying Beall\u2019s criteria to assess the predatory nature of both OA and Non-OA library and information science journals. College & Research Libraries, 79(1), 52\u201367. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5860\/crl.79.1.52","journal-title":"College & Research Libraries"},{"key":"4121_CR29","unstructured":"Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. (2007). Revised field of science and technology (FOS) classification in the frascati manual DSTI\/EAS\/STP\/NESTI(2006)19\/FINAL. http:\/\/www.oecd.org\/science\/inno\/38235147.pdf."},{"key":"4121_CR30","unstructured":"Ormans, L. (2016). 50 Journals used in FT Research Rank. Financial Times. https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3405a512-5cbb-11e1-8f1f-00144feabdc0."},{"key":"4121_CR31","unstructured":"Schlegel, F. (Ed.). (2015). UNESCO science report: Towards 2030. UNESCO Publ."},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-015-0469-2","volume":"13","author":"C Shen","year":"2015","unstructured":"Shen, C., & Bj\u00f6rk, B.-C. (2015). \u2018Predatory\u2019 open access: A longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine, 13(1), 230\u2013230. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s12916-015-0469-2","journal-title":"BMC Medicine"},{"issue":"4","key":"4121_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"310","DOI":"10.1093\/reseval\/rvy016","volume":"27","author":"L S\u012ble","year":"2018","unstructured":"S\u012ble, L., P\u00f6l\u00f6nen, J., Sivertsen, G., Guns, R., Engels, T. C. E. E., Arefiev, P., Du\u0161kov\u00e1, M., Faurb\u00e6k, L., Holl, A., Kulczycki, E., Macan, B., Nelhans, G., Petr, M., Pisk, M., So\u00f3s, S., Stojanovski, J., Stone, A., \u0160u\u0161ol, J., & Teitelbaum, R. (2018). Comprehensiveness of national bibliographic databases for social sciences and humanities: Findings from a European survey. Research Evaluation, 27(4), 310\u2013322. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/reseval\/rvy016","journal-title":"Research Evaluation"},{"issue":"11","key":"4121_CR34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1386","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.24339","volume":"71","author":"K Siler","year":"2020","unstructured":"Siler, K. (2020). Demarcating spectrums of predatory publishing: Economic and institutional sources of academic legitimacy. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(11), 1386\u20131401. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/asi.24339","journal-title":"Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology"},{"issue":"5","key":"4121_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"730","DOI":"10.3145\/epi.2016.sep.03","volume":"25","author":"M Somoza-Fern\u00e1ndez","year":"2016","unstructured":"Somoza-Fern\u00e1ndez, M., Rodr\u00edguez-Gair\u00edn, J.-M., & Urbano, C. (2016). Presence of alleged predatory journals in bibliographic databases: Analysis of Beall\u2019s list. El Profesional De La Informaci\u00f3n, 25(5), 730. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3145\/epi.2016.sep.03","journal-title":"El Profesional De La Informaci\u00f3n"},{"issue":"7646","key":"4121_CR36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.1038\/543481a","volume":"543","author":"P Sorokowski","year":"2017","unstructured":"Sorokowski, P., Kulczycki, E., Sorokowska, A., & Pisanski, K. (2017). Predatory journals recruit fake editor. Nature, 543(7646), 481\u2013483. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/543481a","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"5","key":"4121_CR37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"516","DOI":"10.1108\/AJIM-01-2017-0013","volume":"69","author":"T St\u00f6ckelov\u00e1","year":"2017","unstructured":"St\u00f6ckelov\u00e1, T., & Vostal, F. (2017). Academic stratospheres-cum-underworlds: When highs and lows of publication cultures meet. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69(5), 516\u2013528. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/AJIM-01-2017-0013","journal-title":"Aslib Journal of Information Management"},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-017-2560-2","volume":"114","author":"Z Ta\u015fk\u0131n","year":"2018","unstructured":"Ta\u015fk\u0131n, Z., & Al, U. (2018). A content-based citation analysis study based on text categorization. Scientometrics, 114(1), 335\u2013357. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-017-2560-2","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"issue":"1","key":"4121_CR39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-020-03387-8","volume":"123","author":"J Zhu","year":"2020","unstructured":"Zhu, J., & Liu, W. (2020). A tale of two databases: The use of web of science and scopus in academic papers. Scientometrics, 123(1), 321\u2013335. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-020-03387-8","journal-title":"Scientometrics"}],"container-title":["Scientometrics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,26]],"date-time":"2021-09-26T18:16:17Z","timestamp":1632680177000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,2]]},"references-count":41,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,10]]}},"alternative-id":["4121"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11192-021-04121-8","relation":{},"ISSN":["0138-9130","1588-2861"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0138-9130","type":"print"},{"value":"1588-2861","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,2]]},"assertion":[{"value":"18 January 2021","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"26 July 2021","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"2 September 2021","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}}]}}