Wikipedia:WikiProject Academic Journals/Journals cited by Wikipedia/Questionable1

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Rank Target/Group OA?3 Entries (Citations, Articles) Total Citations Distinct Articles ⁠Citations/article⁠
1 MDPI | {{doi|10.1989}} · {{doi|10.20944}} · {{doi|10.32545}} · {{doi|10.3390}} · {{doi|10.35995}}
[Beall's publisher list / update]
MDPI is very much hit-and-miss. MDPI on Beall's original list in 2014, but was removed in 2015. The updated list says "Some of their journals have a very poor peer-review; some are fine." Social Sciences could be multiple other journals. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
Open
All 527 MDPI-related entries
31588 22046 1.433
2 Frontiers Media | {{doi|10.3389}} · {{doi|10.4175}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Very much hit-and-miss. See note on Beall's list. Will accept almost anything (80-90% of submissions), and has sacked editors for being too selective. Many journals have impact factors and are listed on DOAJ, and Frontiers Media remains part of COPE and OASPA. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
Open
All 297 Frontiers Media-related entries
19911 13703 1.453
3 Hijacked journal
[Beall's hijacked list · Beall's hijacked list / update · Beall's journal list · Bohannon's list of hijacked journals]
Hijacked journals are legitimate academic journals with imposters pretending to be the legitimate publication. These citations are likely not problematic, but it is good to check that the real journal is being cited.
?
All 254 Hijacked journal-related entries
7688 6244 1.231
4 Hindawi (publisher) | {{doi|10.1100}} · {{doi|10.1155}} · {{doi|10.3814}} · {{doi|10.4061}} · {{doi|10.5402}} · {{doi|10.6064}} · {{doi|10.7167}} · {{doi|10.7217}}
[Beall's publisher list*]
Listed on Beall's list in 2010, but later removed as a 'borderline case'. In 2023, Hindawi retracted several thousands of articles from paper mills. Wiley estimates that 10-13% of all Hindawi papers are affected, though this may vary from journal to journal. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
Open
All 622 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
7029 6059 1.160
5 Medknow Publications | {{doi|10.4103}} · {{doi|10.6219}}
[Beall's publisher list* · Beall's journal list / update]
Listed on Beall's list in 2011, but removed in 2012. Several of its journal are listed on the updated list, however.
Open
All 560 Medknow Publications-related entries
6515 4903 1.329
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.
Open
All 332 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4212 3337 1.262
7 Dove Medical Press | {{doi|10.2147}}
[Beall's journal list / update]
Formerly on Beall's original list as 'Dove Press', but several journals are listed on the updated list.
Open
All 164 Dove Medical Press-related entries
2774 2265 1.225
8 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some fields are more unreliable than others
?
All 428 Alternative medicine-related entries
2697 1902 1.418
9 Case report
[Unreliable fields]
Case reports may be perfectly fine citations, however they will usually fail WP:MEDRS as individual cases are considered anecdotal evidence.
?
All 290 Case report-related entries
2166 1777 1.219
10 Baishideng Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11569}} · {{doi|10.12998}} · {{doi|10.13105}} · {{doi|10.35711}} · {{doi|10.35712}} · {{doi|10.35713}} · {{doi|10.37126}} · {{doi|10.3748}} · {{doi|10.4239}} · {{doi|10.4240}} · {{doi|10.4251}} · {{doi|10.4252}} · {{doi|10.4253}} · {{doi|10.4254}} · {{doi|10.4291}} · {{doi|10.4292}} · {{doi|10.4329}} · {{doi|10.4330}} · {{doi|10.4331}} · {{doi|10.5306}} · {{doi|10.5312}} · {{doi|10.5313}} · {{doi|10.5314}} · {{doi|10.5315}} · {{doi|10.5316}} · {{doi|10.5317}} · {{doi|10.5318}} · {{doi|10.5319}} · {{doi|10.5320}} · {{doi|10.5321}} · {{doi|10.5409}} · {{doi|10.5410}} · {{doi|10.5411}} · {{doi|10.5412}} · {{doi|10.5492}} · {{doi|10.5493}} · {{doi|10.5494}} · {{doi|10.5495}} · {{doi|10.5496}} · {{doi|10.5497}} · {{doi|10.5498}} · {{doi|10.5499}} · {{doi|10.5500}} · {{doi|10.5501}} · {{doi|10.5527}} · {{doi|10.5528}} · {{doi|10.5662}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Open
All 54 Baishideng Publishing Group-related entries
1422 1086 1.309
11 Current Science
[Beall's journal list / update]
Open 1210 1018 1.189
12 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 157 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1133 935 1.212
13 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 32 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1082 588 1.840
14 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review".
Open 1051 924 1.137
15 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.
?
All 256 ResearchGate-related entries
877 804 1.091
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Open
All 67 AME Publishing Company-related entries
835 684 1.221
17 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 61 Conspiracy theory-related entries
676 563 1.201
18 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list]
? 673 555 1.213
19 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 178 Propaganda-related entries
661 538 1.229
20 F1000 (publisher) | {{doi|10.12688}} · {{doi|10.12703}} · {{doi|10.21955}} · {{doi|10.21956}} · {{doi|10.3410}} · {{doi|10.4089}} · {{doi|10.5256}} · {{doi|10.7490}}
[See ]
Open
All 30 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
613 527 1.163
21 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.
?
All 12 Forbes-related entries
534 467 1.143
22 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.
?
All 229 Blog hosting services-related entries
519 458 1.133
23 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list]
Open 473 411 1.151
24 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 14 Race and intelligence controversy-related entries
450 228 1.974
25 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.
?
All 60 Parapsychology-related entries
436 305 1.430
26 Rolling Stone
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Rolling Stone; good for culture news reporting; unreliable for politically/societally sensitive reporting; Culture Council articles unreliable.
? 409 375 1.091
27 Frontiers in Bioscience | {{doi|10.2741}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Open
All 10 Frontiers in Bioscience-related entries
369 348 1.060
28 Medwell Journals | {{doi|10.3923}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Veterinary Research is most likely the one published by BioMed Central, rather than Medwell. Social Sciences could be multiple other journals.
Open
All 25 Medwell Journals-related entries
360 311 1.158
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 30 Chiropractic-related entries
311 159 1.956
30 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 67 Superseded theories in science-related entries
292 267 1.094
31 Daily Star (United Kingdom)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Star.
? 281 152 1.849
32 Unpublished
[—]
May simply be in need of being updated to the published version. Otherwise, these probably fail WP:V.
?
All 159 Unpublished-related entries
267 246 1.085
33 Science Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11648}}
[Beall's publisher list · Beall's publisher list / update]
Social Sciences could be multiple other journals. Several of SPG journals are named either identically or are very similar to other publications, e.g. International Journal of Data Science and Analysis vs International Journal of Data Science and Analytics and may thus have similar ISO 4 abbreviations. It was founded in 2012, so references prior to 2012 are unlikely to be of this publisher.
Open
All 27 Science Publishing Group-related entries
267 237 1.127
34 Quadrant (magazine)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Quadrant.
? 258 168 1.536
35 e-Century Publishing Corporation
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 20 e-Century Publishing Corporation-related entries
245 231 1.061
36 Journal of Management
[Lying about DOAJ]
Not the Southern Management Association journal
? 243 187 1.299
37 Canadian Center of Science and Education | {{doi|10.5539}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 30 Canadian Center of Science and Education-related entries
233 221 1.054
38 HuffPost
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#HuffPost contributors, staff is debatable, contributors/editorial partners are not reliable.
?
All 12 HuffPost-related entries
221 210 1.052
39 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
[WP:CIRCULAR / WP:MIRROR]
Many entries are listed for mirroring small excerpts only.
?
All 31 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
211 200 1.055
40 Medical Hypotheses
[See ]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed.
? 201 167 1.204
41 Aging (journal)
[Beall's journal list]
Open 190 152 1.250
42 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service
? 185 185 1.000
43 Psychology Today
[Quackwatch's list]
? 159 136 1.169
44 Symbiosis (publisher) | {{doi|10.15226}}
[Beall's publisher list]
? 145 131 1.107
45 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
[Quackwatch's list]
? 142 117 1.214
46 Diva Enterprises | {{doi|10.5958}}
[UGC]
Several of their journal fail UGC criteria. Those that pass are listed here. Those from listed as UGC Group 1 are probably fine. UGC Group II could be fine, depending on the database. Those without UGC recognition are very likely not fine. Those unmentioned are definitely not fine.
?
All 62 Diva Enterprises-related entries
138 130 1.062
47 OMICS Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11131}} · {{doi|10.12715}} · {{doi|10.14303}} · {{doi|10.15412}} · {{doi|10.21767}} · {{doi|10.24105}} · {{doi|10.3371}} · {{doi|10.36648}} · {{doi|10.37532}} · {{doi|10.4066}} · {{doi|10.4172}} · {{doi|10.47128}} · {{doi|10.54931}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Vegetos is published by Springer Nature since 2019.
Open
All 32 OMICS Publishing Group-related entries
138 128 1.078
48 Marquis Who's Who
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Marquis Who's Who.
?
All 17 Marquis Who's Who-related entries
128 112 1.143
49 Genetics and Molecular Research | {{doi|10.4238}}
[Beall's journal list]
Open 123 112 1.098
50 Munis Entomology & Zoology
[Beall's journal list]
? 120 107 1.121
51 International Journal of Nanomedicine
[Beall's journal list / update]
Open 119 87 1.368
52 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]
? 107 88 1.216
53 Project Innovation
[Beall's publisher list]
These journals were acquired by Project Innovations at some point, but were well-established before that. Project Innovations also switched owners at several points, the most recent being 2004. Unclear when problems with publisher started.
? 103 98 1.051
54 American Scientific Publishers | {{doi|10.1166}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 23 American Scientific Publishers-related entries
102 91 1.121
55 Astrology
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 25 Astrology-related entries
99 91 1.088
56 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 21 Creationism-related entries
98 68 1.441
57 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.
?
All 25 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
97 78 1.244
58 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express.
? 90 81 1.111
59 Pulsus Group | {{doi|10.19144}} · {{doi|10.21282}} · {{doi|10.4066}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Purchased by OMICS Publishing Group in 2016. The Journal of Agriculture is likely an older, non-Pulsus journal.
?
All 21 Pulsus Group-related entries
71 70 1.014
60 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 28 Alchemy-related entries
71 67 1.060
61 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update]
? 67 64 1.047
62 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update]
Open 66 63 1.048
63 IGI Global | {{doi|10.4018}}
[ · ]
IGI Global is mostly criticized for it's book-publishing practices. Criticism is mostly silent on its journals, several of which have impact factors.
?
All 47 IGI Global-related entries
64 63 1.016
64 Scientific Research Publishing | {{doi|10.4236}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Chinese Medicine likely refers to the BioMed Central journal. Comput. Chem. likely refers to Computer & Chemistry.
Open
All 20 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
64 58 1.103
65 Nucleus
[Lying about DOAJ]
Make sure it's ISSN 1982-2278, there are many other publications with the same/similar name.
? 61 55 1.109
66 National Association of Scholars | {{doi|10.51845}}
[Beall's publisher list]
? 61 51 1.196
67 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list]
Open 60 58 1.034
68 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list]
? 56 51 1.098
69 Jaypee Journals | {{doi|10.5005}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 17 Jaypee Journals-related entries
54 52 1.038
70 International Journal of Computer Applications
[Lying about DOAJ · Beall's publisher list]
? 53 51 1.039
71 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 11 Homeopathy-related entries
50 28 1.786
72 Wikipedia:Deprecated sources
[WP:DEPS § Currently deprecated sources]
?
All 22 Wikipedia:Deprecated sources-related entries
46 41 1.122
73 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
[Quackwatch's list]
? 46 30 1.533
74 Genocide denial
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 26 Genocide denial-related entries
46 25 1.840
75 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list]
? 45 41 1.098
76 Journal of Physical Therapy Science
[Beall's journal list]
? 44 35 1.257
77 HIV/AIDS denialism
[Unreliable fields]
?
All 10 HIV/AIDS denialism-related entries
42 32 1.312
78 Journal of Environmental Biology
[Beall's journal list]
Open 41 40 1.025
79 Vegetarian Times
[Quackwatch's list]
? 41 38 1.079
80 Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
[Beall's journal list]
? 40 40 1.000
81 Science Publications | {{doi|10.3844}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 14 Science Publications-related entries
40 40 1.000
82 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ]
? 40 38 1.053
83 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints
? 40 35 1.143
84 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list]
? 40 34 1.176
85 Bioinformation | {{doi|10.6026}}
[Beall's journal list]
? 37 35 1.057
86 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]
? 37 30 1.233
87 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Open
All 15 Allied Academies-related entries
36 36 1.000
88 VS Infosolution | {{doi|10.30574}}
[Discussion]
? 36 34 1.059
89 Journal of Psychology and Theology
[Beall's journal list]
? 36 32 1.125
90 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list]
? 33 31 1.065
91 InTech Open Access Publisher | {{doi|10.5772}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 27 InTech Open Access Publisher-related entries
32 30 1.067
92 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
[Beall's journal list · Quackwatch's list]
? 32 23 1.391
93 Alternative & Complementary Therapies
[Quackwatch's list]
? 31 30 1.033
94 Interdisciplinary Toxicology
[Beall's journal list]
? 31 30 1.033
95 European Journal of Social Sciences
[Beall's journal list]
Possibly hijacked. The journal published by Librairie Droz, hosted on Open Edition is legitimate. The one published by Social Sciences Research Platform is listed by Beall.
? 31 29 1.069
96 Kowsar Publishing | {{doi|10.5812}}
[Beall's publisher list]
?
All 16 Kowsar Publishing-related entries
31 29 1.069
97 Serials Publications
[Beall's publisher list]
Man in India dates from well before Serials Publications came about. Date of acquisition unclear.
? 31 28 1.107
98 CESNUR
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#CESNUR.
? 31 25 1.240
99 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
[Beall's journal list]
? 30 30 1.000
100 Medium (website)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Medium.
?
All 8 Medium (website)-related entries
30 29 1.034
Date

Compilation last updated on 8 November 2026. The Wikipedia CiteWatch results are based on the database dump of 1 November 2026, using this configuration, with these exclusions.