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

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This is The Wikipedia CiteWatch, a bot-compiled listing of potentially cargo cult, conspiracist, denialist, fake, junk, not even wrong, obsolete, predatory, pseudoscientific, quack, or otherwise unreliable publications cited by Wikipedia through the |journal= and |doi= parameters of citation templates (see this Signpost article for details). It is based on several lists of unreliable or questionable publications (such as those compiled by Jeffrey Beall, the University Grants Commission, Quackwatch, or Wikipedia editors) and currently reflects the state of Wikipedia as of 1 July 2026. See Q9 in the FAQ for the update schedule.

This list is a starting point to detect unreliable sources which are cited by Wikipedia, but it does not answer whether it is appropriate to cite them. Due to the somewhat arbitrary nature of what exactly constitutes an unreliable source, as well as imperfect matching algorithms, the list may feature publications and publishers which...

  1. are flat-out promoting pseudo/junk scholarship or quackery
  2. are flat-out predatory/vanity venues, with sham peer-review processes
  3. were once-reliable, but have since been acquired by predatory publishers
  4. were once-unreliable, but no longer engage in problematic practices
  5. reflect the sources' good but imperfect judgment of what is unreliable
  6. are problematic in some areas (e.g. pseudoscience), but reliable in others (e.g. news)
  7. are problematic in some other way (e.g. circular references, or deprecated sources)
  8. are problematic but used in an acceptable manner (e.g. primary sources about frauds)
  9. are misclassified because of a spelling variation (red links especially)
  10. are misclassified because of false positives, miscategorization, or flawed bot logic
  11. are reliable, but share names with imposter publications and publishers
  12. are about pseudoscholarship as a topic, rather than being pseudoscholarly themselves

While many, if not most, publications and publishers on this list have some questionable aspects to their publishing practices, these can still be reliable (or be otherwise acceptable) in limited circumstances. The CiteWatch cannot determine the full context in which a source is used, therefore use common sense and judgement before removing a citation from an article (see Q8 in the FAQ). When in doubt, discuss things on the article's talk page or at the reliable sources noticeboard – especially before a mass purge of a source. The Unreliable/Predatory Source Detector user script may also interest you.

Additions and removals from the listing – including false positives – can be discussed at WT:CITEWATCH. False positives can also be directly handled at WP:JCW/EXCLUDE.
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Rank Target/Group 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).
All 479 MDPI-related entries
29932 20901 1.432
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).
All 303 Frontiers Media-related entries
19180 13200 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 244 Hijacked journal-related entries
7432 6046 1.229
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).
All 608 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
6894 5947 1.159
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.
All 570 Medknow Publications-related entries
6381 4822 1.323
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.
All 320 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4164 3294 1.264
7 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some fields are more unreliable than others
All 508 Alternative medicine-related entries
2736 1954 1.400
8 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.
All 161 Dove Medical Press-related entries
2710 2209 1.227
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 281 Case report-related entries
2099 1721 1.220
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]
All 54 Baishideng Publishing Group-related entries
1415 1077 1.314
11 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]
All 189 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1199 1009 1.188
12 Current Science
[Beall's journal list / update] 		1183 993 1.191
13 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]
All 30 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1078 580 1.859
14 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review". 		969 859 1.128
15 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.
All 237 ResearchGate-related entries
841 770 1.092
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 66 AME Publishing Company-related entries
809 662 1.222
17 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		665 550 1.209
18 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 [1]]
All 34 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
589 505 1.166
19 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]
All 29 Conspiracy theory-related entries
582 502 1.159
20 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]
All 106 Propaganda-related entries
573 455 1.259
21 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.
All 12 Forbes-related entries
536 468 1.145
22 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.
All 222 Blog hosting services-related entries
508 445 1.142
23 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list] 		466 406 1.148
24 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields] 		436 216 2.019
25 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.
All 40 Parapsychology-related entries
408 277 1.473
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. 		401 369 1.087
27 Frontiers in Bioscience | {{doi|10.2741}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		367 344 1.067
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.
All 19 Medwell Journals-related entries
347 301 1.153
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]
All 28 Chiropractic-related entries
307 156 1.968
30 Daily Star (United Kingdom)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Star. 		281 152 1.849
31 Unpublished
[—]
May simply be in need of being updated to the published version. Otherwise, these probably fail WP:V.
All 162 Unpublished-related entries
273 251 1.088
32 Quadrant (magazine)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Quadrant. 		256 166 1.542
33 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]
All 37 Superseded theories in science-related entries
248 226 1.097
34 e-Century Publishing Corporation
[Beall's publisher list]
All 20 e-Century Publishing Corporation-related entries
247 231 1.069
35 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.
All 23 Science Publishing Group-related entries
246 220 1.118
36 Journal of Management
[Lying about DOAJ]
Not the Southern Management Association journal 		238 186 1.280
37 Canadian Center of Science and Education | {{doi|10.5539}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 30 Canadian Center of Science and Education-related entries
237 225 1.053
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
219 208 1.053
39 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
[WP:CIRCULAR / WP:MIRROR]
Many entries are listed for mirroring small excerpts only.
All 19 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
202 190 1.063
40 Medical Hypotheses
[See [2]]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed. 		200 164 1.220
41 Aging (journal)
[Beall's journal list] 		189 152 1.243
42 Psychology Today
[Quackwatch's list] 		156 133 1.173
43 Symbiosis (publisher) | {{doi|10.15226}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		146 131 1.115
44 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
[Quackwatch's list] 		140 115 1.217
45 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.
All 30 OMICS Publishing Group-related entries
136 125 1.088
46 Marquis Who's Who
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Marquis Who's Who.
All 18 Marquis Who's Who-related entries
128 112 1.143
47 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 55 Diva Enterprises-related entries
127 121 1.050
48 Genetics and Molecular Research | {{doi|10.4238}}
[Beall's journal list] 		120 109 1.101
49 International Journal of Nanomedicine
[Beall's journal list / update] 		117 85 1.376
50 Munis Entomology & Zoology
[Beall's journal list] 		115 102 1.127
51 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list] 		101 86 1.174
52 American Scientific Publishers | {{doi|10.1166}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 22 American Scientific Publishers-related entries
100 89 1.124
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. 		97 91 1.066
54 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]
All 19 Creationism-related entries
92 63 1.460
55 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express. 		88 79 1.114
56 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update] 		67 63 1.063
57 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 18 Pulsus Group-related entries
66 65 1.015
58 IGI Global | {{doi|10.4018}}
[[3] · [4]]
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 46 IGI Global-related entries
64 63 1.016
59 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
60 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list] 		60 58 1.034
61 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update] 		60 57 1.053
62 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list] 		58 53 1.094
63 National Association of Scholars | {{doi|10.51845}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		54 48 1.125
64 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]
All 9 Alchemy-related entries
53 49 1.082
65 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.
All 10 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
53 48 1.104
66 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.
All 10 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
52 41 1.268
67 International Journal of Computer Applications
[Lying about DOAJ · Beall's publisher list] 		50 48 1.042
68 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service 		49 49 1.000
69 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]
All 9 Homeopathy-related entries
48 26 1.846
70 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
[Quackwatch's list] 		45 29 1.552
71 Jaypee Journals | {{doi|10.5005}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 15 Jaypee Journals-related entries
44 43 1.023
72 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list] 		43 40 1.075
73 Journal of Physical Therapy Science
[Beall's journal list] 		43 34 1.265
74 Astrology
[Unreliable fields]
All 10 Astrology-related entries
42 35 1.200
75 Science Publications | {{doi|10.3844}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 14 Science Publications-related entries
41 41 1.000
76 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list] 		40 34 1.176
77 International Institute for Science, Technology and Education | {{doi|10.7176}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Search for iiste.org
All 11 International Institute for Science, Technology and Education-related entries
39 33 1.182
78 Genocide denial
[Unreliable fields]
All 11 Genocide denial-related entries
38 17 2.235
79 Journal of Environmental Biology
[Beall's journal list] 		37 36 1.028
80 VS Infosolution | {{doi|10.30574}}
[Discussion] 		37 36 1.028
81 Bioinformation | {{doi|10.6026}}
[Beall's journal list] 		37 35 1.057
82 CESNUR
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#CESNUR. 		37 26 1.423
83 Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
[Beall's journal list] 		36 36 1.000
84 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ] 		36 35 1.029
85 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list] 		36 33 1.091
86 Vegetarian Times
[Quackwatch's list] 		36 33 1.091
87 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list] 		36 29 1.241
88 Journal of Psychology and Theology
[Beall's journal list] 		35 31 1.129
89 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints 		35 30 1.167
90 HIV/AIDS denialism
[Unreliable fields] 		35 25 1.400
91 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 14 Allied Academies-related entries
33 33 1.000
92 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
[Beall's journal list] 		31 31 1.000
93 Alternative & Complementary Therapies
[Quackwatch's list] 		31 30 1.033
94 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
[Beall's journal list · Quackwatch's list] 		31 22 1.409
95 Interdisciplinary Toxicology
[Beall's journal list] 		30 29 1.034
96 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. 		30 28 1.071
97 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
[Beall's journal list] 		29 28 1.036
98 InTech Open Access Publisher | {{doi|10.5772}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 24 InTech Open Access Publisher-related entries
29 27 1.074
99 International Journal of Mathematics
[Lying about DOAJ]
Refers to the IAEME journal, not the World Scientific one 		29 25 1.160
100 International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research | {{doi|10.36948}}
[Beall's journal list / update] 		28 26 1.077
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/Journals_cited_by_Wikipedia/Questionable1&oldid=1366098986"