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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 August 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 483 MDPI-related entries
30351 21210 1.431
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 294 Frontiers Media-related entries
19378 13321 1.455
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 241 Hijacked journal-related entries
7475 6083 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 604 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
6917 5966 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 552 Medknow Publications-related entries
6406 4843 1.323
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.
All 327 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4191 3318 1.263
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.
All 160 Dove Medical Press-related entries
2729 2228 1.225
8 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some fields are more unreliable than others
All 371 Alternative medicine-related entries
2610 1841 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 281 Case report-related entries
2123 1744 1.217
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 55 Baishideng Publishing Group-related entries
1419 1082 1.311
11 Current Science
[Beall's journal list / update]		 1186 996 1.191
12 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]
All 118 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1150 948 1.213
13 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]
All 30 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1080 582 1.856
14 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review".		 995 883 1.127
15 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.
All 237 ResearchGate-related entries
844 774 1.090
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 65 AME Publishing Company-related entries
813 665 1.223
17 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 665 550 1.209
18 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]
All 45 Conspiracy theory-related entries
609 523 1.164
19 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 ]
All 29 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
594 510 1.165
20 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]
All 116 Propaganda-related entries
537 426 1.261
21 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.
All 12 Forbes-related entries
530 463 1.145
22 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.
All 221 Blog hosting services-related entries
509 446 1.141
23 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list]		 466 406 1.148
24 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields]		 438 218 2.009
25 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.
All 44 Parapsychology-related entries
418 289 1.446
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.		 402 370 1.086
27 Frontiers in Bioscience | {{doi|10.2741}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 369 346 1.066
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 23 Medwell Journals-related entries
350 303 1.155
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]
All 28 Chiropractic-related entries
308 157 1.962
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 160 Unpublished-related entries
270 248 1.089
32 Quadrant (magazine)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Quadrant.		 257 167 1.539
33 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]
All 38 Superseded theories in science-related entries
254 232 1.095
34 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
251 224 1.121
35 e-Century Publishing Corporation
[Beall's publisher list]
All 20 e-Century Publishing Corporation-related entries
247 232 1.065
36 Journal of Management
[Lying about DOAJ]
Not the Southern Management Association journal		 240 187 1.283
37 Canadian Center of Science and Education | {{doi|10.5539}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 30 Canadian Center of Science and Education-related entries
232 220 1.055
38 HuffPost
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#HuffPost contributors, staff is debatable, contributors/editorial partners are not reliable.
All 16 HuffPost-related entries
220 209 1.053
39 Medical Hypotheses
[See ]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed.		 203 167 1.216
40 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
[WP:CIRCULAR / WP:MIRROR]
Many entries are listed for mirroring small excerpts only.
All 20 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
202 191 1.058
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]		 144 130 1.108
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 32 OMICS Publishing Group-related entries
135 124 1.089
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 57 Diva Enterprises-related entries
129 123 1.049
47 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
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 American Scientific Publishers | {{doi|10.1166}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 23 American Scientific Publishers-related entries
102 91 1.121
52 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 102 87 1.172
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.		 98 92 1.065
54 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]
All 20 Creationism-related entries
93 64 1.453
55 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express.		 89 80 1.113
56 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 19 Pulsus Group-related entries
67 66 1.015
57 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update]		 67 63 1.063
58 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update]		 64 61 1.049
59 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 44 IGI Global-related entries
61 60 1.017
60 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list]		 61 59 1.034
61 Nucleus
[Lying about DOAJ]
Make sure it's ISSN 1982-2278, there are many other publications with the same/similar name.		 60 54 1.111
62 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list]		 58 53 1.094
63 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]
All 14 Alchemy-related entries
57 53 1.075
64 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.
All 13 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
57 46 1.239
65 National Association of Scholars | {{doi|10.51845}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 54 48 1.125
66 International Journal of Computer Applications
[Lying about DOAJ · Beall's publisher list]		 50 48 1.042
67 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]
All 8 Homeopathy-related entries
48 26 1.846
68 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 7 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
47 43 1.093
69 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service		 46 46 1.000
70 Jaypee Journals | {{doi|10.5005}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 16 Jaypee Journals-related entries
45 44 1.023
71 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
[Quackwatch's list]		 45 29 1.552
72 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list]		 44 41 1.073
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
40 40 1.000
76 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list]		 40 34 1.176
77 Genocide denial
[Unreliable fields]
All 14 Genocide denial-related entries
40 19 2.105
78 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ]		 39 38 1.026
79 Journal of Environmental Biology
[Beall's journal list]		 38 37 1.027
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 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 37 30 1.233
83 Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
[Beall's journal list]		 36 36 1.000
84 Vegetarian Times
[Quackwatch's list]		 36 33 1.091
85 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints		 36 31 1.161
86 HIV/AIDS denialism
[Unreliable fields]		 36 26 1.385
87 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list]		 35 33 1.061
88 Journal of Psychology and Theology
[Beall's journal list]		 35 31 1.129
89 CESNUR
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#CESNUR.		 35 25 1.400
90 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 14 Allied Academies-related entries
34 34 1.000
91 International Institute for Science, Technology and Education | {{doi|10.7176}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Search for iiste.org		 33 27 1.222
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 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 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
[Beall's journal list · Quackwatch's list]		 31 22 1.409
97 International Journal of Mathematics
[Lying about DOAJ]
Refers to the IAEME journal, not the World Scientific one		 30 26 1.154
98 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
[Beall's journal list]		 29 28 1.036
99 InTech Open Access Publisher | {{doi|10.5772}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 24 InTech Open Access Publisher-related entries
29 27 1.074
100 Serials Publications
[Beall's publisher list]
Man in India dates from well before Serials Publications came about. Date of acquisition unclear.		 29 27 1.074
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/Journals_cited_by_Wikipedia/Questionable1&oldid=1368302279"