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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 September 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 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 495 MDPI-related entries
30701 21470 1.430
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 293 Frontiers Media-related entries
19503 13413 1.454
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 249 Hijacked journal-related entries
7558 6154 1.228
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 604 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
6948 5998 1.158
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 555 Medknow Publications-related entries
6443 4870 1.323
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.		 Open
All 329 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4208 3328 1.264
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 160 Dove Medical Press-related entries
2733 2235 1.223
8 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some fields are more unreliable than others		 ?
All 382 Alternative medicine-related entries
2633 1860 1.416
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 285 Case report-related entries
2136 1757 1.216
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
1421 1084 1.311
11 Current Science
[Beall's journal list / update]		 Open 1190 1000 1.190
12 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 133 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1180 978 1.207
13 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 30 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1082 585 1.850
14 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review".		 Open 1012 895 1.131
15 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.		 ?
All 251 ResearchGate-related entries
858 785 1.093
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 Open
All 66 AME Publishing Company-related entries
821 674 1.218
17 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 670 552 1.214
18 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 53 Conspiracy theory-related entries
621 533 1.165
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 ]		 Open
All 29 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
600 514 1.167
20 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 138 Propaganda-related entries
588 466 1.262
21 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.		 ?
All 12 Forbes-related entries
531 464 1.144
22 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.		 ?
All 222 Blog hosting services-related entries
511 449 1.138
23 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 469 408 1.150
24 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 10 Race and intelligence controversy-related entries
445 223 1.996
25 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.		 ?
All 52 Parapsychology-related entries
428 297 1.441
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]		 Open 370 347 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.		 Open
All 25 Medwell Journals-related entries
355 307 1.156
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 29 Chiropractic-related entries
310 159 1.950
30 Daily Star (United Kingdom)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Star.		 ? 281 152 1.849
31 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 47 Superseded theories in science-related entries
273 248 1.101
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
269 247 1.089
33 Quadrant (magazine)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Quadrant.		 ? 257 167 1.539
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.		 Open
All 23 Science Publishing Group-related entries
255 227 1.123
35 e-Century Publishing Corporation
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 20 e-Century Publishing Corporation-related entries
246 231 1.065
36 Journal of Management
[Lying about DOAJ]
Not the Southern Management Association journal		 ? 246 188 1.309
37 Canadian Center of Science and Education | {{doi|10.5539}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 30 Canadian Center of Science and Education-related entries
231 219 1.055
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 22 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
205 194 1.057
40 Medical Hypotheses
[See ]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed.		 ? 203 167 1.216
41 Aging (journal)
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 191 152 1.257
42 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service		 ? 176 176 1.000
43 Psychology Today
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 161 137 1.175
44 Symbiosis (publisher) | {{doi|10.15226}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 144 130 1.108
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.		 Open
All 35 OMICS Publishing Group-related entries
142 129 1.101
46 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 141 116 1.216
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 59 Diva Enterprises-related entries
133 125 1.064
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 121 110 1.100
50 Munis Entomology & Zoology
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 118 105 1.124
51 International Journal of Nanomedicine
[Beall's journal list / update]		 Open 117 85 1.376
52 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.		 ? 104 98 1.061
53 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 102 87 1.172
54 American Scientific Publishers | {{doi|10.1166}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 23 American Scientific Publishers-related entries
101 90 1.122
55 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 20 Creationism-related entries
95 66 1.439
56 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express.		 ? 89 80 1.113
57 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.		 ?
All 14 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
84 65 1.292
58 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
69 68 1.015
59 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update]		 ? 66 63 1.048
60 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update]		 Open 66 63 1.048
61 Astrology
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 19 Astrology-related entries
65 58 1.121
62 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 45 IGI Global-related entries
62 61 1.016
63 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 61 59 1.034
64 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 23 Alchemy-related entries
61 57 1.070
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.		 Open
All 10 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
60 56 1.071
66 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
67 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 58 53 1.094
68 National Association of Scholars | {{doi|10.51845}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 54 48 1.125
69 International Journal of Computer Applications
[Lying about DOAJ · Beall's publisher list]		 ? 51 49 1.041
70 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 8 Homeopathy-related entries
48 26 1.846
71 Genocide denial
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 27 Genocide denial-related entries
46 25 1.840
72 Jaypee Journals | {{doi|10.5005}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 16 Jaypee Journals-related entries
45 44 1.023
73 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 45 29 1.552
74 Journal of Physical Therapy Science
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 44 35 1.257
75 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 43 40 1.075
76 Vegetarian Times
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 41 38 1.079
77 Science Publications | {{doi|10.3844}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 14 Science Publications-related entries
40 40 1.000
78 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ]		 ? 40 39 1.026
79 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 40 34 1.176
80 Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 39 39 1.000
81 Journal of Environmental Biology
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 38 37 1.027
82 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints		 ? 38 33 1.152
83 Bioinformation | {{doi|10.6026}}
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 37 35 1.057
84 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 37 30 1.233
85 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 Open
All 14 Allied Academies-related entries
35 35 1.000
86 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 35 33 1.061
87 VS Infosolution | {{doi|10.30574}}
[Discussion]		 ? 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 HIV/AIDS denialism
[Unreliable fields]		 ? 35 25 1.400
91 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 31 31 1.000
92 Alternative & Complementary Therapies
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 31 30 1.033
93 Interdisciplinary Toxicology
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 31 30 1.033
94 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
95 InTech Open Access Publisher | {{doi|10.5772}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 26 InTech Open Access Publisher-related entries
31 29 1.069
96 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
[Beall's journal list · Quackwatch's list]		 ? 31 22 1.409
97 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 30 29 1.034
98 Kowsar Publishing | {{doi|10.5812}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 16 Kowsar Publishing-related entries
30 28 1.071
99 Serials Publications
[Beall's publisher list]
Man in India dates from well before Serials Publications came about. Date of acquisition unclear.		 ? 30 28 1.071
100 International Journal of Mathematics
[Lying about DOAJ]
Refers to the IAEME journal, not the World Scientific one		 ? 30 26 1.154
Date

Compilation last updated on 9 September 2026. The Wikipedia CiteWatch results are based on the database dump of 1 September 2026, using this configuration, with these exclusions.

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