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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 October 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 508 MDPI-related entries
31059 21721 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 297 Frontiers Media-related entries
19660 13536 1.452
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 255 Hijacked journal-related entries
7584 6181 1.227
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 614 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
6978 6018 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 554 Medknow Publications-related entries
6460 4875 1.325
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.		 Open
All 331 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4208 3334 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
2753 2249 1.224
8 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some fields are more unreliable than others		 ?
All 410 Alternative medicine-related entries
2659 1874 1.419
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 287 Case report-related entries
2142 1762 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 1201 1009 1.190
12 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 145 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1141 939 1.215
13 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 32 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1082 586 1.846
14 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review".		 Open 1033 908 1.138
15 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.		 ?
All 251 ResearchGate-related entries
864 791 1.092
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 Open
All 67 AME Publishing Company-related entries
826 679 1.216
17 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 62 Conspiracy theory-related entries
699 582 1.201
18 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 670 552 1.214
19 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 164 Propaganda-related entries
636 512 1.242
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 29 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
603 516 1.169
21 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.		 ?
All 12 Forbes-related entries
533 466 1.144
22 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.		 ?
All 226 Blog hosting services-related entries
516 455 1.134
23 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 470 408 1.152
24 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 12 Race and intelligence controversy-related entries
448 226 1.982
25 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.		 ?
All 51 Parapsychology-related entries
432 298 1.450
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 30 Medwell Journals-related entries
360 311 1.158
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 29 Chiropractic-related entries
311 159 1.956
30 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 56 Superseded theories in science-related entries
286 261 1.096
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
269 247 1.089
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 25 Science Publishing Group-related entries
263 233 1.129
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
246 231 1.065
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 27 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
208 197 1.056
40 Medical Hypotheses
[See ]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed.		 ? 203 167 1.216
41 Aging (journal)
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 190 152 1.250
42 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service		 ? 184 184 1.000
43 Psychology Today
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 162 138 1.174
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
141 129 1.093
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 60 Diva Enterprises-related entries
134 126 1.063
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 122 111 1.099
50 Munis Entomology & Zoology
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 119 106 1.123
51 International Journal of Nanomedicine
[Beall's journal list / update]		 Open 118 86 1.372
52 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 106 88 1.205
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
101 90 1.122
55 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 22 Creationism-related entries
99 69 1.435
56 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.		 ?
All 19 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
92 73 1.260
57 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express.		 ? 89 80 1.113
58 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 25 Alchemy-related entries
72 68 1.059
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 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 19 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
70 65 1.077
61 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update]		 Open 66 63 1.048
62 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update]		 ? 65 62 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 46 IGI Global-related entries
63 62 1.016
64 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list]		 Open 61 59 1.034
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 Astrology
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 19 Astrology-related entries
58 51 1.137
67 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 57 52 1.096
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]		 ? 53 51 1.039
70 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]		 ?
All 11 Homeopathy-related entries
50 28 1.786
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 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ]		 ? 44 42 1.048
75 Journal of Physical Therapy Science
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 44 35 1.257
76 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 43 40 1.075
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 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 40 34 1.176
82 Science Publications | {{doi|10.3844}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 14 Science Publications-related entries
39 39 1.000
83 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints		 ? 38 33 1.152
84 Bioinformation | {{doi|10.6026}}
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 37 35 1.057
85 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list]		 ? 37 30 1.233
86 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 Open
All 14 Allied Academies-related entries
36 36 1.000
87 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list]		 ? 36 34 1.059
88 Journal of Psychology and Theology
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 35 31 1.129
89 VS Infosolution | {{doi|10.30574}}
[Discussion]		 ? 34 32 1.062
90 InTech Open Access Publisher | {{doi|10.5772}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 27 InTech Open Access Publisher-related entries
32 30 1.067
91 Serials Publications
[Beall's publisher list]
Man in India dates from well before Serials Publications came about. Date of acquisition unclear.		 ? 32 29 1.103
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 CESNUR
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#CESNUR.		 ? 31 25 1.240
97 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 30 30 1.000
98 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
[Beall's journal list]		 ? 30 29 1.034
99 Kowsar Publishing | {{doi|10.5812}}
[Beall's publisher list]		 ?
All 16 Kowsar Publishing-related entries
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 3 October 2026. The Wikipedia CiteWatch results are based on the database dump of 1 October 2026, using this configuration, with these exclusions.

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