Identifying common patterns in journals that retracted papers from paper mills: a cross-sectional study
This study suggests that paper mill retractions are concentrated in a small number of journals with common characteristics: high open access rates, intermediate impact factor quartiles, a high volume of citable items, and classification in medicine and health categories. Short editorial times may indicate a higher presence of paper mill publications, but more research is needed to examine this factor in depth, as well as the possible influence of acceptance rates.
Authors
- Alberto Ruano‐Raviña (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9927-7453)
- Joseph S. Ross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9218-3320)
- Lucia Martin‐Gisbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4641-2129)
- Cristina Candal‐Pedreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1703-3592)
- Guadalupe García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3529-7655)
- Noa Mascato Fontaíña
Institutions
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES)
- Yale University (US)
- Yale New Haven Health System (US)
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago (ES)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Research Integrity and Peer Review
- Published
- 2025-09-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-025-00177-9
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Academic integrity and plagiarism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.37