Good afternoon, dear scientists! This is the Article Academy. We're launching a new section: publications that will soon lose their Scopus indexing. We'll regularly analyze publications at risk and publish informative articles with our findings to protect you from wasted time, money, and frustration.
This time, we present you with a list of three publications that are currently indexed in Scopus, but, according to our observations, violate all the rules and requirements of the Scopus database for scientific publications and will soon be excluded from the database.
Magazines:
Multidisciplinary science journal — the first publication on our list, quite popular among Ukrainian scholars. The journal was accepted into Scopus in 2023, but has already made numerous errors, which is why it will be removed from the database in the near future.
List of violations for which a journal will likely be excluded from the database:
1) A sharp increase in the number of published articles and issues. As we can see in the screenshot, from 2019 to 2022, the journal published approximately 15-25 articles per year. In 2023, the journal was accepted into Scopus and published 185 articles that year alone.
In 2024, the journal has already published 193 articles, and that's just in April, the fourth month of the year. In the first issues of 2024, the journal published no more than 20 articles per issue, limiting the number of articles published, but the desire for profit has prevailed, and the journal is now publishing over 30 articles per issue. We forecast that by the end of the year, the journal will publish over 400 articles, a significant portion of which will be special issues, for which it will be automatically excluded by the RADAR system.
2) The second compelling reason for the journal's exclusion from the Scopus database is the publication of a large number of issues and special issues. Before being included in the Scopus database, the journal was a quarterly journal (published four times a year—this frequency is optimal for Scopus). In 2023, the journal published four issues per year but six special issues. As of April, it has published two special issues and nine regular issues in 2024.
3) Complete lack of peer review. Our internal editors and reviewers reviewed the articles published in the journal and noted a large number of errors indicating a lack of peer review, which is crucial for regular indexing in Scopus. For example, an article published in issue 1 of 2024, which contains only 7 references, is completely unacceptable for Scopus.
4) The journal publishes 2-3 articles by the same author in a single issue. This is strictly prohibited by COPE rules, and Scopus takes a very dim view of such actions by journals. In our experience, Scopus has de-indexed all journals that have done this.
Result: This journal, 100%, will be excluded from the Scopus database by the end of 2024 for violating the rules described above. We also predict that if Scopus specialists pay attention to article quality during their review, there is an almost 100% probability that all 2024 issues will be deidentified. This probability is also present for 2023 issues, but it is less likely. Judging by the dynamics we are seeing, the journal's management understands this. Their strategy is to maximize profits as quickly as possible.
2. REVISTA DE GESTIO SOCIAL E AMBIENTAL — the second edition, also quite popular among Ukrainian scientists. This is not surprising, as the publication promises to accept articles for publication within 10 days and publish them within 30 days for only 500$. The journal has been indexed in Scopus since 2014 and, until 2022, strictly adhered to the publication principles and rules for indexing in the scientometric database. But in 2023, everything changed. Perhaps the journal was acquired, or they sensed an opportunity to make money, and therefore began maximizing revenue, ignoring all the rules. As you can see in the screenshot below (publication dynamics), in 2023 the journal published 355 articles, which is six times more than in 2022.
List of violations for which a journal will likely be excluded from the database:
1) An incredibly large increase in the number of published articles – in 2024, the journal has already published six issues, each containing 100 articles. This is a huge number, so it's no surprise that the Radar system automatically stopped indexing this publication.
2) There is no peer review or verification of articles. Below is a screenshot showing the authors' first and last names listed in the article's keywords. Is this even possible in journals where articles are thoroughly reviewed?
Result: Based on our observations, the journal has already been placed under the system's radar, and new content will not be indexed. The probability that content from 2024 will be removed from the Scopus database is 100%. Content from 2023 may also be removed, with a probability of 80%. We estimate that this journal will be removed from the database and its articles will be de-indexed within 1-3 months. This is inevitable.
3. Environment and Social Psychology The journal was accepted into Scopus in 2023. Prior to acceptance, the journal had been published consistently twice a year for seven years in a row. After its acceptance into Scopus, the journal published an additional issue in 2023. In 2024, the journal's management realized the potential for profit and, within four months of publication, had already published six issues.
The journal frequently offers rapid publication options, which are not cheap – 15,000 TP4T per article. In April 2024, the journal published over 200 articles, most of which were indexed in Scopus, which is already four times more than last year and ten times more than in previous years.
List of violations for which a journal will likely be excluded from the database:
1) The number of issues and the number of published articles per year is increasing very rapidly.
2) Publication of articles that are not in line with the journal's focus. The journal focuses on social psychology, but now publishes articles on economics, medicine, chemistry, linguistics, etc.
3) Lack of peer review.
Result: The journal is currently actively indexed in Scopus, but this will cease soon, as it is at high risk of being included in the Radar system. We estimate that the journal will be included in the Radar system within one to four months and will be excluded from the Scopus database by the end of 2024. This may happen much sooner. There is also a high probability that all content for 2024 will be de-indexed.
Conclusions
Our team has shown you three publications that we predict will soon be excluded from the Scopus database. These publications contain a large number of scientific articles by Ukrainian scientists. We understand that the offer of rapid publication is always attractive to our colleagues, but, dear scientists, we strongly urge you to be careful when choosing a publication or an intermediary company offering rapid publication in an indexed journal. We have already seen dozens of cases where pre-indexed articles were removed from the databases, or those that were published were never indexed. Unfortunately, this has negative consequences for scientists, including delays in receiving awards, titles, degrees, new contracts, etc.
As you can see from our analysis, the Academy of Articles carefully selects the publications it collaborates with to avoid putting its clients at risk. We aim to popularize this practice so that more Ukrainian scientists will be more careful when choosing where to publish their articles and which intermediary companies they use. Don't be fooled by quick publication times for little money, as this will always backfire.
Follow our column to stay up-to-date with all the latest news and stay safe. Soon, we'll be sharing a new list of publications that will soon be removed from Scopus indexing. Until next time!
