Bibliometrics Methods in Detecting Citations to Questionable Journals

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

“…Unlike conventional rankings that reward volume and citation visibility, RI 2 evaluates and ranks institutions based on transparent, empirically grounded indicators that are resistant to strategic manipulation. In its current form, RI 2 includes two components: Proportion of research output published in delisted journals, calculated over the two most recent full calendar years (e.g., 2023-2024 for an analysis conducted in 2025), balancing recency and temporal stability. Retraction rate per 1,000 publications, calculated over the preceding two full calendar years (e.g., 2022-2023 for an analysis conducted in 2025), to account for time lags in retraction processes. These indicators are sourced from reputable databases (in this case, Retraction Watch, Scopus, and Web of Science), and are empirically associated with research integrity risks, including paper mills (businesses that sell authorship), citation cartels (reciprocal citation networks used to inflate impact), citation farms (organizations or networks that generate or sell citations), and fraudulent authorship practices (Abalkina, 2023; Candal-Pedreira et al, 2024; Feng et al, 2024; Ioannidis & Maniadis, 2024; Lancho Barrantes et al, 2023; Maisonneuve, 2025; Smagulov & Teixeira da Silva, 2025; Teixeira da Silva & Nazarovets, 2023; Wright, 2024). Importantly, these indicators reflect outcomes institutions are incentivized to avoid, serving as robust markers of bibliometric risk.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is measured over the most recent two full calendar years (e.g., 2023-2024 for an analysis conducted in 2025) and reflects structural vulnerabilities in quality control and publishing practices. Such publications continue to influence bibliometric metrics even after delisting, potentially distorting evaluative benchmarks. Data for both indicators are drawn from Medline, Retraction Watch, and Web of Science, and serve as proxies for broader research integrity concerns, such as paper mills (businesses that sell authorship), citation cartels (reciprocal citation networks used to inflate impact), citation farms (organizations or networks that generate or sell citations), fraudulent authorship practices, and other forms of metric gaming (Abalkina, 2023; Maisonneuve, 2025; Candal-Pedreira et al, 2024; Feng et al, 2024; Ioannidis & Maniadis, 2024; Lancho Barrantes et al, 2023; Smagulov & Teixeira da Silva, 2025; Teixeira da Silva & Nazarovets, 2023; Wright, 2024). Importantly, both reflect verifiable outcomes rather than inferred behaviors, making them robust indicators of institutional-level risk.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These indicators are sourced from reputable databases (in this case, Retraction Watch, Scopus, and Web of Science), and are empirically associated with research integrity risks, including paper mills (businesses that sell authorship), citation cartels (reciprocal citation networks used to inflate impact), citation farms (organizations or networks that generate or sell citations), and fraudulent authorship practices(Abalkina, 2023;Candal- Pedreira et al, 2024;Feng et al, 2024;Ioannidis & Maniadis, 2024;Lancho Barrantes et al, 2023;Maisonneuve, 2025;Smagulov & Teixeira da Silva, 2025;Teixeira da Silva & Nazarovets, 2023;Wright, 2024). Importantly, these indicators reflect outcomes institutions are incentivized to avoid, serving as robust markers of bibliometric risk.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Gaming the Metrics? Bibliometric Anomalies and the Integrity Crisis in Global University Rankings

Meho

¹

2025

Preprint

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

“…If such journals adopt open peer review and institute data sharing policies, require trial registration and adherence to reporting standards, and for systematic reviews, require risk of bias assessment, it will make it easier for researchers to identify and avoid citing predatory journals, which presumably, would not have such policies [ 28 ]. Publishers and/or editors could also ask authors to confirm, when submitting a manuscript, that they have not cited predatory journals [ 10 ]). As the ICMJE has stated, we must “avoid engaging these charlatans….to strengthen and preserve the trust that is central to science and medicine” [ 32 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the citation impact of predatory journals in the health sciences

Watson, AHIP,

Zhang

2025

jmla

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev

“…The sources for the literature review used in this study are Scopus and WoS (Web of Science) databases. Scopus and WoS are known for their user-friendly interface and extensive collection of scholarly resources encompassing several research formats, including editorials, peer-reviewed reports, reviews, original journal articles, and conference papers (Barrantes et al 2023). Both are widely used databases that help with the methodical analysis of study fields (Haraldstad et al 2019).…”

Section: Identification Of Critical Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Critical Factors of MNCs International Performance in the Context of Digitalization: An Integrated M‐TISM and MICMAC Approach

Sharma

¹

,

Singh

²

,

Singh

³

et al. 2025

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.