Greetings, dear colleagues!
With you Vasyl Malets — Director of the “Academy of Articles” and author of the analytical column “Journals That May Lose Their Scopus Indexing.”
Today marks the third issue of 2026, and once again, it makes us pause and reflect.
Our list this time includes four magazines: three from Q3 and one from Q2. And it’s the one from Q2 that I want to highlight separately—not because it’s an exception, but because it’s already a trend.
If, just a year or two ago, there were almost no magazines in our column rated higher than Q3— as we showed in the previous part of our review — So today, a Q2 rating here doesn’t surprise anyone anymore. Let me remind you: a Q2 rating isn’t a permanent mark of quality. It’s a snapshot of the magazine’s status at the time the quartile was assigned. And from there on, it all depends on who manages it and how.
Magazines are for sale. Editorial policies can change in a single season. And a publication that seemed reliable a year ago may now be sending out mass invitations promising “quick publication on any topic.”
In this issue, we'll take a look at:
- 3 Q3 journals that have become classic “publication mills”—assembly lines with no subject-matter screening and no peer review;
- 1 Q2 magazine, which is still “on paper” but is already showing all the signs of a predatory transformation.
List of applicants:
1. Journal of Daoist Studies
ISSN: 1941-5524
🔗 Link to Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21101033328
🔗 Magazine website: https://journalofdaoiststudies.org
Review:
The journal has been in existence since 2008, and until 2026 it was a niche academic publication with a strict focus on Daoism: one volume per year, 14–16 articles, all exclusively on Daoist philosophy, history, and practice. The publisher is the University of Hawaii Press.
In 2026, something clearly went wrong. In the first 7 months, the magazine had already published 12 (!) issues—9 of which are labeled as “special” (S1–S9). These special issues cover just about anything: orthodontics, cybersecurity, the carbon tax in Indonesia, a banking analysis of Iraq, car springs, and dental case reports. The connection to Daoism is purely cosmetic: some authors add the word “Dao” to the title of an article that has absolutely nothing to do with Daoism.
It is telling: The date the manuscript was submitted and the date of publication in special issues are the same—there is virtually no peer review.
At the time of this analysis, the articles from the special issues had not yet been indexed in Scopus, and the journal appears to already be under review by the CSAB.
Magazine profile:
- Quartile: Q3;
- Country: United States;
- Topics: Taoist philosophy, history, religion;
- Article Processing Charge (APC): 1,800 USD.
Main violations:
- 9 special issues in 7 months instead of 1 volume per year;
- Articles from special issues have no connection to Aims & Scope;
- zero review time—the submission date coincides with the publication date;
- The word “Dao” in the article’s title is used as a formal justification for publishing any material.
Risk assessment:
Probability of a journal being removed from Scopus: 100%.
The likelihood of articles from special issues being indexed and subsequently deindexed: 100%.
2. International Journal of Computer Information Systems and Industrial Management Applications (IJCISIM)
ISSN: 2150-7988
🔗 Links on Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21101365669
🔗 Magazine website: https://cspub-ijcisim.org
Review: The journal was recently indexed in Scopus and has not yet accumulated a large number of articles. However, it has already sparked a wave of mass invitations promising rapid publication of any material.
The journal’s title is “Art and Performing Arts.” It sounds narrow. But if you look at the actual content of the issues, the picture is different: there are already articles with absolutely no connection to art, and the scope is so broad that it covers “almost everything.” The editorial team’s logic is obvious: “If there’s even one word like ‘media,’ ‘culture,’ or ‘cinema’—we’ll take it. If not—well… we’ll take it anyway 🙂.”
This is a classic “multidisciplinary dump” masquerading as an arts journal. In the coming months, we can expect issues crammed full of content—it’s already easy to predict this turn of events at this early stage.
Magazine profile:
- Quartile: Q3;
- Country: Hong Kong (new publisher starting in 2024);
- Topics: computer information systems, industrial management;
- Article Processing Charge (APC): 1,500 USD.
Main violations:
- A change in publisher in 2024 → immediate launch of a mass-publication model;
- 8 special issues in the first 7 months of 2026;
- Articles in special issues go beyond the scope of Aims & Scope;
- In the 2025 regular volume—a flood of Chinese educational articles with a formal connection to AI.
Risk assessment:
Probability of a journal being removed from Scopus: 100%.
The likelihood of articles from special issues being indexed and subsequently deindexed: 100%.
3. International Journal of Special Education (IJSE)
ISSN: 0827-3383 / E-ISSN: 1917-7844
🔗 Link to Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/33328
🔗 Magazine website: https://internationalsped.com
Review:
The journal has been in publication since 1985—more than 40 years of academic reputation in the field of special and inclusive education. The publisher is Sped sp. z o.o. (Bielsko-Biała, Poland). It is indexed in both Scopus and Web of Science. Until 2025, it was published consistently: two issues per year, with a strict focus on special education, defectology, and assistive technologies for people with disabilities.
In 2026, everything fell apart. In the first 7 months alone, there were already 14 issues: 2 regular issues and 13 special issues (1s–13s). Just one special issue, S13, contains ~110 articles. And this is where things get really interesting.
Of the approximately 110 articles in S13, only 5 to 8 actually pertain to the topic of special education. The rest cover: lower extremity surgery under local anesthesia, the accuracy of dynamic navigation systems in dental implantology, the classification of skin cancer using multifractal analysis, PCZ reconstruction and quadriceps training on a treadmill, financial hedging and CVaR-based portfolio optimization, an analysis of the fiscal potential of South Sulawesi Province, the Janissaries and Bektashism in the Ottoman Empire—and this is no exception; it is the norm for every special issue.
A separate red flag: contact information for authors—WhatsApp number +968 96502464 (the code +968 is for Oman). A Polish company with an Omani WhatsApp number—a classic sign that the magazine’s actual operators are not in Poland at all.
At the time of this analysis, articles from the special issues have not yet been indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, and the journal is almost certainly already under review by the CSAB.
Magazine profile:
- Quartile: Q3;
- Country: Poland (Sped sp. z o.o.), actual operators—Oman;
- Topics: special and inclusive education;
- Article Processing Charge (APC): Not listed publicly; contact via WhatsApp.
Main violations:
- 13 special issues in the first 7 months of 2026;
- ~95% articles in special issues are not related to special education;
- Contact information for authors—Omani WhatsApp instead of the editorial email address;
- The stated peer-review process is inconsistent with the publication rate and the volume of articles.
Risk assessment:
Probability of a journal being removed from Scopus and Web of Science: 100%.
The likelihood of articles from special issues being indexed and subsequently deindexed: 100%.
4. Journal of Intelligent Decision Making and Information Science (JIDMIS)
eISSN: 3079-0875
🔗 Link to Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21101392299
🔗 Magazine website: https://jidmis.org
Review:
The journal was founded in 2024—meaning it is only 2 years old. Publisher: Nexora Academic Press (Romania). Stated focus: decision sciences, AI, and information systems.
On its homepage, the journal lists a CiteScore of 3.4 (2026)—an unusually high metric for a publication that didn’t even exist three years ago. By comparison, established journals take decades to achieve such a score. For a journal with only two full volumes to its credit, this is either the result of citation manipulation or incorrectly reported data. Regarding, How Scopus Actually Evaluates Journals and What Influences Their Metrics, we wrote about that in detail in a separate post.
The website states: 1 volume per year, a 17% acceptance rate, and 75 days until a decision. It looks like a reputable publication. But the reality is that as of 2026, there have been three issues (Vol. 3 + Vol. 3 No. 1s + Vol. 3 No. 2s), and the first special issue was published two years after the journal’s founding.
In Vol. 3, No. 2s (56 articles, June 2026), approximately 40% articles are unrelated to decision making or information science: mathematical modeling of tumor growth, water uptake by plant roots, crack mechanics in concrete beams, fluid mechanics of aerosols in the respiratory tract, mathematical constraints on DNA supercoiling, and tissue regeneration based on PDE models. The connection to the stated Aims & Scope is nonexistent.
But what’s most telling is the authorship structure. In a single special issue, the same 5–6 Indian authors appear simultaneously in 5–8 completely different articles, while alongside them, the same set of Chinese and Central Asian “co-authors” moves from one article to another on completely different topics. This is a classic hallmark of a “paper mill”: a network of authors who distribute publications among themselves regardless of their actual contribution.
At the time of this analysis, the articles from the special issues had not yet been indexed in Scopus, and given the pace of development, the journal may already be on CSAB’s radar.
Magazine profile:
- Quartile: Q2;
- Country: Romania (Nexora Academic Press);
- Topics: decision sciences, AI, information systems;
- Article Processing Charge (APC): 1,200 USD.
Main violations:
- A reported CiteScore of 3.4 for a 2-year-old journal is a sign of citation manipulation;
- The stated frequency of “1 volume per year” actually amounts to 3 issues for 2026;
- ~40% articles in a special issue outside of Aims & Scope;
- paper mill: the same authors appearing simultaneously in 5–8 articles on different topics in a single issue;
- The publication was created from scratch for commercial purposes, with no academic background.
Risk assessment:
Probability of a journal being removed from Scopus: 100%.
The likelihood of articles from special issues being indexed and subsequently deindexed: 100%.
Are you planning to publication and Do you want to evaluate risks to submission manuscript? We'll help select magazine accordingly to topics research, the one you need quartile and Yours deadlines. Let's check his relevant indexation and We'll organize support publication process.
We'll help prepare or adapt article on based on Yours research: structure, linguistic editing, design and compliance requirements selected magazine.
Let's check status in Scopus, quartile, thematic compliance, publisher and dynamics publications. Let's explain identified risks before submission.
We'll help from submission manuscript, communication from by the editorial staff and processing comments reviewers. We'll keep track of it publication and her appearance in Scopus.
Free of charge, with no obligation. We'll get back to you within the day.
Conclusion
In this issue, we analyzed four magazines, and when you look at them together, a very clear picture emerges.
All four use the same scheme: the “special issue factory.” A reputable journal with a high impact factor launches a series of special issues, into which all sorts of topics are thrown—dentistry, civil engineering, financial hedging, the Janissaries in the Ottoman Empire—anything and everything, no matter the quantity. Payment accepted, article published, peer review completed in zero days.
But this issue has revealed something new. Previously, we mainly analyzed journals that had strayed from the right path—that is, journals that once had an academic reputation but later declined. Today, our list includes JIDMIS—a two-year-old journal that was created from the outset for commercial purposes and has since managed to achieve a Q2 ranking in Scopus through citation manipulation. This represents a different level of threat: not a decline, but the systematic fabrication of an academic reputation from scratch—this is precisely the scheme we’re discussing in our Let's talk about journals that are "supposedly" indexed in Scopus.
And most importantly: the quartile didn’t save the day again. IJSE—Q3, a journal with a 40-year history—already has 13 special issues in the first 7 months of 2026 and an Omani WhatsApp group as its sole channel of communication with the editorial board. JIDMIS—Q2 in Scopus—and in a single special issue, the same 5–6 authors appear simultaneously in 8 unrelated articles.
Authors who choose a journal based solely on its quartile run the risk of ending up with the same classic scenario in 2026: money and time wasted, and an article that will either never make it into Scopus or will be deindexed after the very first CSAB review.
So before each submission, check the actual publication trends, look at the author lineup in special issues, and pay attention to the details: who the publisher is, where the contact email is, and how many special issues have been published in the last six months. Or consult experts who monitor these journals daily and are aware of the risks even before they become apparent.
