Good afternoon, dear colleagues! With you is Vasyl Malets, director of the Academy of Articles.
Сьогодні я представляю Вам заключну частину рубрики «Претенденти на виліт із Scopus» цього року. Ми запустили її у квітні 2024 року, і мені приємно, що рубрика швидко завоювала популярність серед українських науковців.
Some statistics about our column "Journals that will soon lose indexing in Scopus":
This year, I analyzed 17 journals that are on the verge of losing indexing in Scopus.
Of these:
- 7 have already lost indexation,
- 6 are under review and will be removed soon,
- In the 3 excluded journals, articles were completely removed from the Scopus database.
Hundreds of scientists were able to save over 100 000 $, without publishing their articles in these predatory journals.
We will continue to publish the column regularly 6 times a year next year and will analyze even more carefully the journals that may be excluded from indexing.
If you have a magazine that you think is worth checking out, email us at info@a-articles.com.
For your convenience, we have created a table of contenders where you can see a list of all the journals we have written about and their current status.
So, in our final part, we will look at 3 journals that are on the verge of being excluded from Scopus, and, unfortunately, 2 of them are quite popular among Ukrainian scientists.
List of contenders The first journal on our list. This journal became popular among Ukrainian scientists in 2023-2024.
This journal is not as problematic as those mentioned in previous articles, such as the International Journal of Religion or the Journal of Echohumanism, but it has come under the radar.
Features of the magazine:
- Q1 in literature, Q2 in philology/linguistics.
- Accepted by Scopus in 2021.
Main violations:
- Increase in the number of publications per year.
- Increase in the number of special issues in 2023-2024.
- Early publication (the journal has already published two issues for 2025).
- Increase in publication fee (from 800 to 1500 $).
Current status:
The journal is under review by the CSAB Journal Review Board, and published articles will not be indexed until the review is complete. The review is expected to be completed around January.
Conclusion:
This journal has a 50% chance of passing Scopus because double-blind peer review was indeed used. With a probability of 95%, it can be argued that articles published in 2023 and 2024 will not be removed from the database even if the journal is excluded.
This journal was accepted into Scopus in 2023, and many Ukrainian scientists published in it in 2023-2024. It is the younger brother of the Multidisciplinary Science Journal, which is also a candidate for relegation and which we wrote about earlier. Like its older brother, this journal follows the same path - increasing the number of issues and articles, without paying attention to quality.
Features of the magazine:
- Profile: multidisciplinary, Q4
- Accepted to Scopus: 2023
Main violations:
- Increase in the number of issues (from 4 to 12 per year).
- A large number of special editions.
- Increasing the number of articles for money.
- Early publication of issues (the journal has already published the May 2025 issue).
- A significant number of articles in the "Accepted Articles" section (at the time of writing this article, there were over 100 articles in this section on the site).
Conclusion:
With a probability of 99%, the journal will be excluded from Scopus in 2025, like its older brother. However, articles published in 2023-2024 will not be removed from the database, as they do not contain gross violations (for example, publications that do not meet the journal profile).
Nanotechnology Perceptions
This journal has long been indexed in Scopus and was quite reputable until 2024. We do not know if the journal was purchased or if the editorial staff changed, but unfortunately the journal changed its policy and started publishing everything very quickly for 700 $. This is a violation on many levels, and the journal will most likely be excluded.
Features of the magazine:
- Main profile: engineering and nanotechnology — Q4
- Accepted to Scopus: 2009
Main violations:
- Significant increase in the number of releases (from 3 to 21 per year in 2024).
- A significant increase in the number of articles - from 2009 to 2023, the journal published an average of up to 15 articles per year, and in 2024 this figure reached over 1,000.
Current status:
The journal is already under review by the CSAB Journal Review Board, and published articles will not be indexed until the review is complete. The review is expected to be completed around January-February.
Conclusion:
The journal will be excluded from the database with a probability of 100%. Articles published in 2024 and 2025 are likely to be removed from the Scopus database with a probability of 99%.
Conclusions
Шановні колеги, сьогодні я поділився з Вами аналізом трьох журналів, які найближчим часом можуть втратити індексацію в Scopus. Статус усіх журналів Ви можете побачити в нашій table of candidates.
Наступного року рубрика «Претенденти» виходитиме кожні 2 місяці. Ми також плануємо запустити відеоверсію рубрики та постійно вдосконалювати наші методи аналізу журналів, щоб якомога раніше попереджати Вас про потенційно небезпечні видання. Дякуємо Вам за те, що Ви залишаєтеся з нами!
Sincerely,
Vasyl Malets — Director of the Academy of Articles
