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This is The Wikipedia CiteWatch, a bot-compiled listing of potentially cargo cult, conspiracist, denialist, fake, junk, not even wrong, obsolete, predatory, pseudoscientific, quack, or otherwise unreliable publications cited by Wikipedia through the |journal= and |doi= parameters of citation templates (see this Signpost article for details). It is based on several lists of unreliable or questionable publications (such as those compiled by Jeffrey Beall, the University Grants Commission, Quackwatch, or Wikipedia editors) and currently reflects the state of Wikipedia as of 1 February 2026. See Q9 in the FAQ for the update schedule.

This list is a starting point to detect unreliable sources which are cited by Wikipedia, but it does not answer whether it is appropriate to cite them. Due to the somewhat arbitrary nature of what exactly constitutes an unreliable source, as well as imperfect matching algorithms, the list may feature publications and publishers which...

  1. are flat-out promoting pseudo/junk scholarship or quackery
  2. are flat-out predatory/vanity venues, with sham peer-review processes
  3. were once-reliable, but have since been acquired by predatory publishers
  4. were once-unreliable, but no longer engage in problematic practices
  5. reflect the sources' good but imperfect judgment of what is unreliable
  6. are problematic in some areas (e.g. pseudoscience), but reliable in others (e.g. news)
  7. are problematic in some other way (e.g. circular references, or deprecated sources)
  8. are problematic but used in an acceptable manner (e.g. primary sources about frauds)
  9. are misclassified because of a spelling variation (red links especially)
  10. are misclassified because of false positives, miscategorization, or flawed bot logic
  11. are reliable, but share names with imposter publications and publishers
  12. are about pseudoscholarship as a topic, rather than being pseudoscholarly themselves

While many, if not most, publications and publishers on this list have some questionable aspects to their publishing practices, these can still be reliable (or be otherwise acceptable) in limited circumstances. The CiteWatch cannot determine the full context in which a source is used, therefore use common sense and judgement before removing a citation from an article (see Q8 in the FAQ). When in doubt, discuss things on the article's talk page or at the reliable sources noticeboard – especially before a mass purge of a source. The Unreliable/Predatory Source Detector user script may also interest you.

Additions and removals from the listing – including false positives – can be discussed at WT:CITEWATCH. False positives can also be directly handled at WP:JCW/EXCLUDE.
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Rank Target/Group Entries (Citations, Articles) Total Citations Distinct Articles ⁠Citations/article⁠


1 MDPI | {{doi|10.1989}} · {{doi|10.20944}} · {{doi|10.32545}} · {{doi|10.3390}} · {{doi|10.35995}}
[Beall's publisher list / update]
MDPI is very much hit-and-miss. MDPI on Beall's original list in 2014, but was removed in 2015. The updated list says "Some of their journals have a very poor peer-review; some are fine." Social Sciences could be multiple other journals. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
All 466 MDPI-related entries
27289 19219 1.420
2 Frontiers Media | {{doi|10.3389}} · {{doi|10.4175}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Very much hit-and-miss. See note on Beall's list. Will accept almost anything (80-90% of submissions), and has sacked editors for being too selective. Many journals have impact factors and are listed on DOAJ, and Frontiers Media remains part of COPE and OASPA. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
All 300 Frontiers Media-related entries
17948 12429 1.444
3 Hijacked journal
[Beall's hijacked list · Beall's hijacked list / update · Beall's journal list · Bohannon's list of hijacked journals]
Hijacked journals are legitimate academic journals with imposters pretending to be the legitimate publication. These citations are likely not problematic, but it is good to check that the real journal is being cited.
All 269 Hijacked journal-related entries
7288 5932 1.229
4 Hindawi (publisher) | {{doi|10.1100}} · {{doi|10.1155}} · {{doi|10.3814}} · {{doi|10.4061}} · {{doi|10.5402}} · {{doi|10.6064}} · {{doi|10.7167}} · {{doi|10.7217}}
[Beall's publisher list*]
Listed on Beall's list in 2010, but later removed as a 'borderline case'. In 2023, Hindawi retracted several thousands of articles from paper mills. Wiley estimates that 10-13% of all Hindawi papers are affected, though this may vary from journal to journal. Evaluate on a case by case basis (see Q8 in the FAQ).
All 609 Hindawi (publisher)-related entries
6645 5726 1.160
5 Medknow Publications | {{doi|10.4103}} · {{doi|10.6219}}
[Beall's publisher list* · Beall's journal list / update]
Listed on Beall's list in 2011, but removed in 2012. Several of its journal are listed on the updated list, however.
All 550 Medknow Publications-related entries
6201 4699 1.320
6 Bentham Science Publishers | {{doi|10.2174}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Bentham Open is listed, although Bentham Science Publishers is not.
All 312 Bentham Science Publishers-related entries
4087 3224 1.268
7 Dove Medical Press | {{doi|10.2147}}
[Beall's journal list / update]
Formerly on Beall's original list as 'Dove Press', but several journals are listed on the updated list.
All 157 Dove Medical Press-related entries
2621 2146 1.221
8 Alternative medicine
[Unreliable fields]
Some field are more unreliable than others
All 411 Alternative medicine-related entries
2562 1816 1.411
9 Case report
[Unreliable fields]
Case reports may be perfectly fine citations, however they will usually fail WP:MEDRS as individual cases are considered anecdotal evidence.
All 279 Case report-related entries
2012 1654 1.216
10 Parapsychology
[Unreliable fields]
Several skeptical publications setting out to debunk rather than promote nonsensical claims may be included here.
All 83 Parapsychology-related entries
1419 957 1.483
11 Baishideng Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11569}} · {{doi|10.12998}} · {{doi|10.13105}} · {{doi|10.35711}} · {{doi|10.35712}} · {{doi|10.35713}} · {{doi|10.37126}} · {{doi|10.3748}} · {{doi|10.4239}} · {{doi|10.4240}} · {{doi|10.4251}} · {{doi|10.4252}} · {{doi|10.4253}} · {{doi|10.4254}} · {{doi|10.4291}} · {{doi|10.4292}} · {{doi|10.4329}} · {{doi|10.4330}} · {{doi|10.4331}} · {{doi|10.5306}} · {{doi|10.5312}} · {{doi|10.5313}} · {{doi|10.5314}} · {{doi|10.5315}} · {{doi|10.5316}} · {{doi|10.5317}} · {{doi|10.5318}} · {{doi|10.5319}} · {{doi|10.5320}} · {{doi|10.5321}} · {{doi|10.5409}} · {{doi|10.5410}} · {{doi|10.5411}} · {{doi|10.5412}} · {{doi|10.5492}} · {{doi|10.5493}} · {{doi|10.5494}} · {{doi|10.5495}} · {{doi|10.5496}} · {{doi|10.5497}} · {{doi|10.5498}} · {{doi|10.5499}} · {{doi|10.5500}} · {{doi|10.5501}} · {{doi|10.5527}} · {{doi|10.5528}} · {{doi|10.5662}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 53 Baishideng Publishing Group-related entries
1386 1050 1.320
12 Pseudo-scholarship
[Unreliable fields]
All 262 Pseudo-scholarship-related entries
1184 987 1.200
13 Current Science
[Beall's journal list / update] 		1148 965 1.190
14 Tabloid journalism
[Unreliable fields]
All 31 Tabloid journalism-related entries
1067 571 1.869
15 Cureus | {{doi|10.7759}}
[—]
Uses crowd-sourced "post-publication peer-review". 		852 755 1.128
16 AME Publishing Company | {{doi|10.21037}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 73 AME Publishing Company-related entries
778 638 1.219
17 ResearchGate | {{doi|10.13140}}
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#ResearchGate.
All 219 ResearchGate-related entries
774 708 1.093
18 Propaganda
[Unreliable fields]
All 215 Propaganda-related entries
714 585 1.221
19 Conspiracy theory
[Unreliable fields]
All 103 Conspiracy theory-related entries
689 595 1.158
20 Impact Journals (New York State, USA) | {{doi|10.18632}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		666 546 1.220
21 F1000 (publisher) | {{doi|10.12688}} · {{doi|10.12703}} · {{doi|10.21955}} · {{doi|10.21956}} · {{doi|10.3410}} · {{doi|10.4089}} · {{doi|10.5256}} · {{doi|10.7490}}
[See [1]]
All 31 F1000 (publisher)-related entries
555 474 1.171
22 Forbes
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Forbes.com contributors, staff is reliable, contributors are not.
All 15 Forbes-related entries
540 470 1.149
23 Blog hosting services
[WP:SPSLIST]
See WP:BLOGS.
All 207 Blog hosting services-related entries
470 410 1.146
24 Oncotarget
[Beall's journal list] 		463 400 1.157
25 Race and intelligence controversy
[Unreliable fields] 		432 211 2.047
26 Rolling Stone
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Rolling Stone; good for culture news reporting; unreliable for politically/societally sensitive reporting; Culture Council articles unreliable. 		395 363 1.088
27 Frontiers in Bioscience | {{doi|10.2741}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		363 342 1.061
28 Medwell Journals | {{doi|10.3923}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Veterinary Research is most likely the one published by BioMed Central, rather than Medwell. Social Sciences could be multiple other journals.
All 24 Medwell Journals-related entries
331 288 1.149
29 Chiropractic
[Unreliable fields]
All 30 Chiropractic-related entries
311 159 1.956
30 Daily Star (United Kingdom)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Star. 		286 157 1.822
31 Unpublished
[—]
May simply be in need of being updated to the published version. Otherwise, these probably fail WP:V.
All 156 Unpublished-related entries
266 242 1.099
32 Quadrant (magazine)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Quadrant. 		255 165 1.545
33 e-Century Publishing Corporation
[Beall's publisher list]
All 20 e-Century Publishing Corporation-related entries
241 226 1.066
34 Superseded theories in science
[Unreliable fields]
All 46 Superseded theories in science-related entries
236 213 1.108
35 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks
[WP:CIRCULAR / WP:MIRROR]
Many entries are listed for mirroring small excerpts only.
All 47 Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks-related entries
228 214 1.065
36 Canadian Center of Science and Education | {{doi|10.5539}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 31 Canadian Center of Science and Education-related entries
227 215 1.056
37 Journal of Management
[Lying about DOAJ]
Not the Southern Management Association journal 		225 177 1.271
38 Science Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11648}}
[Beall's publisher list · Beall's publisher list / update]
Social Sciences could be multiple other journals. Several of SPG journals are named either identically or are very similar to other publications, e.g. International Journal of Data Science and Analysis vs International Journal of Data Science and Analytics and may thus have similar ISO 4 abbreviations. It was founded in 2012, so references prior to 2012 are unlikely to be of this publisher.
All 34 Science Publishing Group-related entries
223 205 1.088
39 HuffPost
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#HuffPost contributors, staff is debatable, contributors/editorial partners are not reliable.
All 12 HuffPost-related entries
216 205 1.054
40 Medical Hypotheses
[See [2]]
Purposefully not peer-reviewed. 		194 157 1.236
41 Aging (journal)
[Beall's journal list] 		190 152 1.250
42 Psychology Today
[Quackwatch's list] 		160 135 1.185
43 Symbiosis (publisher) | {{doi|10.15226}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		140 127 1.102
44 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
[Quackwatch's list] 		136 112 1.214
45 Marquis Who's Who
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Marquis Who's Who.
All 17 Marquis Who's Who-related entries
127 111 1.144
46 Genetics and Molecular Research | {{doi|10.4238}}
[Beall's journal list] 		120 109 1.101
47 Diva Enterprises | {{doi|10.5958}}
[UGC]
Several of their journal fail UGC criteria. Those that pass are listed here. Those from listed as UGC Group 1 are probably fine. UGC Group II could be fine, depending on the database. Those without UGC recognition are very likely not fine. Those unmentioned are definitely not fine.
All 50 Diva Enterprises-related entries
119 113 1.053
48 International Journal of Nanomedicine
[Beall's journal list / update] 		114 82 1.390
49 OMICS Publishing Group | {{doi|10.11131}} · {{doi|10.12715}} · {{doi|10.14303}} · {{doi|10.15412}} · {{doi|10.21767}} · {{doi|10.24105}} · {{doi|10.3371}} · {{doi|10.36648}} · {{doi|10.37532}} · {{doi|10.4066}} · {{doi|10.4172}} · {{doi|10.47128}} · {{doi|10.54931}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Vegetos is published by Springer Nature since 2019.
All 123 OMICS Publishing Group-related entries
113 105 1.076
50 Munis Entomology & Zoology
[Beall's journal list] 		110 97 1.134
51 American Scientific Publishers | {{doi|10.1166}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 22 American Scientific Publishers-related entries
100 88 1.136
52 Spectrum (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list] 		98 84 1.167
53 Project Innovation
[Beall's publisher list]
These journals were acquired by Project Innovations at some point, but were well-established before that. Project Innovations also switched owners at several points, the most recent being 2004. Unclear when problems with publisher started. 		97 91 1.066
54 Creationism
[Unreliable fields]
All 21 Creationism-related entries
93 64 1.453
55 Daily Express
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Daily Express. 		81 74 1.095
56 Anti-vaccine movement
[Unreliable fields]
See also WP:JCW/PATTERNS#CAM.
All 15 Anti-vaccine movement-related entries
74 62 1.194
57 Scientific Research Publishing | {{doi|10.4236}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Chinese Medicine likely refers to the BioMed Central journal. Comput. Chem. likely refers to Computer & Chemistry.
All 22 Scientific Research Publishing-related entries
67 63 1.063
58 Pharmacognosy Reviews
[Beall's journal list / update] 		67 62 1.081
59 Pulsus Group | {{doi|10.19144}} · {{doi|10.21282}} · {{doi|10.4066}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Purchased by OMICS Publishing Group in 2016. The Journal of Agriculture is likely an older, non-Pulsus journal.
All 19 Pulsus Group-related entries
66 65 1.015
60 Alchemy
[Unreliable fields]
All 26 Alchemy-related entries
63 59 1.068
61 IGI Global | {{doi|10.4018}}
[[3] · [4]]
IGI Global is mostly criticized for it's book-publishing practices. Criticism is mostly silent on its journals, several of which have impact factors.
All 42 IGI Global-related entries
58 57 1.018
62 Alternative Medicine Review
[Quackwatch's list] 		58 53 1.094
63 Astrology
[Unreliable fields]
All 25 Astrology-related entries
58 41 1.415
64 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
[Beall's journal list]
All 11 African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines-related entries
56 54 1.037
65 Nucleus
[Lying about DOAJ]
Make sure it's ISSN 1982-2278, there are many other publications with the same/similar name. 		55 49 1.122
66 International Journal of Computer Applications
[Lying about DOAJ · Beall's publisher list] 		52 50 1.040
67 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
[Beall's journal list / update] 		51 49 1.041
68 Homeopathy
[Unreliable fields]
All 9 Homeopathy-related entries
49 27 1.815
69 National Association of Scholars | {{doi|10.51845}}
[Beall's publisher list] 		46 43 1.070
70 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine
[Quackwatch's list] 		45 29 1.552
71 Research Square | {{doi|10.21203}}
[—]
Preprint service
  • Research Square (26 in 26)
  • doi=10.21203
    • Doi-acces=free |preprint (1 in 1)
    • Doi-access=free|preprint (2 in 1, 2)
    • Preprint (11 in 11)
    • Preprint|doi-acces=free (1 in 1)
    • Preprint|doi-access=free (2 in 1, 2)
 43 43 1.000
72 International Institute for Science, Technology and Education | {{doi|10.7176}}
[Beall's publisher list]
Search for iiste.org
All 10 International Institute for Science, Technology and Education-related entries
42 34 1.235
73 Genocide denial
[Unreliable fields]
All 14 Genocide denial-related entries
42 21 2.000
74 Jaypee Journals | {{doi|10.5005}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 15 Jaypee Journals-related entries
40 38 1.053
75 Genes & Cancer
[Beall's journal list] 		39 34 1.147
76 HIV/AIDS denialism
[Unreliable fields]
All 8 HIV/AIDS denialism-related entries
39 28 1.393
77 CESNUR
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#CESNUR. 		39 26 1.500
78 Science Publications | {{doi|10.3844}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 12 Science Publications-related entries
38 38 1.000
79 Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies
[Beall's journal list] 		38 35 1.086
80 Journal of Physical Therapy Science
[Beall's journal list] 		38 29 1.310
81 African Research Review
[Beall's publisher list] 		36 33 1.091
82 Bridges (magazine)
[Quackwatch's list] 		36 29 1.241
83 Bioinformation | {{doi|10.6026}}
[Beall's journal list] 		35 33 1.061
84 Vegetarian Times
[Quackwatch's list] 		35 32 1.094
85 Journal of Environmental Biology
[Beall's journal list] 		34 33 1.030
86 Journal of Psychology and Theology
[Beall's journal list] 		34 30 1.133
87 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
[Beall's journal list · Quackwatch's list] 		32 23 1.391
88 Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
[Beall's journal list] 		31 31 1.000
89 Authorea | {{doi|10.15200}} · {{doi|10.22541}}
[—]
Preprints 		31 26 1.192
90 Allied Academies | {{doi|10.35841}}
[Beall's publisher list]
All 15 Allied Academies-related entries
30 30 1.000
91 Alternative & Complementary Therapies
[Quackwatch's list] 		30 29 1.034
92 Wikipedia:Deprecated sources
[WP:DEPS § Currently deprecated sources]
All 13 Wikipedia:Deprecated sources-related entries
30 28 1.071
93 IJPUB - International Peer Reviewed, Open Access Journal
[Beall's journal list / update · Lying about DOAJ] 		29 29 1.000
94 International Journal of Mathematics
[Lying about DOAJ]
Refers to the IAEME journal, not the World Scientific one 		29 25 1.160
95 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
[Beall's journal list] 		28 28 1.000
96 Medium (website)
[WP:RSP § Generally unreliable]
See WP:RSP#Medium. 		28 27 1.037
97 European Journal of Social Sciences
[Beall's journal list]
Possibly hijacked. The journal published by Librairie Droz, hosted on Open Edition is legitimate. The one published by Social Sciences Research Platform is listed by Beall. 		28 26 1.077
98 North American Journal of Medical Sciences | {{doi|10.4297}}
[Beall's journal list / update] 		28 26 1.077
99 Serials Publications
[Beall's publisher list]
Man in India dates from well before Serials Publications came about. Date of acquisition unclear. 		28 26 1.077
100 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
[Beall's journal list] 		27 26 1.038
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