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An AI tool can screen thousands of journals, and identify ones that violate quality standards.Credit: PaulPaladin\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Researchers have identified more than 1,000 potentially problematic open-access journals using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that screened around 15,000 titles for signs of dubious publishing practices.<\/p>\n
The approach, described in Science Advances on 27 August1<\/a>, could be used to help tackle the rise in what the study authors call \u201cquestionable open-access journals\u201d \u2014 those that charge fees to publish papers without doing rigorous peer review or quality checks.<\/p>\n Predatory publishers\u2019 latest scam: bootlegged and rebranded papers<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n None of the journals flagged by the tool has previously been on any kind of watchlist, and some titles are owned by large, reputable publishers. Together, the journals have published hundreds of thousands of research papers that have received millions of citations.<\/p>\n The study suggests that \u201cthere\u2019s a whole group of problematic journals in plain sight that are functioning as supposedly respected journals that really don\u2019t deserve that qualification\u201d, says Jennifer Byrne, a research-integrity sleuth and cancer researcher at the University of Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n The tool is available online<\/a> in a closed beta version, and organizations that index journals, or publishers, can use it to review their portfolios, says study co-author Daniel Acu\u00f1a, a computer scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder. But, he adds, the AI sometimes makes mistakes, and is not designed to replace detailed evaluations of journals and individual publications that might result in a title being removed from an index. \u201cA human expert should be part of the vetting process\u201d before any action is taken, he says.<\/p>\n Screening journals<\/p>\n The AI tool can analyse a vast amount of information from journals\u2019 websites and the papers they publish, and search for red flags \u2014 such as short turnaround times for publishing articles and high rates of self-citation<\/a>. It also assesses whether members of a journal\u2019s editorial board are affiliated with well known, reputable research institutions, and checks how transparent publications are about licensing and fees. Several of the criteria used to train the tool come from best-practice guidance developed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), an index of open-access journals run by the non-profit DOAJ Foundation in Roskilde, Denmark.<\/p>\n Cenyu Shen, the DOAJ\u2019s deputy head of editorial quality, who is based in Helsinki, says that the number of problematic journals is rising, and that their \u201ctactics are becoming more sophisticated\u201d. \u201cWe are observing more instances where questionable publishers acquire legitimate journals, or where paper mills purchase journals to publish low-quality work,\u201d she adds. (Paper mills are businesses that sell fake papers and authorships<\/a>.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/d41586-025-02782-6_19785196.jpg\"\/)
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