Predatory journals in oncology: prevalence and impacts

Objectives: The aim of this report is to determine and present the prevalence and impact of predatory journals and publishers in the field of oncology. Method: All predatory journals specific to oncology were included in this study. The reference list was Kscien’s list. Results: Two hundred fifty-eight predatory oncology journals were identified. They distributed 33,069 papers. These publications have received 335,217 citations with a mean of 1250.81 citations per journal and 10.14 citations per paper. The majority of these citations (300,259, 89.57%) came from the legitimate journals. About 235,586 coauthors from 141 countries have published one or more articles in these journals. Conclusion: The huge number of papers and citations are a threatening alarm. Oncologists and oncology researchers must learn how to avoid these journals.