How metrics (in Scopus) are manipulated by a citation cartel between ‘journals’




Thanks to a discussion on ResearchGate I stumbled on a (new) pool of deception.

 

I have reasons to believe that the following ‘publishers’ are all linked/intertwined, just look at the lay-out:


Deniz Publication https://deniz.pub

Galaxy Publication https://galaxypub.co

And most likely

Meral Publisher https://meralpublisher.com

As well.


Just look at examples of their ‘journals’:

https://jbiochemtech.com by Deniz P.

https://journalinpc.com by Galaxy P.


Thanks to the above mentioned discussion in RG, I stumbled at ‘citations’ of a ‘paper’ (a serious case of identity theft/impersonation of a most likely fake/AI generated 'paper') in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385184122_Investigating_the_Relationship_between_Attitude_towards_Aging_and_Self-Compassion_in_Middle-Aged_People/citations


They are all coming from these ‘publishers’ and are all non-sensical. See for example

Article Microbial and Physicochemical Quality of River Water in Delt...

click on DOI link and you see it is 'published' by Deniz P.

Article New 4-Aminophenazone derivatives: synthesis, design, and doc...

click on DOI and you see it is published by Meral P.


I suspect that most of these ‘papers’ are fake as well. The sad part is that these journals are all Scopus indexed (for now…) and it looks to me that this is an example of some sort of citation cartel. Certainly, a way where they artificially boost their citations/metrics.


They ‘abuse’ their 'own' papers as citation vehicle for some of their other journals. Not sure where to start when wondering about what can be done against so much deception. 


Sad that these fraudsters can get away with all this.


PS. Perhaps reporting individual cases at PubPeer https://pubpeer.com might be a starting point to create some sort of momentum for real action against these fraudsters.

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