Grey area journals to level 0

On 25 September 2024, the steering group of the Publication Forum (JUFO) and the chairs of the discipline specific expert panels had a joint meeting to discuss the evaluation of the so-called grey area journals. Grey area journals (in Finnish) make use of the APC (Article Processing Charge) operating model and aim to increase the number of publications with the minimum time spend for editorial work and quality assessment.  

JUFO's mission is to encourage, monitor and make visible the quality and transparency of scientific publishing. One of the most important changes in scientific publishing in Finland is the sharp increase in the number of articles published especially in MDPI and Frontiers open access journals operating with APC fees. The scientific community’s key concern is, whether the costs of open access publishing increases unreasonably, and whether the increase happens at the expense of a thorough quality assessment. 

MDPI and Frontiers journals are critically debated in the international scientific community. JUFO has gathered feedback on the shortcomings of quality assessment practices in scientific journals, especially from the Finnish research community. Already at the spring of 2024, the panels decided to downgrade the total of 60 journals to level 0. While going through the feedback, the relevance of the publisher in the evaluation of the journals was discussed in the panels.  

The panels find it difficult to evaluate journals that formally meet the level 1 criteria, such as peer review and an editorial board of experts in the field, but whose scientific quality assessment may not work reliably down the line. Problems with individual journals, such as MDPI Sustainability, may be due to the operating model of the publisher by which the publisher seeks to increase the volume and rate of publication.

Publisher's operating model can be considered in the evaluations

The principle of JUFO has been that the level of the publication channel should not be determined on the basis of the publisher, but that each journal is evaluated independently. Based on the discussion at the meeting of the steering group and the chairs of the panels, the steering group outlined on 30 September 2024 that the panels may in future use the publisher's operating model as a basis for evaluating publication channels to level 0. However, the panels may also make exceptions when the publication channel is estimated to meet the criteria of level 1 and publication in the channel can be recommended without reservation.

The steering group also decided that, in accordance with the new policy, the panels can continue the assessment of grey area journals that began in the spring of 2024 in the autumn meetings. This means that the MDPI and Frontiers journals, in which the panels cannot recommend publication without reservation based on their expert judgement, will receive level 0 from the beginning of 2025. Information on these journals will be published after the autumn meetings in November 2024. 

Also other commercial publishers have APC-based publication series, who seek to increase and speed up their publishing activities, possibly at the expense of a thorough quality assessment. These journals will be re-evaluated in the spring of 2025. Also journals that are downgraded to level 0 at the beginning of 2025 can be later re-considered to be upgraded to higher level category based on feedback from the research community. 

JUFO classification is developed and maintained by the Finnish research community

The JUFO classification will affect the weighting of publications in the funding model of Finnish universities (in Finnish) in 2025-2028. Articles published in level 0 journals are also taken into account in the model, but with less weight than articles in journals at higher levels. Publication channel's JUFO level should not be used to evaluate or compare individual researchers. For example, no absolute requirements about the journal’s JUFO level should be set for the sub-publications of the PhD dissertations. 

The JUFO classification is developed from the perspective and basis of the Finnish scientific community. The discipline-specific expert panels, with nearly 300 scientists from Finnish universities and research institutes, are responsible for the evaluation of the publication channels. The classification is primarily based on expert evaluation, which can be supported by quantitative and qualitative information. Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is not offered to panels as an indicator of the quality of the journal.

For more information: julkaisufoorumi@tsv.fi

Publication Forum (JUFO) is a classification system that supports the quality assessment of scientific publishing activities. The Publication Forum works in the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV).

Image: W eibo, Unsplash (modified)