Detecting anomalous patterns of scientific publication in Spain (I): Empirical evidence

Abstract

The goal of this work is to ascertain whether academic publication patterns have significantly changed in the last few years in Spain. In particular, the analysis focuses on the publication venues (publishers and journals) and the document types that are chosen by researchers working in Spain to communicate their work. The Web of Science core collection (WoScc) is selected as a data source because this bibliographic database, as well the journal ranking that is derived from it (Journal Citation Reports) are the sources that have long been used in Spain to assess the performance of researchers. The results show that indeed, significant changes in the choice of publication venues can be observed in recent years. Specifically, compared to world trends, researchers working in Spain are disproportionally publishing in relatively young journals, created by relatively new publishers. An unusually high proportion of review articles is also identified. Works published by MDPI and Frontiers have seen a meteoric rise. In 2021, MDPI had already attained second place in the list of publishers with a higher number of documents published by Spanish researchers (14.6% of Spanish production), doubling the overall weight of this publisher worldwide. In 40 universities, MDPI was the most used publisher in 2021, responsible for over 20% of the production in these institutions. The establishment of MDPI as a preferred publisher for Spanish researchers is observed in all fields of knowledge. Although in 2015 MDPI was among the top 10 publishers (according to its production level) in three out of ten broad scientific fields, in 2021 it could already be found among the top 10 in all fields. Additionally, we observed differences in the distribution of document types in Frontiers and MDPI publications: the proportion of review articles published by researchers in Spain in these two publishers quadruples and triples (respectively) the overall proportion of review articles by researchers in Spain across all publishers.of this publisher worldwide. In 40 universities, MDPI was the most used publisher in 2021, responsible for over 20% of the production in these institutions. The establishment of MDPI as a preferred publisher for Spanish researchers is observed in all fields of knowledge. Although in 2015 MDPI was among the top 10 publishers (according to its production level) in three out of ten broad scientific fields, in 2021 it could already be found among the top 10 in all fields. Additionally, we observed differences in the distribution of document types in Frontiers and MDPI publications: the proportion of review articles published by researchers in Spain in these two publishers quadruples and triples (respectively) the overall proportion of review articles by researchers in Spain across all publishers.