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Abstracting and indexing

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Reviewing policy

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Controversies
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 Controversial articles by retraction date

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2016

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2018

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2019

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2020

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2021

o
Resignations of editorial board members


See also

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References

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External links

Scientific Reports
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the informal document describing scientific research, see Technical report.

Scientific Reports

Discipline Natural sciences

Language English

Edited by Rafal Marszalek

Publication details

History 2011–present

Publisher Nature Portfolio

Frequency Continuous

Open access Yes

License Creative Commons Attribution

Impact factor 4.6 (2022)

Standard abbreviations

ISO 4 Sci. Rep.

Indexing

CODEN SRCEC3
 ISSN 2045-2322

LCCN 2011250880

OCLC no. 732869387

Links

 Journal homepage

Scientific Reports is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published

by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was
established in 2011.[1] The journal states that their aim is to assess solely the scientific
validity of a submitted paper, rather than its perceived importance, significance, or
impact.[2]

In September 2016, the journal became the largest in the world by number of articles,
overtaking PLOS ONE.[3][4][5]

Abstracting and indexing[edit]

The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Chemical Abstracts Service,
[6]
the Science Citation Index Expanded, and selectively in Index
Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed.[7] According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal
has a 2022 impact factor 4.6.[8]

Reviewing policy[edit]
The Guide to Referees states that to be published, "a paper must be scientifically
valid and technically sound in methodology and analysis", and reviewers have to
ensure manuscripts "are not assessed based on their perceived importance,
significance or impact",[9] but this procedure has been questioned.[10]

Controversies[edit]
Controversial articles by retraction date[edit]
2016[edit]
Allegedly duplicated and manipulated images in a 2016 paper that were not detected
during peer review led to criticism from the scientific community.[11] The article was
retracted in June 2016.[12]

2018[edit]
In 2018, Scientific Reports appeared on a blacklist from the Zhongshan Ophthalmic
Center at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, amid moves by the Chinese
government to create national blacklists for journals.[13]

The face of Donald Trump was hidden in an image of baboon feces in a paper
published in 2018. The journal later removed the image.[14]
2019[edit]
A 2018 paper claimed that a homeopathic treatment could attenuate pain in rats. It
was retracted 8 months later after "swift criticism" from the scientific community. [15][16]

A controversial 2018 paper suggested that too much bent-neck staring at a cell
phone could grow a "horn" on the back of someone's head. The study also failed to
mention the conflict of interests of the first author.[17] The paper was later corrected.

2020[edit]
A 2016 study proclaimed that a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine caused
impaired mobility and brain damage in mice. The paper alarmed public health
advocates in Japan and worldwide because of the potential side effects of the HPV
vaccine on humans. The study was retracted two years later because "the
experimental approach does not support the objectives of the study".[18]

It took Scientific Reports more than four years to retract a plagiarized study from a
bachelor's thesis of a Hungarian mathematician. The paper, entitled "Modified box
dimension and average weighted receiving time on the weighted fractal networks",
was published in December 2015, and the plagiarism was reported in January 2016
by the former bachelor student. In April 2020, the paper was retracted. [19]

A study published in the journal on June 24, 2019, claimed that fluctuations in the
sun were causing global warming.[20] Based on severe criticism from the scientific
community, Scientific Reports started an investigation on the validity of this study,
[21]
and it was retracted by the editors in March 2020.[22]

2021[edit]
Scientific Reports retracted a 2019 paper in January of 2021 which claimed that "both
Creationism and Big Bang theory are wrong, and that black holes are the engines
driving the universe".[23]

A paper published in July 2020, which said body weight can be correlated with being
honest or dishonest, caused consternation among social media users, questioning
why Scientific Reports agreed to publish this paper.[24] The paper was eventually
retracted in January 2021.[25]

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) approached Scientific Reports to
request retraction of a paper by scientists at the National Institutes of Health in
which rhesus macaques were used for experiments in which they were "deprived of
water, strapped into restraint chairs and shown videos of shapes engaging in human-
like behaviors while experimenters measured their eye movements".[26]

A paper published in September 2021 implied that the Biblical story of the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah might have been a retelling of an exploding asteroid around
the year 1,650 BCE. The paper received criticism on social media and by data
sleuths for using a doctored image.[27]

Resignations of editorial board members[edit]

In 2015, editor Mark Maslin resigned because the journal introduced a trial of a fast-
track peer-review service for biology manuscripts in exchange for an additional fee.[28]
[29]
The trial ran for a month.[30]

In November 2017, 19 editorial board members stepped down due to the journal not
retracting a plagiarised 2016 study.[31] The article was eventually retracted in March
2018.

See also[edit]
 Nature Communications
 Cell Reports

References[edit]
1. ^ Ann Koopman (January 10, 2011). Nature Launches New Open Access Journal: Scientific
Reports, Library News, Thomas Jefferson University. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
2. ^ "Criteria for publication". Scientific Reports. Nature Publishing Group.
3. ^ Davis, Phil (23 August 2016). "Scientific Reports On Track To Become Largest Journal In The
World". The Scholarly Kitchen. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
4. ^ "Scientific Reports Overtakes PLOS ONE As Largest Megajournal". The Scholarly Kitchen. 6
April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
5. ^ "Mega-journals: the future, a stepping stone to it or a leap into the abyss?". Times Higher
Education. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
6. ^ "CAS Source Index". Chemical Abstracts Service. American Chemical Society. Retrieved 24
August 2018.
7. ^ "Scientific Reports". NLM Catalog. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 24
August 2018.
8. ^ "Scientific Reports". 2022 Journal Citation Reports. Web of Science (Science ed.). Clarivate.
2023.
9. ^ "Guide to Referees". Scientific Reports. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
10. ^ Lowe, Derek (15 June 2016). "More on Scientific Reports, And on Faked Papers". Blog. In the
Pipeline. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
11. ^ Palus, Shannon (10 June 2016). "Author denies accusations of blatant duplication". Retraction
Watch. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
12. ^ Samie, Nima; Muniandy, Sekaran; Kanthimathi, M. S.; Haerian, Batoul Sadat; Azudin, Raja Elina
Raja (2016). "Retraction: Novel piperazine core compound induces death in human liver cancer
cells: possible pharmacological properties". Scientific Reports. 6:
29056. Bibcode:2016NatSR...629056S. doi:10.1038/srep29056. PMC 4916487. PMID 27328968
.
13. ^ Cyranoski, David (16 October 2018). "China awaits controversial blacklist of 'poor quality'
journals". Nature. 562 (7728): 471–472. Bibcode:2018Natur.562..471C. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-
07025-5. PMID 30353153. S2CID 256767508.
14. ^ Oransky, Oran (21 December 2018). ""Unusual aspects" of a figure — aka a cartoon of Trump's
face in baboon feces — disappear from a journal". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 18
September 2019.
15. ^ Oransky, Oran (11 June 2019). ""Permeable to bad science:" Journal retracts paper hailed by
proponents of homeopathy". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
16. ^ Guglielmi, Giorgia (20 October 2018). "Peer-reviewed homeopathy study sparks uproar in
Italy". Nature. 562 (7726): 173–174. Bibcode:2018Natur.562..173G. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-
06967-0. PMID 30301997.
17. ^ Marcus, Adam (18 September 2019). "'Text neck' — aka 'horns' — paper earns
corrections". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
18. ^ Hackett, Don Ward (11 May 2018). "HPV Vaccine Research From Japan Withdrawn". Precision
Vaccinations. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
19. ^ Marcus, Adam (20 April 2020). "An author realized a paper had plagiarized his thesis. It took the
journal four years to retract it". Retraction Watch.
 20. ^ V. V. Zharkova, S. J. Shepherd, S. I. Zharkov & E. Popova (2019). "Oscillations of the baseline
of solar magnetic field and solar irradiance on a millennial timescale". Scientific Reports. 9 (1):
9197. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-45584-3. PMC 6591297. PMID 31235834.
21. ^ Vaughan, Adam. "Journal criticised for study claiming sun is causing global warming". New
Scientist. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
22. ^ Zharkova, V. V.; Shepherd, S. J.; Zharkov, S. I.; Popova, E. (2020). "Retraction Note:
Oscillations of the baseline of solar magnetic field and solar irradiance on a millennial
timescale". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 4336. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.4336Z. doi:10.1038/s41598-
020-61020-3. PMC 7055216. PMID 32132618.
23. ^ Marcus, Adam (13 January 2021). ""Confrontation is an important element of physics progress:"
Paper on black holes retracted". Retraction Watch.
24. ^ Marcus, Adam (13 January 2021). "Springer Nature journal retracts BMI, honesty
paper". Retraction Watch.
25. ^ Marcus, Adam (14 January 2021). "'Deeply unfair': First author of newly retracted paper on
weight and honesty speaks out". Retraction Watch.
26. ^ Oransky, Ivan (20 March 2021). "Weekend reads: The fake author with more than 200 papers;
accusations of 'heinous plagiarism'; PETA requests a retraction". Retraction Watch.
27. ^ Marcus, Adam (October 2021). "Criticism engulfs paper claiming an asteroid destroyed Biblical
Sodom and Gomorrah". Retraction Watch.
28. ^ Bohannon, John (27 March 2015). "Updated: Editor quits journal over pay-for-expedited peer-
review offer". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aab0391.
29. ^ Cressey, Daniel (27 March 2015). "Concern raised over payment for fast-track peer
review". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.17204. S2CID 167469822.
30. ^ Jackson, Alex (21 April 2015). "Fast-track peer review experiment: First findings". Of Schemes
and Memes Blog. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
31. ^ Offord, Catherine (6 November 2017). "Mass Resignation from Scientific Reports's Editorial
Board". The Scientist. Retrieved 1 September 2019.

External links[edit]

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