Sage issues dozens of retractions from two journals it acquired
In recent weeks Sage has retracted batches of articles published in two journals it acquired from IOS Press in 2023. In each case, the retractions were for manipulation of, and concerns about, peer review. The first tranche of papers was retracted July 15 from Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems (JIFS) and constituted 43 papers, … Continue reading Sage issues dozens of retractions from two…
Recent weeks have seen Sage publish numerous retractions from two journals it acquired from IOS Press in 2023. These retractions were due to manipulation and concerns about the peer review process. The first batch of 43 papers was retracted from Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems (JIFS) on July 15. An internal investigation revealed indicators of third-party involvement and attempts to manipulate the peer-review process.
The second set of 34 retractions affected International Journal of Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Engineering Systems from 2017 to 2025. The August 5 notice cited suspicion of third-party involvement, peer review issues, citation manipulation, and non-standard language as reasons for the retractions. Sage, which acquired IOS Press in November 2023, holds the record for the most retractions for a single journal, having previously retracted over 1,500 papers from JIFS after Clarivate put the journal's indexing on hold due to concerns about article quality.
The retractions also occurred in response to a separate investigation into the 2024-2025 period. Among the retracted papers were those from the 2020 International Conference on Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems, held in Istanbul, Turkey. Eight of these papers had at least one coauthor who was an editor of the proceedings. One of these editors, Istanbul Technical University engineering economics professor Cengiz Kahraman, called Sage's actions "legally and editorially unacceptable."
Sage defines third-party involvement as paper mill activity, peer review manipulation, or any other evidence suggesting wholesale generation of research submissions. The publisher stated that they have limited information about the original publication process. Authors who were affected by the retractions included academics from institutions in China, with Professor Gui-Wu (Guiwu) Wei from Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu authoring seven of the retracted papers.
Sage is not the only publisher attempting to clean up its acquired journals, as Wiley also experienced challenges after acquiring Hindawi in 2021.
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