Conspiracies in Academia? Stand Up Against Defamations of Open Access Journals!

Nino Künzli^{1

2}, Christopher Woodrow¹, Luca Crivelli^{2

3}, Kasia Czabanowska⁴, Olaf von dem Knesebeck⁵, Andrea Madarasova Geckova⁶, Sarah Mantwill⁷, Sunghea Park¹, Milo Puhan^{2

8}, Ana Isabel Ribeiro⁹, L Suzanne Suggs^{2

10}

Affiliations

¹ Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), Allschwil, Switzerland.
² Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), Zürich, Switzerland.
³ Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), Lugano, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
⁵ Institute of Medical Sociology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Health Psychology and Research Methodology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia.
⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland.
⁸ Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute (EBPI), University Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
⁹ Epidemiology Research Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁰ Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland.

Nino Künzli et al. Int J Public Health. 2025.

. 2025 May 13:70:1608614.

doi: 10.3389/ijph.2025.1608614. eCollection 2025.

¹ Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), Allschwil, Switzerland.
² Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), Zürich, Switzerland.
³ Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), Lugano, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
⁵ Institute of Medical Sociology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Health Psychology and Research Methodology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia.
⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland.
⁸ Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute (EBPI), University Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
⁹ Epidemiology Research Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
¹⁰ Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland.

No abstract available

Keywords: bibliometry; ethics; fraud; journal; open access; public health; publishing; ranking systems.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest.

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