Establishment of an early warning list of SCI-indexed international journals with dual benefits for both scientists and publishers

At the end of 2020, the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) released the Early Warning List (EWL) of International Journals as guidance for scholars to choose appropriate journals in which to publish. The aims of the study were to analyze the characteristics of medical-related journals in the list and to survey scholars in the field of burn specialty regarding their understanding of and attitude toward the journals in EWL to determine their attitude toward the list and the potential use of this list as a reference for international journal quality control. All 26 early warning medical journals in the EWL are characterized by a high proportion of articles from China, as well as a high rate of retraction. The average 5-year proportion of articles authored by Chinese scholars of 19 journals was over 50%, and three were over 90%. Eight journals each retracted more than 20 articles from 2016 to 2020. The questionnaire survey showed that most burn specialty scholars believed that the establishment of such a list was beneficial for enhancing research integrity and improving journal quality management, as well as selecting journals for publication. Based on our study, we recommend establishing a global list of early warning journals to allow the EWL to be updated regularly and released for free. Peer review could be introduced to boost credibility. The EWL released by CAS can provide important practical data for the 'global alliance of early warning journals' in the future.