A Bibliometric Analysis of 14 Simultaneous Copies of the ICMJE Editorial on Predatory Publishing: Citation Patterns and Potential Citation Opportunities

Using Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Altmetric Bookmarklet, this bibliometric study examines the indexing coverage, citation performance, and online attention of a 2025 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors editorial on predatory publishing, published simultaneously in 14 medical journals, to assess its representation across databases and resulting citation patterns. Several metadata discrepancies were identified across copies and databases, including variations in titles, author names, document types, funding details, and language fields. We argue that simultaneous publication may create citation opportunities through within-document citation multiplication, journal stratification, geographic dissemination, and expanded discoverability.