Acta Informatica Pragensia 2025, 14(3), 296-305 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aip.274308

Current Woes and Pitfalls of Publishing Scientific Journals: Development of Acta Informatica Pragensia and Reflection on Using GenAI Tools

Zdenek Smutny ORCID...
Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, Prague University of Economics and Business, Prague, Czech Republic

The editorial summarises the development of the Acta Informatica Pragensia journal over the last three years and complements the journal statistics for the years 2019–2025. Thanks to the indexing of the journal in Web of Science and Scopus citation databases, the world's most prestigious scientific citation databases, the journal began to profile itself as international with regional roots and a core community of Editorial Board members from Central Europe. The paper also presents the journal metrics and statistics of submitted and accepted articles for the observed period. Against the background of the current development of tools based on generative artificial intelligence, the perspectives presented in selected articles previously published in Acta Informatica Pragensia are discussed in the context of current and future directions of academic publishing. Finally, unfair practices of authors that I have encountered in our journal as Editor-in-Chief are presented and some others that are currently resonating in academic communities are also listed.

Keywords: Acta Informatica Pragensia; Article retraction; Authors' mistakes; Cheating; Editorial; Experience with journal publishing; Generative artificial intelligence; GenAI; Paper mill.

Received: August 7, 2025; Accepted: August 18, 2025; Published: August 19, 2025  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Smutny, Z. (2025). Current Woes and Pitfalls of Publishing Scientific Journals: Development of Acta Informatica Pragensia and Reflection on Using GenAI Tools. Acta Informatica Pragensia, 14(3), 296-305. doi: 10.18267/j.aip.274
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Abalkina, A. (2023). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: Evidence from a Russia-based paper mill. Learned Publishing, 36(4), 689-702. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1574 Go to original source...
    2. Aksenfeld, R. (2025). Sage journal retracts nearly 50 papers for signs of paper mill activity. Retractionwatch.com. https://retractionwatch.com/2025/08/14/sage-journal-retracts-48-papers-paper-mill-activity/
    3. Ansede, M. (2023). A researcher who publishes a study every two days reveals the darker side of science. El Pais. https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-06-04/a-researcher-who-publishes-a-study-every-two-days-reveals-the-darker-side-of-science.html
    4. Bébr, R. (2012). Save your passions! A few notes on the history of ICT. Acta Informatica Pragensia, 1(1), 69-75. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.aip.8 Go to original source...
    5. Crosetto, P. (2021). Is MDPI a predatory publisher?. https://paolocrosetto.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/is-mdpi-a-predatory-publisher/
    6. CPOS. (2022). Publikační činnost autorů Univerzity Karlovy v časopisech MDPI: analýza Centra pro podporu open science. Open Science Support Centre, Charles University. https://openscience.cuni.cz/OSCI-199-version1-mdpi_ukuk.pdf
    7. Csomós, G., & Farkas, J. Z. (2022). Understanding the increasing market share of the academic publisher "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute" in the publication output of Central and Eastern European countries: a case study of Hungary. Scientometrics, 128(1), 803-824. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-022-04586-1 Go to original source...
    8. Drtinová, V., Simandlová, T., Procházková, Ž., Szarzec, J. (2025). Analýza publikační činnosti Univerzity Karlovy v časopisech MDPI za období 2016-2023. Library of Charles University. https://knihovna.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/UK_MDPI_2016-2023.html
    9. Enserink, M. (2015). Open-access publisher sacks 31 editors amid fierce row over independence. Science.org. https://www.science.org/content/article/open-access-publisher-sacks-31-editors-amid-fierce-row-over-independence Go to original source...
    10. Fišer, J. (2012). Will we think in programming languages? Acta Informatica Pragensia, 1(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.aip.1 Go to original source...
    11. Galloway, A. R. (2012). The Interface Effect. Polity Press.
    12. Grove, J. (2025). Germany faces questions over publishing agreement with MDPI. THE. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/germany-faces-questions-over-publishing-agreement-mdpi
    13. Hara, N., & Fichman, P. (2025). Social Informatics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032678542 Go to original source...
    14. Inspektor, T. (2023). MDPI - pořád ta samá písnička. BLOG Ústřední knihovny VŠB-TUO. https://bloguk.vsb.cz/mdpi-porad-ta-sama-pisnicka/
    15. Ishida, S., Sato, T., Honma, T., & Terayama, K. (2025). Large language models open new way of AI-assisted molecule design for chemists. Journal of Cheminformatics, 17(1), Article 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13321-025-00984-8 Go to original source...
    16. Kincaid. E. (2024). Finland Publication Forum will downgrade hundreds of Frontiers and MDPI journals. Retractionwatch.com. https://retractionwatch.com/2024/12/24/finland-publication-forum-will-downgrade-hundreds-of-frontiers-and-mdpi-journals/
    17. Kokotajlo, D., Alexander, S., Larsen, T., Lifland, E., & Dean, R. (2025). AI 2027. https://ai-2027.com/
    18. López-Corona, O., & Magallanes-Guijón, G. (2020). It is not an anthropocene; it is really the technocene: Names matter in decision making under planetary crisis. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8, Article 214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00214 Go to original source...
    19. Machek, O. (2025). Šedá zóna publikování: Finsko vyřazuje mnoho časopisů MDPI a Frontiers z hodnocení. Vedavyzkum.cz. https://vedavyzkum.cz/nazory/ondrej-machek/seda-zona-publikovani-finsko-vyrazuje-mnoho-casopisu-mdpi-a-frontiers-z-hodnoceni
    20. MDPI. (2024). Over 100 German Universities Partner with MDPI in New National Agreement. Mdpi.com. https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/9999
    21. Nature. (2025). Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders. Nature.com. https://www.nature.com/nature-index/research-leaders/2025/
    22. NSF. (2023). Publications Output: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons. NSF. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb202333/publication-output-by-region-country-or-economy-and-by-scientific-field
    23. Parker, L., Boughton, S., Bero, L., & Byrne, J. A. (2024). Paper Mill challenges: Past, present and future. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 176, 111549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2024.111549 Go to original source...
    24. Ramos, M. C., Collison, C. J., & White, A. D. (2025). A review of large language models and autonomous agents in chemistry. Chemical Science, 16(6), 2514-2572. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sc03921a Go to original source...
    25. Sasínová, P. (2025). Umělá inteligence jako důvěrník. Nová šéfka aplikací OpenAI prozradila vizi budoucnosti. Novinky.cz. https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/internet-a-pc-ai-umela-inteligence-jako-duvernik-nova-sefka-aplikaci-openai-prozradila-vizi-budoucnosti-40531861
    26. Silva, J. C. M. C., Gouveia, R. P., Zielinski, K. M. C., Oliveira, M. C. F., Amancio, D. R., Bruno, O. M., & Oliveira, O. N. (2025). AI-Assisted Tools for Scientific Review Writing: Opportunities and Cautions. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, (in press). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c08837 Go to original source...
    27. Smutny, Z. (2016). Predatory journals, piracy and new models of publishing scientific articles. Acta Informatica Pragensia, 5(1), 82-91. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.aip.87 Go to original source...
    28. Smutny, Z., & Janoscik, V. (2019). Changes in Online Subjectivity: Artificial Users, Subject Fragmentarization, and Multimodal Interaction. In Rejani T. Gopalan (Ed.), Intimacy and Developing Personal Relationships in the Virtual World, (pp. 1-20). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-4047-2.ch001 Go to original source...
    29. Smutny, Z., & Mildeova, S. (2022). Current status and plans for further development of Acta Informatica Pragensia. Acta Informatica Pragensia, 11(2), 149-151. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.aip.191 Go to original source...
    30. Springer Nature. (2025). Springer Nature releases first half results. InPublishing. https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/springer-nature-releases-first-half-results-25648
    31. Strossa, P. (2022). What is the Real Threat of Information Explosion? Acta Informatica Pragensia, 11(2), 285-289. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.aip.185 Go to original source...
    32. Štys, D. (2023). Open access - přírodovědec věří, inženýr se směje. Vedavyzkum.cz. https://vedavyzkum.cz/nazory/dalibor-stys/open-access-prirodovedec-veri-inzenyr-se-smeje
    33. Štys, D., & Štysova, R. (2024). Doplněno o reakci předsedy GA ČR Petra Baldriana. Dalibor Štys: MDPI - konečně jsme první na světě aneb RIP AI. Vedavyzkum.cz. https://vedavyzkum.cz/nazory/dalibor-stys/dalibor-stys-mdpi-konecne-jsme-prvni-na-svete-aneb-rip-ai
    34. The Strain team. (2025). Springer Nature Discovers MDPI. https://the-strain-on-scientific-publishing.github.io/website/posts/discover_nature/
    35. Travis, K. (2025). Springer Nature retracted 2,923 papers last year. Retractionwatch.com. https://retractionwatch.com/2025/02/17/springer-nature-journal-retractions-2024/
    36. Van Noorden, R. (2023). More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023 - a new record. Nature, 624(7992), 479-481. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03974-8 Go to original source...
    37. VŠE. (2023). Pozice vedení VŠE vůči publikování v časopisech nakladatelství MDPI. Prague University of Economics and Business. https://veda.vse.cz/aktuality/pozice-vedeni-vse-vuci-publikovani-v-casopisech-nakladatelstvi-mdpi/
    38. Zhang, G., Li, B., Gu, Z., Yang, W., Wang, Y., Li, H., Zheng, H., Yue, Y., Wang, K., Gong, M., & Gong, D. (2024). Unleashing the Potential of Internet Hospitals: An In-Depth Examination of Information Platform Functionality and Performance. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26, e54018. https://doi.org/10.2196/54018 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content