Massive Volume of Out-of-Scope Publications in the PAIN JOINTS SPINE
A recent investigation reveals that PAIN JOINTS SPINE (ISSN: 2224-1507) has seen a several-fold increase in publication volume in 2026. To date, it has published 587 articles in 2026, compared with 97 articles in 2025 and approximately 20–40 articles per year before 2025.
The journal was previously published in Ukraine by Publishing House Zaslavsky (Видавничий дім «Заславський») under the DOI prefix 10.22141/pjs.* until mid-2025; thereafter, it has been published by Riset Publishing Services L.L.C. in the United Arab Emirates under the DOI prefix 10.1922/pjs.*.
It is noted that, before the journal was transferred to Riset Publishing Services L.L.C., Ukrainian first authors accounted for 80% (329/412) of the journal’s output; by contrast, about 74% of articles published thereafter have Indian first authors.
The investigation further shows that more than half of the papers published since the journal was transferred to Riset Publishing Services L.L.C. fall outside its stated scope. By comparison, only 2.2% of the articles published before the transfer were out of scope.