What results are shown by the China’s “Early Warning List of International Journals”?

While controversy continues over predatory journals, there are various opinions regarding the effectiveness of the whitelist and blacklist. In this regard, it is an important research question to investigate the impact of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' early warning list, which was disclosed in 2020. This study examined how the number of papers in 65 journals included in the 2020 list changed by country/year. The result shows that China's number of papers sharply declined in 2021 and then increased again in 2022. When examining individual journals, it was found that the effects of early warning list were very diverse. As long as the quantitative evaluation system continues in some Asian countries, this study suggests that simply whitelist/blacklist policies will have little influence on the academic ecosystem.