IEEE Transactions (Various)

IEEE Transactions' reputation as a rigorous engineering benchmark has eroded due to massive infiltration by paper mills and citation cartels. The portfolio now hosts over 200 journals and 1,900 conferences, many of which accept virtually all submissions for a steep registration fee of $600–$900. In 2025 alone, an estimated 15% of accepted papers in certain IEEE conferences were flagged as fraudulent, a rate 3 times higher than the average across other engineering journals. This infiltration is more severe than in #9 Elsevier's portfolio, which has a 5% fraud rate. With over 150,000 articles published annually, IEEE's lack of robust fraud detection makes it a hotbed for dubious research, undermining its credibility as a trusted source.