(27 Jan 2026) Over the past decade, Hindawi expanded rapidly from a small open access (OA) publisher into a large, multi-journal operation publishing tens of thousands of articles annually. This period of growth coincided with an increase in submissions later linked to paper mills. By 2023–2024, public reporting documented that more than 8,000 articles across a broad range of Hindawi journals were affected, prompting one of the largest coordinated retraction efforts in scholarly publishing to date (Kincaid, 2023-a). Earlier stages of this process included plans to retract more than 1,200 papers due to compromised peer review (Kincaid, 2023-b).
Available reporting further indicates that these articles were distributed across much of the Hindawi portfolio rather than confined to a small number of titles, suggesting challenges that extended beyond isolated editorial issues (Kincaid, 2023-a).
In response to these integrity concerns, Wiley, which had acquired Hindawi in January 2021 and integrated it into its OA publishing portfolio, announced the discontinuation of multiple journals following delisting and investigations related to paper mill activity (King, 2024).
The Hindawi case represents one of the most significant integrity-related disruptions in contemporary scholarly publishing. Retractions and editorial failures are not new, nor are they limited to any one publishing model. What distinguishes this case is the scale, visibility, and cumulative impact of the retractions and journal closures.
Maryam Sayab, the executive director, communications and global engagement at the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE) reviews the record of the incident and shares her observations here.
