Elsevier Shuts Down Its Finance Journal Citation Cartel
Elsevier recently retracted 12 finance papers co-authored by Professor Brian Lucey, exposing a sophisticated 'citation cartel' where he abused his editorial power to bypass peer review and inflate metrics. This story resonates on HN by revealing how academic 'excellence' can be systematically gamed within powerful publishing ecosystems. It highlights concerns about research integrity, publisher complicity, and the underlying incentives driving such fraud.
The Lowdown
Elsevier recently retracted 12 economics papers from three prominent finance journals, a move that exposed a long-standing 'citation cartel' orchestrated by Professor Brian Lucey of Trinity College Dublin. Lucey, a prolific author, is accused of exploiting his editorial positions at these journals to rubber-stamp his own co-authored papers, effectively bypassing peer review and artificially boosting citation counts within an Elsevier-managed publishing ecosystem.
- The Retractions: On Christmas Eve, 9 papers were retracted from the International Review of Financial Analysis and Finance Research Letters, followed by 3 more from the International Review of Economics & Finance. These 12 papers collectively amassed over 5,104 citations.
- Brian Lucey's Central Role: All retracted papers listed Lucey as a co-author. He was an editor for journals where he frequently published, averaging 56 papers in 2025 (one every 6.5 days). Elsevier cited his dual role as editor and co-author as a breach of policy.
- Consequences: Lucey was removed from editorial boards at 5 journals (including those with retractions), though he remains editor-in-chief at Wiley's Journal of Economic Surveys, which claims no conflict of interest concerns.
- The Cartel Mechanics: The scheme involved 'co-authorship trading' (adding uncredited authors like Samuel Vigne, Lucey's former PhD student and frequent collaborator) and 'citation stacking,' where a small group of editors and authors funneled papers into specific journals, systematically citing each other to inflate metrics.
- Elsevier's Ecosystem: The publisher's 'Finance Journals Ecosystem,' designed to facilitate manuscript transfers between journals, inadvertently created an environment ripe for this abuse, as it allowed a coordinated group of editors to control submissions and citations.
- External Investigations: Anonymous and named academic researchers had previously detailed the cartel, demonstrating a clear distortion of the citation network after the ecosystem's launch in 2020, coinciding with a 'J-curve' explosion in Lucey's citation profile.
- Lucey's Defense: Lucey initially argued that editors publishing in their own journals was common practice, providing a list of 240 such instances, though experts like Dr. Thorsten Beck refute this as an excuse for misconduct.
- Broader Corruption: The article hints at a wider problem of financial misconduct, with anonymous economists speculating on consultancies and