12 papers retracted, 7 editor positions removed, and the "open secret" of Elsevier’s elite paper mill exposed.

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Elsevier retracted 12 finance papers co-authored by Brian Lucey, a Trinity College Dublin professor who served as editor on journals where he approved his own submissions. The scheme involved co-authorship trading and citation stacking within Elsevier's Finance Journals Ecosystem, artificially inflating impact factors. Lucey was removed from editorial roles at 5 journals; his former PhD student Samuel Vigne was also removed from two editorial positions. Analysis shows ecosystem citations per article were 103% higher after the ecosystem launched in 2020. Critics argue Elsevier itself benefited from the arrangement through higher impact factors, making it a case of systemic institutional corruption rather than individual misconduct. Investigators are now examining private consultancies operated by Lucey and Vigne as potential vehicles for pay-to-publish schemes.

Elsevier Shuts Down Its Finance Journal Citation Cartel