Exclusive: Unrest at Wiley journal whose EIC is cited in more than half of its papers

Timothy Lee of Macau University of Science and Technology was named editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Tourism Research (IJTR) in 2023. On Feb. 18, a researcher in Italy sent a disgruntled email to the journal's editorial board. Salvatore Bimonte had waited more than a year for his manuscript to be peer-reviewed, and then months more while the editor-in-chief was 'actively working on' the revised version Bimonte submitted. When Bimonte’s paper was finally rejected after 18 months — for reasons such as the topic not being 'highly suitable' and the work not being submitted in the form of a case study — the researcher felt compelled to vent his frustration to the entire editorial board. 'Maybe, I would have been treated better if I had cited some of the editor in chief’s papers,' Bimonte, of the University of Siena, wrote in boldface in the email. Two days later, an unhappy editor at the journal quit. Since May 2023, the editor-in-chief of IJTR has been Timothy J. Lee. A professor at Macau University of Science and Technology, Lee promotes that he’s among the world’s top-cited researchers and the number one in the category 'Health & Wellness' on Google Scholar. He is a member of the editorial boards of '12 leading academic journals' and was the editor-in-chief of Taylor & Francis’ erstwhile International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. An analysis by Retraction Watch found that more than half of the papers published in IJTR since Lee became editor-in-chief cite his work, raising serious questions about editorial integrity, potential citation stacking, and a conflict of interest that compromises the peer-review process.