The list of recommended journals from the Conférence des Doyens de médecine and the CNU santé: creation and updates

On June 19, 2023, the Conférence des Doyens de Médecine (CDD) and the CNU Santé adopted a list of medical journals considered legitimate and non-predatory. This list had initially been compiled, on the initiative of Dean RIOU, at Sorbonne University's Faculty of Medicine between November 2020 and July 2021. Two coordinators within 58 disciplines covering the fields of medicine, nursing and maieutics, had been asked to select journals considered to be of priority, not suspect of complacency or predation in their respective fields. The CNU Santé Médecine sub-sections were asked to validate the journals selected for their specialties. A list of 3,409 of the 7,879 journals in the SIGAPS database was generated and put online on our faculty website in September 2021.

The resulting list is neither exhaustive nor perfect, and it has been made clear that journals that do not appear on it are not necessarily predatory or suspect, simply that they are not considered by the CSD and the CNU Santé subsections to be priorities for publication. The reference list is the one published on the CSD website, which states that "this list is intended to guide authors of manuscripts in the health field in their choice of journals to which they are recommended to submit their research work. It is also intended to guide participation in the editorial process (reviewers, editors). In particular, it is aimed at candidates for university hospital posts or promotions, and master's and doctoral students in healthcare fields seeking to publish their original research work". Among other things, the CSD website explains how to promote an off-list publication and how to request a change to the list. The list is updated every 3 months, at the beginning of January, April, July and October.

These updates are discussed by a group of national experts appointed by the presidents of the CDD and CNU Santé. This group examines the requests and first verifies that the wishes to add a journal do not concern a journal suspected of complacency in its manuscript review procedures (see the criteria on the LORIER conference of March 11, 2025 from 8'25"). Once this initial examination has been carried out, if the journal is not suspect, the application is forwarded to the CNU Santé sub-section(s) concerned by the journal's field, with the opinion, sometimes shared, of the members of the expert group. The CNU is asked whether it considers the journal to be sufficiently important to be listed, given that it is not suspect. With rare exceptions for journals outside a discipline covered by a CNU, this validation by the CNU is imperative for the list to be modified.

Journals on the list that have become suspect of complacency or are changing their model to become pre-prints are also regularly removed from the list. Keeping track of these changes is particularly difficult, and the expert group is happy to receive information on journal developments, one way or the other, on its Medecine-Revues-Recommandees@sorbonne-universite.fr e-mail box. Since its formation in March 2024, the group has received 62 requests for changes to the list, some involving several journals. Thirty-seven have been accepted and 25 rejected. As of April 2, 2025, the list includes 3461 titles.

The list of journals recommended by the CSD and CNU Santé is increasingly used by universities and CNU Santé sub-sections to assess applications for recruitment and promotion. The Direction générale de l'offre de soins is also interested in the list for its funding programs.

Christian Funck-Brentano
Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne University
Sorbonne Université Delegate for Scientific Integrity (RIS) for the Faculty of Health Sciences