Whatever you mentioned may not stand for a science/Engineering Ph. D. Degree...
Still we refer Ph. D. theses and jounals of 20s or 30s, which provides substantial information for todays scientific advancement/technological development...
Regading journals, there is something called "value of impact factor", it is always better to publish in a journal having impact factor more than 3, than 10 papers in a journal having impact factor 0.3..
MOre or less, do not pull out a conclusion based on your observation in a single field/area/topic/instance.
