{"id":3812,"date":"2021-11-17T13:31:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T13:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-you-need-to-know-about-hijacked-journals\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:36:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:06:58","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-hijacked-journals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-you-need-to-know-about-hijacked-journals","title":{"rendered":"How to spot a hijacked journal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Journal hijacking is among the latest additions to the growing kitty of scholarly publishing fraud. This article explains<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327702\">What are hijacked journals?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327703\">When did journal hijacking begin?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327704\">What is the difference between hijacked journals and predatory journals?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327705\">Similarities between hijacked and predatory journals<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327706\">Which journals may get hijacked?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327707\">Negative impacts of submission to hijacked journals<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327708\">Financial losses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327709\">Contamination of the scientific record and ripple effect<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327710\">Tarnished reputation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#_Toc227327711\">How to identify hijacked journals<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327702\"><\/a>What are hijacked journals?<\/h2>\n<p>Hijacked journals steal the identity of legitimate journals by copying their name, International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), and other metadata, creating a cloned website that is nearly indistinguishable from the authentic one.<\/p>\n<p>The journal clone tends to appear above the search results of the legitimate journal in web searches. This tricks authors into choosing fake journals for submitting their work. \u201cBrandjacking\u201d of longstanding, reputable journals aims to con researchers into publishing with them without offering peer review or editing and to extract exorbitant fees.<sup>1-3<\/sup><\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327703\"><\/a>When did journal hijacking begin?<\/h2>\n<p>The phenomenon of journal hijacking was noticed for the first time in 2011 by Iranian researchers led by Mehdi Dadkhah.<sup>4<\/sup> Thereafter, Dadkhah\u2019s group has been tracking the developments in this area and reporting instances of counterfeit journals.<sup>2,5<\/sup>By cloning valid details of reputed journals, the forged sites look so convincing that these hijacked journals manage to hoodwink indexing databases and academic metrics companies.<sup>1,2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>According to anecdotal reports,<sup>6<\/sup> journal hijacking increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, mirroring the trend of cybercrime globally.<sup>7<\/sup> Hijacked journals have recently come back into focus, thanks to the alarming discovery of hundreds of papers from hijacked journals in the World Health Organization (WHO)\u2019s official collection of COVID-19 papers.<\/p>\n<p>Research fellow Anna Abalkina found 383 papers from three hijacked journals in WHO\u2019s <em>COVID-19 Global literature on coronavirus disease<\/em> database (https:\/\/bit.ly\/WHO_COVID_lit_database).<sup>8<\/sup> The journals were indexed in Elsevier\u2019s Scopus, but they harbored bizarrely out-of-scope articles. For example, a linguistics journal featured papers on COVID-19, nutrition, and gestational anemia. A blog post by Retraction Watch reported this scam, after which Scopus removed the papers; officials at WHO appear to be working to resolve the issue in their database.<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327704\"><\/a>What is the difference between hijacked journals and predatory journals?<\/h2>\n<p>Predatory journals are completely fake titles and might not manage to pervade reputable indexing.<sup>2<\/sup> Meanwhile, hijacked journals carefully imitate the content of pre-existing journal titles. Herein lies the biggest difference from predatory journals. Hijacked sites of legitimate journals even deceive scholarly indexing databases, which unwittingly include their content.<sup>1,2<\/sup> This perpetuates the ruse, because scholars trust such databases and, thus, the journals in them.<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327705\"><\/a>Similarities between hijacked and predatory journals<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Exploit the open access model to make profits, with no regard for the integrity of science<\/li>\n<li>Offer typical predatory promises of rapid publication, with no manuscript review or fake peer review.<\/li>\n<li>Contact details of the publisher are missing or fake<\/li>\n<li>Misleading profiles of editorial board members<\/li>\n<li>Ambiguous descriptions of a journal\u2019s indexing\/impact factor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327706\"><\/a>Which journals may get hijacked?<\/h2>\n<p>Hijackers target journals for which the authentic website is non-existent or difficult to find. Non-English journals run by small publishers, as well as print-only journals that do not have official homepages to begin with, are ideal candidates for identity theft.<sup>2<\/sup>Some of these journals even clone or recycle published material to produce a \u201cfictitious archive\u201d to appear genuine.<sup>9<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The sophistication of the deception makes it easy for even the most seasoned researchers to fall prey to this system. As a result, hijacked journals are more likely to receive papers than predatory journals are, rendering journal hijacking more damaging than predatory journals.<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327707\"><\/a>Negative impacts of submission to hijacked journals<\/h2>\n<h3><a name=\"_Toc227327708\"><\/a>Financial losses<\/h3>\n<p>Submission to duplicate journals is an enormous waste of resources. Researchers lose their money, time, and precious research work to these fake outlets.<\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"_Toc227327709\"><\/a>Contamination of the scientific record and ripple effect<\/h3>\n<p>Papers published in hijacked journals add non\u2013peer-reviewed and poor-quality material. Articles appearing in hijacked journals even get cited by legitimate journals,<sup>10<\/sup> propagating inauthentic science. Such fraud gravely affects the validity and reliability of scholarly literature, having harmful repercussions, particularly in the fields of health and medicine.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"_Toc227327710\"><\/a>Tarnished reputation<\/h3>\n<p>Having one\u2019s papers appear in predatory or hijacked journals, which lack rigorous peer review, affects a researcher\u2019s publication record and reputation. Even if a researcher unwittingly falls prey to predatory practices, it might reflect poorly on them: perhaps the author wanted to rapidly expand their list of publications?<\/p>\n<p>Publishing with such journals only encourages and empowers fraud agencies further.<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"_Toc227327711\"><\/a>How to identify hijacked journals<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some pointers to identify hijacked journals:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Check the usual predatory hallmarks, which are common to predatory journals as well, e.g., beseeching calls for papers received through email, absurdly wide scope, guaranteed publication, ambiguous statements on author fees, and dead links on the website.<sup>12<\/sup><\/li>\n<li>Search and verify the journal\u2019s website using different search engines and identify instances of multiple, different-looking sites for the same journal.<\/li>\n<li>Check the DOIs of papers appearing in the journal to verify the authenticity of the journal or publisher, as well as the ORCIDs of the editorial board members and of authors whose work appears in the journal.<\/li>\n<li>Where known, check for dubious IP addresses known to host other hijacked journals and suspicious domain registration (e.g., recent registration despite the original journal being active for years).<\/li>\n<li>Track available lists of predatory journals or journals of dubious nature, e.g., Cabell\u2019s Predatory Reports (<u><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.cabells.com\/about-predatory\">https:\/\/www2.cabells.com\/about-predatory<\/a><\/u>), and the\u00a0open list\u00a0<u><a href=\"https:\/\/scholarlyoa.com\/hijacked-journals\/\">https:\/\/scholarlyoa.com\/hijacked-journals\/<\/a><\/u>).<\/li>\n<li>Identify journals that have been removed from the DOAJ list because of \u201csuspected editorial misconduct by publisher\u201d (<u><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/2014\/05\/22\/doaj-publishes-lists-of-journals-removed-and-added\/\">https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/2014\/05\/22\/doaj-publishes-lists-of-journals-removed-and-added\/<\/a><\/u>).<\/li>\n<li>Hijacked journals often appear among the top results of an online search for their authentic counterparts. So, it may be a good idea to not look a journal up directly on a search engine but visit an aggregator site, like a reputable journal index, and then visit the journal from there. While some hijacked journals may still make their way into these lists, this approach can reduce the chances of you ending up at the websites of these journals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Literature and checklists informing researchers about predatory publishing are widely available.<sup>11,12<\/sup> One such list is maintained by Researcher.Life\u2014<u><a href=\"https:\/\/researcher.life\/journal?utm_source=contentmarketing&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=researcherlife-insights-hijacked_journals--row\">Global Journal Database<\/a><\/u>\u2014a comprehensive list of journals across disciplines. This database includes journals indexed in WoS, DOAJ, and Scopus, and provides users with information\/links to critical details about a journal (publisher name, editorial team, article charges, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>Predatory agencies keep evolving wilier ways to dupe authors. Increasing awareness of possible fraud, particularly among early career researchers, is imperative to safeguard them from such malicious scams.<\/p>\n<p>Senior researchers should educate members of their team to be vigilant and follow pre-emptive measures to stay ahead of fraudsters. Judicious use of social media, careful scrutiny of academic databases and indexes, and alertness to any suspicious activity are advised. Lists of suspicious journals keep getting updated, so researchers should stay aware of changes in such lists.<\/p>\n<p>Afraid of falling prey to a hijacked journal? Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/services\/other\/journal-selection\">Journal Selection<\/a> experts will shortlist for you legitimate, reputed journals that match your manuscript and meet your publication goals.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>How can I avoid submitting a paper to a hijacked journal?<\/h3>\n<p>The best way to avoid getting scammed by a hijacked journal is to be suspicious about any 1) appeals to submit, 2) guarantees of publication, 3) ridiculously wide scope, 4) journal websites that look different depending on whether they are viewed from a search engine vs whether you click on a link provided in an email.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I withdraw my paper from a hijacked journal?<\/h3>\n<p>It may be possible to halt the submission process or withdraw your paper from a hijacked journal, especially if you&#8217;ve not paid any money (a hijacker won&#8217;t bother to publish it without payment). Start with a firm, clear, formal email withdrawing consent for publication. If the article is published, request a formal retraction. Refuse to pay any withdrawal fees. You may need to also involve your local cybercrime law enforcement. If your university has legal counsel, do discuss this with them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Butler, D. Sham journals scam authors. <em>Nature<\/em> <strong>495<\/strong>, 421\u2013422 (2013).<br \/>\n2. Dadkhah, M., Borchardt, G. Hijacked journals: an emerging challenge for scholarly publishing. <em>Aesthetic Surgery Journal<\/em> <strong>36<\/strong>, 739\u2013741 (2016).<\/li>\n<li>Grove, J. Hijacked journals \u2018siphon millions of dollars\u2019 from research. <em>Times Higher Education<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/news\/hijacked-journals-siphon-millions-dollars-research\">https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/news\/hijacked-journals-siphon-millions-dollars-research<\/a> (2021).<\/li>\n<li>Jalalian, M., Dadkhah, M. The full story of 90 hijacked journals from August 2011 to June 2015. <em><a href=\"http:\/\/scindeks.ceon.rs\/JournalDetails.aspx?issn=0354-8724\">Geographica Pannonica<\/a><\/em> <strong>19<\/strong>, 73\u201387 (2015).<\/li>\n<li>Dadkhah, M., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Tomasz-Maliszewski\">Maliszewski<\/a>, T., Teixeira da Silva, J.A., et al. Hijacked journals, hijacked web-sites, journal phishing, misleading metrics and predatory publishing: actual and potential threats to academic integrity and publishing ethics. <em>Forensic Science Medicine and Pathology<\/em> <strong>12<\/strong>, 353\u2013362 (2016).<\/li>\n<li>Sharif, S. How to catch fake\/cloned\/predatory journals in academics. <em>YouTube<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9KAZpKP5D4E&amp;t=683s\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9KAZpKP5D4E&amp;t=683s<\/a> (2021).<\/li>\n<li>Interpol. Global landscape on COVID-19 cyberthreat. <em>Interpol<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.interpol.int\/en\/content\/download\/15217\/file\/Global%20landscape%20on%20COVID-19%20cyberthreat.pdf\">https:\/\/www.interpol.int\/en\/content\/download\/15217\/file\/Global%20landscape%20on%20COVID-19%20cyberthreat.pdf<\/a> (2020).<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li>Retraction Watch. WHO COVID-19 library contains hundreds of papers from hijacked journals. <em>Retraction Watch<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2021\/08\/16\/who-covid-19-library-contains-hundreds-of-papers-from-hijacked-journals\/\">https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2021\/08\/16\/who-covid-19-library-contains-hundreds-of-papers-from-hijacked-journals\/<\/a> (2021).<\/li>\n<li>Abalkina, A. Detecting a network of hijacked journals by its archive. <em>Scientometrics<\/em> <strong>126, <\/strong>7123\u20137148 (2021).<\/li>\n<li>Retraction Watch. How hijacked journals keep fooling one of the world\u2019s leading databases. <em>Retraction Watch<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2021\/05\/26\/how-hijacked-journals-keep-fooling-one-of-the-worlds-leading-databases\/\">https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2021\/05\/26\/how-hijacked-journals-keep-fooling-one-of-the-worlds-leading-databases\/<\/a> (2021).<\/li>\n<li>Majumder, K. Beware of predatory publishers! A checklist to help you choose authentic journals. <em>R Voice <\/em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/voice.researcher.life\/discussion\/48\/beware-of-predatory-publishers-a-checklist-to-help-you-choose-authentic-journals\">https:\/\/voice.researcher.life\/discussion\/48\/beware-of-predatory-publishers-a-checklist-to-help-you-choose-authentic-journals<\/a> <\/strong>(2021).<\/li>\n<li>Hayward, A. Infographic: 10 Point checklist to identify predatory publishers. <em>Editage Insights<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/10-point-checklist-to-identify-predatory-publishers?refer-type=infographics\">https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/10-point-checklist-to-identify-predatory-publishers?refer-type=infographics<\/a> (2017).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Journal hijacking is among the latest additions to the growing kitty of scholarly publishing fraud. This article explains What are hijacked journals? When did journal hijacking begin? What is the difference between hijacked journals and predatory journals? Similarities between hijacked and predatory journals Which journals may get hijacked? Negative impacts of submission to hijacked journals [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":45994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407,2365],"tags":[2625,253,185,136],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-3812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avoiding-predatory-publishers","category-journal-selection-tips","tag-academic-fraud","tag-journal-selection","tag-predatory-journal","tag-predatory-publishing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hijacked journals vs predatory journals | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the problems caused by hijacked journals and how to identify whether a journal has been hijacked before submitting your paper.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-you-need-to-know-about-hijacked-journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hijacked journals vs predatory journals | Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hijacked journals have come back into focus recently, and they can cause more damage than predatory journals to the scholarly record. 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