(29 May 2022) Hijacked journals mimic legitimate journals by adopting their titles, ISSNs, and other metadata. Usually, hijacked journals mirror legitimate journals without permission from the original journal. In rare instances, publishers will buy rights to a legitimate journal but continue the publication under considerably less stringent publishing protocols and without clearly noting to the reader the change in ownership or publication standards (sometimes known as “cloned” journals).
Scholars can be duped into publishing in hijacked journals – many of which require fees – by offers of fast publication and indexing in databases such as Scopus; being indexed in such databases is viewed by many universities and governments as a mark of legitimacy. Even the WHO’s COVID literature database has been fooled.
In partnership with Retraction Watch, Abalkina created the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker. This resource is dynamic; more journals will be added as their hijacked status are uncovered. (Have a title for consideration? Please use this form.)
Find out more from Retraction Watch blog here.
