How to Identify Predatory Journals and Hijacked Journals

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There has been a potential rise in predatory and hijacked journals in the field of research. New paradigms in academic publishing, such as digital-only or open access journals have become increasingly popular, and the number of active academic journals continues to grow year on year1. Scientific and academic publications have become increasingly accessible, which has allowed more researchers, particularly in low-income countries, to keep up with the latest developments in their fields.² Here, the key question that arises is how to identify predatory journals and hijacked journals?

While publishing has become easier and more open than ever, open access has been exploited by unscrupulous actors who seek to profit off the work of researchers without providing the quality checks and accessibility that the open access model requires. Predatory and hijacked journals are becoming increasingly significant threats to academics. Crucially, they are most likely to affect the most vulnerable academics—including early career researchers, academics with little funding, and those who are under pressure to meet qualitative performance metrics in a “publish or perish” culture.

Here, we summarize what predatory and hijacked journals are, why they persist, why they pose problems, and how to identify predatory journals and hijacked journals.

Definition of “predatory” and “hijacked” journals

“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”—Grudniewicz et al.³

Predatory journal meaning: When you’re wondering how to identify predatory journals, remember that a journal can be considered “predatory” when it charges publication fees but performs insufficient checks of quality or legitimacy. Predatory journals have a profit motive to publish as many articles as possible, regardless of actual rigor or quality of the research therein. The term “predatory journal” has been criticized⁴, but the issue has become widely recognized by scholars and legitimate publishers. In some cases, they have even been indexed on legitimate databases such as PubMed⁵.

Hijacked journal meaning: A “hijacked” journal deceives prospective authors by mimicking an authentic journal, misleading authors to believe that it is a genuine journal⁶. Hijacked journals are set up by cyber criminals who collect publication fees from researchers before either disappearing or publishing the paper on a fake journal website.

Why predatory and hijacked journals exist

Now that we have discussed how to identify predatory journals, let’s understand why they exist in the first place. While predatory and hijacked journals differ in terms their modus operandi, they have the same motive—profiting off researchers with no regard for the consequences of squandering their limited budgets and time. Besides being demoralizing for researchers, such practices hamper scientific development and undermine faith in open access.

Predatory and hijacked journals have exploited not only the open access model, but also the needs of researchers. When researchers become desperate to report their findings legitimately while working in a “publish or perish” academic culture⁷, or when they are working on tight deadlines, they may be misled by promises of rapid publication and a trouble-free peer review process.

It would be easy to write off people deceived by these journals as “naïve,” but navigating publication is a daunting task for academics, and those who have not been properly briefed on the threats posed by predatory and hijacked journals are at risk⁸.

How fraudulent journals threaten research and academics

Losing thousands of dollars from your limited budget can be devastating, and the harm does not stop there.

Publishing in a predatory journal or a hijacked journal can sully the reputation of academics. Even if they had good intentions, it could make other researchers wonder if they just wanted to increase their publication list. Further, the money spent on fraudulent journals will fund more scams to victimize more researchers.

Finally, fraudulent journals undermine scientific literature⁹. When a paper is published without peer review, it could result in implausible or incorrect conclusions being disseminated, damaging the course of research and creating the impression that scientists are prone to publishing inaccurate information in their own self-interest.

Hunting the predator—how to identify predatory journals 

Predatory journals are not always immediately obvious. However, there are several “tells” that can provide clues. We highly recommend using “Think, Check, Submit” list¹⁰, which was produced by a coalition of scientific publishing organizations and is perhaps the most comprehensive checklist to help researchers spot predatory journals. 

Rather than reproduce the entire list, here we summarize some of the checklist items: 

• Have your or your colleagues heard of the journal before? 
• Is the peer review process clearly explained on their site? 
• Does the journal charge fees? If so, are fees clearly explained? 
• Is the journal indexed on a reputable database? 
• Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry organization, such as the Committee on Publication ethics? 
• Are the editorial board staff reputable within the field? 

If you cannot answer yes to all the above questions, you may be dealing with a predatory journal. Carefully verify the reputation of the journal before proceeding further. 

Taking back control—how to spot a hijacked journal 

Hijacked journals can go to great lengths to obfuscate their schemes. Some technical know-how can allow a criminal to clone a website convincingly, and in some cases, they even manage to take over the real websites or domain names of reputable journals to funnel money to themselves¹¹. However, we are not powerless against them, and a little knowledge can help you spot a fake. 

• Be cautious of any cold calls or unsolicited emails calling for papers. 
• Check the domain name. Is it the same as on the publisher’s website or a reputable journal index? Search engines can help find duplicates, but may show the fake above the real journal. 
• Check the DOIs of papers on the journal website, and make sure that they point to the same URLs as the articles on the website you are viewing. 
• Watch out for dead links. They may indicate that the website was cloned from an existing website. 
• Check the DOAJ list of added and removed journals. Do not publish to any journal removed from DOAJ with the description “suspected editorial misconduct by publisher”. 
• Consult lists of predatory or hijacked journals such as the Scholarly Open Access hijacked list. 

With the right knowledge and tips on how to identify fake journals, it becomes much harder to fall victim to them. Becoming aware of the problems of journal hijacking and predatory publishing makes scholars much better equipped to avoid these pitfalls. Understanding what is expected in terms of publication ethics, peer review, indexing, preservation, and other necessary standards¹² can help researchers avoid making a costly mistake. 

References 

1. Larsen, P. O. & von Ins, M. The rate of growth in scientific publication and the decline in coverage provided by Science Citation Index. Scientometrics 84, 575–603 (2010). 
2. Nagaraj, A., Shears, E. & de Vaan, M. Improving data access democratizes and diversifies science. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 117, 23490–23498 (2020). 
3. Grudniewicz, A. et al. Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature 576, 210–212 (2019). 
4. Krawczyk, F. & Kulczycki, E. How is open access accused of being predatory? The impact of Beall’s lists of predatory journals on academic publishing. J. Acad. Librariansh. 47, 102271 (2021). 
5. Academics Raise Concerns About Predatory Journals on PubMed. The Scientist Magazine® https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/academics-raise-concerns-about-predatory-journals-on-pubmed–65856. 
6. Butler, D. Sham journals scam authors. Nature 495, 421–422 (2013). 
7. Nielsen, P. & Davison, R. M. Predatory journals: A sign of an unhealthy publish or perish game? Inf. Syst. J. 30, 635–638 (2020). 
8. A predatory journal lures an author with false promises: A case study. Editage Insights https://www.editage.com/insights/a-predatory-journal-lures-an-author-with-false-promises-a-case-study (2016). 
9. AMWA–EMWA–ISMPP joint position statement on predatory publishing. Curr. Med. Res. Opin. 35, 1657–1658 (2019). 
10. Journals • Think. Check. Submit. Think. Check. Submit. https://thinkchecksubmit.org/journals/. 
11. Feature: How to hijack a journal | Science | AAAS. https://www.science.org/content/article/feature-how-hijack-journal. 
12. Danevska, L., Spiroski, M., Donev, D., Pop-Jordanova, N. & Polenakovic, M. How to Recognize and Avoid Potential, Possible, or Probable Predatory Open-Access Publishers, Standalone, and Hijacked Journals. PRILOZI 37, 5–13 (2016).