![\"How](\"https:\/\/blog.researcher.life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-tara-winstead-7111619.jpg\")
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels<\/p>\nPhoto by Tara Winstead on Pexels<\/p>\n
The<\/span><\/span><\/span>re has been a potential <\/span><\/span><\/span>rise <\/span><\/span><\/span>in<\/span><\/span><\/span> predatory<\/span><\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span><\/span>hijacked journals<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> in the field of research.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>N<\/span><\/span><\/span>ew <\/span><\/span><\/span>paradigms in academic publishing, such as digital-only or <\/span>open access<\/span> journals have become increasingly popular, and the number of active academic journals continues to grow year on year<\/span><\/span>1<\/span><\/span>. 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<\/span><\/span>.2<\/sup> Here, the key question that arises is how to identify predatory journals and hijacked journals?<\/p>\n 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<\/a> requires.<\/strong> Predatory and hijacked journals are becoming increasingly significant threats to academics. Crucially, they are most likely to affect the most vulnerable academics\u2014including early career researchers, academics with little funding, and those who are under pressure to meet qualitative performance metrics in a \u201cpublish or perish\u201d culture.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n