Posted on November 10, 2023
Selecting a journal to publish in can be one of the most challenging aspects of the publishing process, especially for early-career academics and researchers. There are a lot of journals available with a wide variety of scope and coverage within each discipline and subject area. In addition to predatory journals, there are also cloned or hijacked journals that you should look out for. The websites that have these journals will look quite legitimate, but there are some clear signs that one can look out for to see if they are real or not. In this article we will cover: a description of what hijacked or cloned journals are; how the articles are hijacked or cloned; how to identify a hijacked or cloned journal and how to avoid falling into the trap. Unfortunately, hijacked or cloned journals can be difficult to detect, even to the trained eye.
What are hijacked or cloned journals?
“Hijacked journals are duplicate or fake websites of legitimate ones utilizing the title, ISSN and other information of the reputable journal to try and attract authors. They are often created by a malicious third party to fraudulently offer academicians the opportunity to rapidly publish their research online for a fee” (Clarivate, 2023). This means that hijacked journals imitate peer-reviewed journals. Sometimes, hijacked journals inflate their Impact Factor or CiteScore. Hijacked journals are not indexed in citation databases meaning that the content that researchers submit to these journals will not appear either on Scopus or Clarivate’s Web of Science, as an example.
How are journals hijacked or cloned?
How do I identify a hijacked or cloned journal?
As a researcher, what can I do to avoid falling into the trap?
What tools can assist me to check and verify the authenticity of journals?
You can use the following tools to assist you in checking for real websites and links to authentic journals. The retraction watch hijacked journals checker contains the links to the duplicate journals.
Remember to reach out to your department’s Information Specialist if you are uncertain. If you want to learn more on this topic, please click on the articles listed below.
Copyright © University of Pretoria 2023. All rights reserved.
COVID-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal
To contact the University during the COVID-19 lockdown, please send an email to [email protected]
Get Social With Us
Download the UP Mobile App