New Research Tool: Retraction Watch Introduces the “Hijacked Journal Checker”

From a Retraction Watch Blog Post:

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.

Tracking these journals is no mean feat, but knowing which journals may have been hijacked is vital to the world of publishing integrity. Anna Abalkina became involved in the process when she and her colleagues, investigating allegations of plagiarism, came across several titles including the Journal of Talent Development and Excellence, which drastically increased its indexing of papers in Scopus in 2020, and Waffen-und Kostümkunde, a journal which cited a paper on psychology absolutely unrelated to the weapons and costume specialization of the journal. Abalkina then began analyzing these journal archives and found overlaps with other apparently hijacked journals, devoting huge swaths of time locating and cross-checking the validity of journals suspected of hijacking or of being hijacked.

In partnership with Retraction Watch, Abalkina created the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker.

Learn More, Read the Complete Blog Post

Direct to Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Journal Articles, News, Publishing