Hijacked journals

Introduction

ImportantProblem statement

Hijacked journals represent clone websites of legitimate journals. They copy the title, ISSN, and other metadata of the original journal in order to create an alternative website of the journal and collect APCs from authors for publication. This model represents a scam and is mostly successful in countries that use journal titles and ISSN for journal identification in research evaluation, for example, India and Pakistan (McIntosh et al. 2026).

Example screenshot of a hijacked journal: the title and ISSN of the legitimate Cineforum (left) were hijacked by the copycat (right).

Key resources

Note“Detecting a network of hijacked journals”

Explanation and analysis by Abalkina (2021).

NoteRetraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker

Database of hijacked journals (https://retractionwatch.com/the-retraction-watch-hijacked-journal-checker/)

Bibliography

Abalkina, Anna. 2021. “Detecting a Network of Hijacked Journals by Its Archive.” Scientometrics 126 (8): 7123–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04056-0.

McIntosh, Leslie D., Anna Abalkina, Achal Agrawal, et al. 2026. “Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) Report 2026: Understanding, Detecting, and Documenting Manipulation in the Research Ecosystem.” Version 3. Preprint, Figshare, July 17. 1012969 Bytes. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32178456.v3.