New scam in scientific publications: hijacked journals

A worrying phenomenon has begun to take root in the field of scientific publishing: hijacked journals. Researchers are already aware of predatory journals, which pretend to be high quality scientific publications but in reality only collect article processing charges without proper peer review and with a fast publication process. APCs can be as high as thousands of euros or dollars per article.

Hijacked journals are an even more brazen version of this phenomenon. In these cases, a pretence of an existing journal is made, for example by capturing an outdated ISSN number and creating a website that resembles or is identical to the original journal. Such hijacking has now also taken place for journals from major publishers such as Elsevier and Springer Nature.
A checklist has been drawn up and is actively updated to identify hijacked journals. However, the list is not exhaustive and the situation on the ground is constantly changing. For more information and the checklist, please visit the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker website.