A junior lecturer needs an international paper in time for a promotion file. Searching online, she finds the website of a journal with exactly the same title as one on the Scopus list, the same ISSN and the same cover image. She submits, pays the fee and sees the paper online three weeks later. Six months on she discovers it was a cloned site. The real journal never received her manuscript, and the article appears in no database at all.
This story is not unusual, and the victims are rarely naive. They are usually people in a hurry. Low-quality and hijacked journals thrive on exactly that pressure.
Three things to tell apart
| Type | What it is | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Predatory journal | Real outlet that charges fees but skips meaningful review and misrepresents indexing and metrics | Paper regarded as scientifically worthless, excluded from assessments, reputational damage |
| Hijacked or cloned journal | Fake website copying the title, ISSN and design of a genuine journal | Lost fees, paper absent from the real journal, difficulty reclaiming your manuscript |
| Grey zone | Journal with thin review, very fast turnaround, ballooning output, sometimes later dropped by databases | Paper may lose value if the journal is removed from indexes |
The grey zone is the hardest part. No blacklist is complete and current; the well-known lists of the past are no longer maintained and were criticised for lumping weak journals together with fraudulent ones. Rather than hunting for a list, learn to check for yourself.
Warning signs of a predatory journal
- Unsolicited invitations to your inbox, generic praise for your previous work, a “special issue” about to close.
- Very short review promises, days to a week or two, sometimes with guaranteed acceptance rates.
- Implausibly broad scope: medicine, engineering, economics and education in one title.
- Odd metrics: “impact” scores from obscure bodies, or a claimed Impact Factor you cannot find in JCR.
- Vague editorial boards: names without affiliations, or real scientists who do not know they are listed.
- Fees disclosed only after “acceptance”.
- Quality of published papers: heavy language errors, off-topic articles, a sudden explosion in articles per issue.
Hijacked journals: check the link, not the name
Hijacked journals are more dangerous because every surface detail is correct: title, ISSN, history, even lists of genuine articles from the original. The one thing that differs is the domain. To check:
- Look up the journal in the Scopus or Web of Science source list. The record usually links to the official homepage; follow that link, not a search engine result.
- Check the ISSN on the ISSN International Centre portal to see the registered publisher.
- Compare the domain of the site you are on with the publisher’s domain.
- Open a few articles on the site and check whether their DOIs resolve to the official publisher.
One counter-intuitive detail: many genuine journals run by small learned societies have plain, slow-to-update websites, so the fake can look more professional than the real thing. Design is not evidence.
DOAJ, Think. Check. Submit. and other checks
- DOAJ, the Directory of Open Access Journals, lists open access journals that meet its criteria. Inclusion does not guarantee excellence, but absence is worth questioning for an open access title.
- Think. Check. Submit. is a simple self-assessment checklist developed by a coalition of publishing organisations, ideal for early-career researchers.
- COPE: see whether the journal or publisher is a member and whether it publishes a complaints procedure.
- Discontinued titles: Scopus periodically publishes a list of titles it has stopped indexing; check it before submitting to a journal you are unsure of.
“Guaranteed publication” services
Another variant is the intermediary that promises guaranteed publication in an indexed journal, sometimes bundled with ghostwriting, “editing” or authorship slots for sale. No serious journal allows a third party to guarantee the outcome of peer review. Papers placed through such channels can be retracted in batches when discovered, and authors’ names stay attached to the case for years. Legitimate language editing is different: it makes no promise about review outcomes.
In practice: a ten-minute check
- Find the journal in the Scopus or Web of Science source list and note its current status.
- Follow the database link to the official homepage and compare domains.
- Check the ISSN on the ISSN portal.
- If open access, check DOAJ.
- Open the three latest articles: do DOIs resolve, are received and accepted dates shown, is the gap plausible?
- Check three editorial board members: are they real, and do they list this journal on their own profiles?
- Read the fees page: are charges disclosed upfront, is there a waiver policy?
- Ask a colleague in your field whether they read, cite or review for this journal.
Two failed checks: stop. One failed check: ask someone experienced before going further.
If you have already submitted or published
- Not yet paid or published: withdraw in writing, keep the emails and pay nothing.
- Published in a predatory journal: request removal; many will not cooperate. If removal fails, think carefully before reusing the data elsewhere, as it may be treated as duplicate publication; discuss it openly with the new journal’s editor.
- Published on a cloned site: notify the genuine journal and keep all payment records and correspondence.
Do this now: save the eight-step check as a permanent note and run it on every journal on your shortlist, including the ones you have “heard are fine”. Ten minutes of checking costs far less than a paper lost for good.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How can I tell if a journal is predatory?
Verify indexing directly in Scopus, Web of Science or DOAJ, check that the editorial board is real, that fees are published upfront and that published papers show genuine review. Unsolicited invitations and ultra-fast review promises are red flags.
What is a hijacked journal?
A fake website that copies the title, ISSN and design of a real journal to collect fees. Detect it by following the link from the database record to the official site and comparing domains.
Is a journal safe just because it is indexed in Scopus?
Not entirely. Scopus periodically discontinues titles over quality concerns, so check the journal’s current status and the discontinued titles list.
What should I do if I submitted to a predatory journal?
If it is not yet published, withdraw in writing and do not pay. If it is published, request removal and talk openly with the next journal’s editor before reusing the data.
Are guaranteed publication services legitimate?
No serious journal lets a third party guarantee peer-review outcomes. Papers placed this way risk retraction and lasting damage to the authors’ reputations.
