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Abstract

This is the first attempt to create the list of hijacked journals which compromised data or content in the international citation database Scopus (see Appendix 1). The creation of such a list of hijacked journals in Scopus increases the awareness of journal hijacking which is important for research integrity. I invite researchers to comment on the list of hijacked journals. If you are aware of other cases of hijackers in Scopus, please, send me details to abalkina@gmail.com.
Hijacked journals in Scopus
Anna Abalkina,
Free University of Berlin,
abalkina@gmail.com
Abstract
This is the first attempt to create the list of hijacked journals which compromised data or
content in the international citation database Scopus (see Appendix 1). There is evidence of
numerous cases of penetration of such journals in national and international citation databases
(Abalkina 2020, Abalkina 2021, Al-Amr 2020, Khosravi & Menon 2019, Memicevic 2018). The
share of hijacked content in the profiles of individual countries could reach a significant share. For
example, non-authentic content by scholars from Uzbekistan reached 41.5% of all papers indexed
in Scopus from this country in 2021, in Iraq - 8,4%, in India -1,5% (Abalkina 2021). Such
indexation of hijacked content increases the risk of deception of potential authors who choose the
journal based on the indexation criteria.
When the hijacked content is detected in Scopus, this non-authentic content is deleted. But
this procedure is not transparent because Scopus doesn’t keep the list of hijacked journals nor
register withdrawn content. The creation of such a list of hijacked journals in Scopus increases the
awareness of journal hijacking which is important for research integrity. I invite researchers to
comment on the list of hijacked journals. If you are aware of other cases of hijackers in Scopus,
please, send me details to abalkina@gmail.com.
Bibliography
1. Abalkina, A. (2020a). The case of the stolen journal. Retraction Watch, July 7. URL:
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/07/07/the-case-of-the-stolen-journal/
2. Abalkina, A. (2021). How hijacked journals keep fooling one of the world’s leading databases.
Retraction Watch.
3. Al-Amr, M. (2020). How did content from a hijacked journal end up in one of the world’s most-
used databases? Retraction Watch. September 1. URL: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/09/01/how-did-
content-from-a-hijacked-journal-end-up-in-one-of-the-worlds-most-used-databases/
4. Khosravi, M., Menon, V. (2019). Reliability of Hijacked Journal Detection Based on
Scientometrics, Altmetric Tools and Web Informatics: A Case Report Using Google Scholar, Web of
Science and Scopus. DOI:10.36227/techrxiv.11385849
5. Memicevic, H. (2018). In Web of Science We Trust. A Case of a Hijacked Journal Indexed in
Scopus. ISSI Newsletter, #53, Volume 14, Number 1.
Appendix 1
Hijacked journals in Scopus
Hijacked journal
URL (clone)
Authentic journal
Illegitimate
content in
Scopus
Homepage
link to the
clone
website in
Scopus
Year
Annals of the Romanian
Society for Cell Biology
http://annalsofrscb.ro/
Annals of the Romanian Society
for Cell Biology
+
+
2021
Converter
http://www.converter-
magazine.info/
Converter
+
+
2021
International Journal of
Advanced Science and
Technology
http://sersc.org/journals/index.p
hp/ijast
The authentic journal
“International Journal of
Advanced Science and
Technology” was not identified.
But the domain
http://sersc.org/journals/index.php
/ijast is very likely to be a hijacker
+
+
2020
International Journal of
Control and Automation
http://sersc.org/journals/index.p
hp/ijca
The authentic journal
International Journal of Control
and Automation” was not
identified. But the domain
http://sersc.org/journals/index.php
/ijca is very likely to be a hijacker
+
+
2020
Journal of Engineering
Technology
www.joetsite.com
Journal of Engineering
Technology
+
n/a
2017-
2018
Journal of Talent
Development and Excellence
http://iratde.com
Talent Development and
Excellence
+
n/a
2020
La Prensa Medica Argentina
https://www.scitechnol.com/la-
Prensa Medica Argentina
+
n/a
n/a
prensa-medica.php
Linguistica Antverpiensia
https://www.hivt.be/linguistica
Linguistica Antverpiensia
+
No homepage
2021
Solid State Technology
https://www.solidstatetechnolog
y.us/
Solid State Technology
+
n/a
2020
Sport Science
http://www.sposci.com/
Sport Science
+
+
2020
Technology Reports of
Kansai University
https://www.kansaiuniversityrep
orts.com/
Technology Reports of Kansai
University
+
n/a
2020
Test Engineering &
Management
https://testmagzine.biz/
Test Engineering and
Management
+
+
2019-
2020
Transylvanian Review
http://transylvanianreviewjourna
l.org/
Transylvanian Review
+
No homepage
2018-
2020
Turkish Journal of Computer
and Mathematics Education
(TURCOMAT)
https://turcomat.org/
Turkish Journal of Computer and
Mathematics Education
+
The link
redirects to the
website where
in English
version there
is a link to the
clone website.
The Turkish
version
doesn’t have
such a link
2021
Turkish Journal of
Physiotherapy and
Rehabilitation
https://turkjphysiotherrehabil.or
g/
Turkish Journal of Physiotherapy
and Rehabilitation
+
No homepage
2021
Turkish Journal of
Psychology
http://www.turkpsikolojidergisi.
org
Turkish Journal of Psychology
+
n/a
2017
Wutan Huatan Jisuan Jishu
http://www.wthtjsjs.cn/
Wutan Huatan Jisuan Jishu
+
+
2020
... Новой угрозой стал также факт проникновения журналов-клонов в международные базы данных, например в Scopus [5; 6; 7]. На сегодняшний день известно по меньшей мере о 20 журналах-клонах, которые сумели проиндексировать опубликованные статьи в Scopus [8]. Если количество известных журналов-клонов в Scopus невелико, то их доля в профилях отдельных стран значительна. ...
... К сожалению, на сегодняшний день индексация журнала в Scopus не является свидетельством оригинальности журнала, поскольку многие журналы-клоны проникают в международные базы цитирования. Список похищенных журналов, которые индексируют неавторизованный контент в Scopus, можно найти в опубликованном препринте [8]. К сожалению, из-за индексирования статей из журналов-клонов в Scopus, Google Scholar, ResearchGate есть вероятность принять их за публикации в легитимных журналах. ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper reviews the proliferation of hijacked journals in scientific communication. Hijacked journals mimic genuine journals, deceive potential authors, use more sophisticated methods of fraud and compromise the content and information of legitimate journals in international and national scientometric databases. The lists of hijacked journals are not replenished regularly and this creates a challenge to the international and Russian academic community. In order to warn authors and journals, this paper reviews the characteristics of hijacked journals and presents recommendations on how to avoid fake journals.
... For example, more than 50% of indexed papers from Uzbekistan over 5 months in 2021 represented papers from hijacked journals (see Figure 4). This number is different from previous estimations (Abalkina, 2021a(Abalkina, , 2021b(Abalkina, , 2021c(Abalkina, , 2021d due to more hijacked journals being included in the estimation. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study presents and explains the phenomenon of indexjacking , which involves the systematic infiltration of hijacked journals into international indexing databases, with Scopus being one of the most infiltrated among these databases. Through an analysis of known lists of hijacked journals, the study identified at least 67 hijacked journals that have penetrated Scopus since 2013. Of these, 33 journals indexed unauthorized content in Scopus and 23 compromised the homepage link in the journal's profile, while 11 did both. As of September 2023, 41 hijacked journals are still compromising the data of legitimate journals in Scopus. The presence of hijacked journals in Scopus is a challenge for scientific integrity due to the legitimization of unreliable papers that have not undergone peer review and compromises the quality of the Scopus database. The presence of hijacked journals in Scopus has far‐reaching effects. Papers published in these journals may be cited, and unauthorized content from these journals in Scopus is thus imported into other databases, including ORCID and the WHO COVID‐19 Research Database. This poses a particular challenge for research evaluation in those countries, where cloned versions of approved journals may be used to acquire publications and verifying their authenticity can be difficult.
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