I received another report of a hijacked journal. Similar to many earlier cases, this established Austrian enology journal had only a minor web presence until some impostors came along and created a new website for the journal, stealing its identity and inviting article submissions. And now I think I may have found the single source of all the hijacked journals I’ve reported here, and it was right under my nose all along.
First, the latest hijacking. The legitimate website for the journal Mitteilungen Klosterneuburg is here. Unlike other hijacked journals, this one is open-access, at least for recent issues; the journal was founded in 1951.
Now the hijacked version of Mitteilungen Klosterneuburg can be found here. Also, the table below details hijacked journals (and their legitimate counterparts) that I documented previously:
Hijacked Journal |
Authentic Journal |
| Archives des Sciences | Archives des Sciences |
| Bothalia Journal | Bothalia |
| Bradleya [Link dead] | Bradleya |
| Jokull Journal | Jökull |
| Nationalpark-Forschung in der Schweiz | Nationalpark-Forschung in der Schweiz |
| Pensee | Pensée |
| Wulfenia, Wulfenia, | Wulfenia |
Recently, in response to an inquiry, I looked at the homepage of a publisher that has been on my list for some time, Tomas Publishing. Based in Victoria, Seychelles, Tomas Publishing boasts four journals in its portfolio. The journals all have broad scopes and all falsely claim to have impact factors.
According to the website, the publisher’s journals include Systems Science, Education Journal, Politica Economica, and Chemical Modelling.
All four journals falsely claim to have an impact factor, yet none really does. The journals’ home pages use pirated images. What convinces me that this publisher must be the source of the hijacked journals is that the “look and feel” of their journal home pages matches the look and feel of the hijacked journals’ home pages. Also, they all claim to have 2013 impact factors. The current ISI impact factors are from 2012; the 2013 data won’t be released until June.
How could so much malevolence originate from a small, remote, and seemingly idyllic Indian Ocean island? I’ve received at least a dozen emails from people that have been tricked by the hijacked version of the journal Pensée alone, each having lost several hundred dollars. It’s likely that hundreds of honest researchers have been scammed by this outfit.
Hat tip: Dr. Amin Daneshmand Malayeri
