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Detecting Hijacked Journals by Using Classification Algorithms

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Abstract

Invalid journals are recent challenges in the academic world and many researchers are unacquainted with the phenomenon. The number of victims appears to be accelerating. Researchers might be suspicious of predatory journals because they have unfamiliar names, but hijacked journals are imitations of well-known, reputable journals whose websites have been hijacked. Hijacked journals issue calls for papers via generally laudatory emails that delude researchers into paying exorbitant page charges for publication in a nonexistent journal. This paper presents a method for detecting hijacked journals by using a classification algorithm. The number of published articles exposing hijacked journals is limited and most of them use simple techniques that are limited to specific journals. Hence we needed to amass Internet addresses and pertinent data for analyzing this type of attack. We inspected the websites of 104 scientific journals by using a classification algorithm that used criteria common to reputable journals. We then prepared a decision tree that we used to test five journals we knew were authentic and five we knew were hijacked.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer and Information Technology, Foolad Institute of Technology, Foolad shahr, Isfahan, 8491663763, Iran

    Mona Andoohgin Shahri & Mohammad Davarpanah Jazi

  2. Progressive Science Institute, Box 5335, Berkeley, CA, 94705, USA

    Glenn Borchardt

  3. Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Mehdi Dadkhah

Authors
  1. Mona Andoohgin Shahri
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  2. Mohammad Davarpanah Jazi
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  3. Glenn Borchardt
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  4. Mehdi Dadkhah
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehdi Dadkhah.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Appendix

Appendix

List of journals in our dataset (hijacked journals extracted from Beall’s list with some editions).

No.

Hijacked website/suspicious cases

Authentic Website

1

http://www.bthla-journal.org/

http://abcjournal.org/index.php/ABC

2

http://brisjast.com/

–

3

http://www.ardsj.com

–

4

http://www.e-penerbitan.org/index.php/archive

http://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/index.html

5

http://www.revistas-academicas.com

–

6

http://www.ayeronline.com

http://www.ahistcon.org/revistaayer.html

7

http://canuorgme.org

–

8

http://www.ciencia-e-tecnica.org

http://www.ctv-jve-journal.org/

9

http://eartz.net

http://www.iict.pt/publicacoes/catalogo/pagpbl/vpbl02.asp?c_colec=402&caixapesq=Titulo

10

http://www.sanidadediciones.com

http://www.semes.org/revista_EMERGENCIAS

11

http://rrbitz.com

http://www.cavi.univ-paris3.fr/europe/c_tables.htm

12

http://www.hfsp-journal.org

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/811

13

http://ijgt-springer.org

http://www.springer.com/economics/economic?theory/journal/182

14

http://src.gov.jm.jjst.org

http://www.src.gov.jm/

15

http://www.jokulljournal.com

http://jokulljournal.is

16

http://www.jsrad.org

http://jsrd.unilag.edu.ng/

17

http://www.martinia.com

–

18

http://www.mitt-klosterneuburg.com

http://bundesamt.weinobstklosterneuburg.at/seiten/index.php/view.408

19

http://www.multitemas.com

http://site.ucdb.br/pesquisa-e-inovacao/6/periodicosucdb/848/revista-multitemas/872/

20

http://www.kasmerajournal.com

http://www.scielo.org.ve/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0075-5222

21

http://www.tjfeonline.com

http://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/tecnica

22

http://www.saussurea.org

–

23

http://srej.wc.lt

–

24

http://www.sajbm.com/

http://www.sabinet.co.za

25

http://sylwan.ibles.org

–

26

http://www.transylvanianreview.org

http://www.centruldestudiitransilvane.ro/detaliu.aspx?eID=713&t=Review%202015%20-%202035

27

http://www.waliaj.com

–

28

http://www.multidisciplinarywulfenia.org

http://www.landesmuseum.ktn.gv.at/210226w_DE.htm?seite=15

29

–

http://www.indjst.org

30

–

http://www.hjms.hacettepe.edu.tr/Home

31

–

http://bims.iranjournals.ir/

32

–

http://cujse.cankaya.edu.tr/

33

–

http://www.jcse.ir/

34

–

http://jcomsec.org/index.php/JCS

35

–

http://www.ije.ir/

36a

www.netjournals.org

–

37a

http://journalissues.org/ijapr/

–

38a

http://www.palgojournals.org

–

39a

http://www.basicresearchjournals.org/agric/agh.html

–

40a

http://www.bjpmr.org

–

41a

www.ijmsi.org

–

42a

http://www.integrityresjournals.org/jasp/index.html

–

43a

www.journalijdr.com

–

44a

www.ijpera.com

–

45a

http://www.iosrjournals.org/IOSR-JCE.html

–

46

http://actabioethica.org/

http://www.actabioethica.uchile.cl/index.php/AB/index

47

http://andamios.org/

http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=628

48

http://www.dinz.info/index.php

http://journals.biola.edu/jpt

49

http://www.acoreanajr.com/

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tbit20/current

50

http://www.joetsite.com/

–

51

http://jnss.zz.mu

http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/journal/41265

52

–

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/itp

53

–

http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/ijitdm

54

–

https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital

55

–

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ugit20

56

–

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/titd20/current

57

–

http://www.springer.com/computer/swe/journal/10676

58

–

http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/business+information+systems/journal/10799

59

–

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/jsit

60

–

http://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-intelligent-information-technologies/1089

61

–

http://jscit.nit.ac.ir/

62

–

http://www.oie.int/en/publications-and-documentation/scientific-and-technical-review-free-access/list-of-issues/

63

–

http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?ObjId=12-001-X&ObjType=2&lang=en&limit=0

64

–

https://www.sbp-journal.com/index.php/sbp/index

65

–

http://www.centrolombardo.edu.mx/ludus-vitalis/

66

–

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-2132

67

–

http://www.springer.com/economics/economic+theory/journal/182

68

–

https://isb.emnuvens.com.br/iheringia/index

69

–

http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/8538

70

–

http://www.industrialpharmacy.eu/publications/journals/197-gmp-review

71

–

http://www.pisauniversitypress.it/landing_page-le-riviste-agrochimica-1497.html

72

–

http://www.raco.cat/index.php/afinidad

73

–

http://www.sauerlaender-verlag.com

74

–

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=1517-8692&lng=en&nrm=iso

75

–

http://jmebeta.bmj.com

76

–

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/et/current

77

–

http://www.jpe.ox.ac.uk

78

–

http://nej.sagepub.com

79

–

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111

80

–

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/information

  1. aThese journals are not hijacked ones; they are predatory ones. As most hijacked journal websites have short lifetimes, we selected some predatory journals to help us have a more complete tree. These predatory journals have websites similar to hijacked journals

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Andoohgin Shahri, M., Jazi, M.D., Borchardt, G. et al. Detecting Hijacked Journals by Using Classification Algorithms. Sci Eng Ethics 24, 655–668 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9914-2

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