Hijacked & Cloned Journal Scams
Fraudsters build a counterfeit website for a real, respected academic journal — copying its exact title, ISSN, and branding — then collect submission and publication fees from authors who believe they are dealing with the genuine journal.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026
What this scam is
A hijacked journal — also called a cloned journal — is a counterfeit operation built on a genuine journal's identity. Unlike a predatory journal, which invents a plausible-sounding title of its own, a hijacker steals an existing one: the exact name of a real, often long-established journal, its ISSN, its cover design, and sometimes its indexing history. The clone site is engineered to outrank or sit alongside the genuine journal in search results, especially when the real journal has a modest web presence, has ceased publishing, publishes mainly in print, or is based in a country whose journals are less visible online. Authors who find the clone believe they are submitting to the legitimate title — and every check they run against the journal's name, ISSN, or reputation appears to pass, because those details are real; only the website and bank account are not. The clone collects submission or publication fees and either publishes the paper on its counterfeit site, where it has no scholarly standing, or takes the money and disappears. It is the academic cousin of the clone-firm investment scam: the fraud defeats verification by wearing a genuine identity, so the victim's diligence confirms the real journal while the money flows to an impostor.
How it works
Hijackers pick their targets deliberately: journals with a respected name and an indexed history but a weak or absent web presence. They register a domain that looks plausible for the title, build a professional-looking site with the stolen name, ISSN, and branding, and often invest in search ads or search-engine optimisation so their site appears when authors search for the journal. Some go further, harvesting author emails and sending call-for-papers invitations 'from' the journal. The submission flow feels standard — a manuscript portal or email address, an acknowledgement, and then an acceptance that arrives suspiciously quickly, since the clone has no reason to reject anything. With acceptance comes the invoice: a publication, processing, or handling fee, payable by card or transfer to an account with no connection to the real publisher. Papers may then appear on the clone site to keep the illusion alive and attract further authors. Victims typically discover the truth when the paper never appears in the real journal or its indexes, when the genuine publisher confirms it has no record of the submission, or when an institution evaluating their CV flags the publication as appearing in a known hijacked venue.
Why this scam works
The clone passes the very checks careful authors are told to run. The journal name is real, the ISSN is real, the reputation and indexing history are real — the victim verifies a legitimate journal and then transacts with a thief holding its mask. Journals with the qualities hijackers target — established titles with limited online visibility — are precisely the ones whose authors are least likely to know what the official website looks like. Fast acceptance reads as efficiency or luck rather than a warning, particularly for authors under deadline pressure, and paying an author-side fee is normal enough in modern publishing that the invoice raises no alarm. Search results complete the trap: people trust that searching a journal's exact title will surface its genuine site, but ranking reflects optimisation and advertising spend, not authenticity.
Common red flags
- A website whose domain does not match the address recorded in library databases or the journal's index entries
- Acceptance within days from a journal that is decades old and well regarded
- Fees payable to an account, company, or processor unconnected to the known publisher
- A call-for-papers email pushing quick submission to a 'special issue' of a famous title
- Articles on the website that never appear in the indexes said to cover the journal
- A venerable print journal suddenly running a slick site with instant online submission
- Contact details limited to webmail addresses and web forms, with no verifiable editorial office
Sanitized example messages
Illustrative, sanitized examples. Personal details are replaced with placeholders such as [phone number] and [fake link].
Call for papers: the journal is now accepting submissions for its upcoming issue. Rapid peer review within 7 days. Indexed for over 40 years. Submit via our new online portal.
We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been accepted for publication. Kindly transfer the handling fee within 72 hours to secure your placement in the current issue.
Please note our payment account has been updated this year. Remit the publication charge to the new account below and send us the transfer receipt.
Your paper is now published online. Share the link with your colleagues — and we welcome further submissions from your department for the next issue.
How to verify before you act
Verify the website, not just the journal — the name and ISSN will check out either way, because they belong to the real title. Find the journal's official web address through an authoritative route: the entry in the recognised indexes and directories where the journal is actually listed usually records its genuine site, and your university library can confirm the official publisher and URL in minutes. Compare domains character by character; clones live on plausible near-miss addresses. Be suspicious when a venerable print-era journal suddenly has a slick site soliciting online submissions with quick turnaround, when acceptance arrives within days, or when fees are payable to an account or processor with no connection to the known publisher. Cross-check a recent issue: do the articles on the site you found also appear in the indexes that supposedly cover the journal? If anything conflicts, contact the publisher or editorial office through contact details from an independent source — a library database, a scholarly society, a previous genuine issue — never through the website you are trying to verify.
Payment methods used
- Credit card
- Bank transfer
- Wire transfer
- Online invoice payment
Who is usually targeted
- Researchers submitting to journals they have not published in before
- Authors under graduation or promotion deadlines
- Academics whose fields rely on print-era or low-web-presence journals
- International authors judging journals by name and ISSN
What to do immediately
- Contact the genuine journal or publisher through independently sourced details and ask whether they have any record of your submission
- If you paid, contact your bank or card issuer immediately to attempt a recall or dispute
- Stop all further payments, including any fee demanded to 'complete' or 'release' publication
- Alert your library and research office so they can warn colleagues and flag the clone site
- Preserve the clone website, correspondence, and invoices with dated screenshots before the site moves or vanishes
- Report the fraud to your national fraud service and notify the real publisher, who can pursue takedown of the clone
How to prevent it
- Locate a journal's official website through library databases or its index entries, never through search results alone
- Compare the domain character by character against the address recorded by the publisher or index
- Treat acceptance within days at an established journal as a warning, not good fortune
- Check that fees are payable to the known publisher, not an unrelated account or processor
- Cross-check recent articles from the website against the indexes that supposedly cover the journal
- Confirm doubts with the publisher or your librarian using contact details from an independent source
Evidence to preserve
- Dated screenshots of the clone website, its domain, fee pages, and your paper if posted there
- All emails, the acceptance letter, and the invoice, with full headers
- Payment records showing the receiving account name, number, and processor
- Your submitted manuscript and the dates of each interaction
Where to report it
- Action Fraud (UK) — UK national fraud & cybercrime reporting centre
- FTC ReportFraud (US) — US Federal Trade Commission fraud reports
- FBI IC3 (US) — US Internet Crime Complaint Center
- Scamwatch (Australia) — Australian competition & consumer reporting
- Your bank's fraud line — Use the number on the back of your card or in your banking app — never a number the caller gives you
Always verify reporting routes and emergency contacts on the official government or agency website for your country.
Frequently asked questions
I checked the journal's name and ISSN and both were genuine. How was I still scammed?
Because the name and ISSN were stolen along with everything else. A hijacked journal wears a real title's identity precisely so those checks pass — you verified the legitimate journal while dealing with an impostor's website and bank account. The check that defeats a clone is different: verify the web address itself against an authoritative record, such as the journal's entry in the indexes that cover it or your library's databases, and confirm the payment destination belongs to the known publisher. When identity details check out but the domain or account does not, believe the domain and the account.
My paper appears on the journal's website — doesn't that mean it was really published?
Publication on a counterfeit site is not publication in the journal. The clone posts papers to keep the illusion convincing and attract more paying authors, but the genuine journal has no record of your article, and it will not appear in the indexes and databases that give the real title its standing. For career purposes — examinations, promotion, grant applications — the publication does not exist, and listing it can cause complications if the venue is later identified as hijacked. Contact the real publisher to confirm the situation, keep the evidence, and take advice from your research office on how to handle the manuscript, which can often be submitted afresh to a legitimate venue.
How do hijackers choose which journals to clone?
They look for a gap between reputation and web presence. The ideal target is a journal with an established name, a real ISSN, and an indexing history — but a minimal, outdated, or absent official website: print-era titles, journals that have ceased publishing, or respected regional journals with little online visibility. That gap lets the clone become the top search result for the journal's own name, so authors find the impostor first and have no genuine site to compare it against. It is why finding a journal through library databases and index entries, rather than through a search engine, is the single most protective habit.