Over the past week I became aware of another journal which I believe to be 'hijacked'. Although my research is not complete, one thing struck me about the site, that is how 'quiet' or 'nondescript' it is. Let me explain.
Common features of predatory journals include countless names of purported journal index sources. Another feature is a long list of 'reputable' academics from universities and places that most folks would have to Google to know where they are. However, a journal that some might call 'predatory' can and is often found in Scopus, as well as having received a Quartile ranking in SJR (Scopus inclusion comes first, followed by an SJR ranking some time later).
However, there are certain things that journals must do to be 'Scopus indexed'. One is they must include their ISSN number on their home page and have an editorial board on their web site. There are many other things as well, but if a site does not have its ISSN identifier on its web site, something is seriously wrong.
Therefore, having given you the reader a little background, let's look at one journal which I suspect has been 'hijacked' and the reasons for this.
Our first case study is the TEST Engineering & Management 'magazine'.
When I first opened the site I was surprised how simple the web site was. As I was investigating the 'journal' as a potential candidate for a paper, I was looking for the ISSN identifier to see if it matched the web site's name to the Scopus and SJR listing. After searching every link, I could find none. This is when the warning bells started ringing in my head.
I then went to Scopus to see what was there. Here we see that it was discontinued again (SJR's site does not say this).
In this Scopus Excel file you can find that TEST was removed most recently in 2020. https://tinyurl.com/vpvf4hp4 As this is a journal over 50 years old, one has to ask what was the reason. Scopus tell us: Ethics concerns
Ethics????? Wow, that seems like a pretty serious accusation.
Next, I went back to the SJR listing for TEST to see who the publisher was and if there was a link to the web site for the journal (sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't). Here is a screen capture from SJR for TEST:
Let's dissect what information is here.
First, the journal has been around for a long time, but it has been 'discontinued' by Scopus 4 times over its lifespan.
Second we note the assigned ISSN is 01934120.
Third, we see the name of the publisher is 'Mattingley Publishing'.
And finally, there is no link to the journal's website.
Armed with this information, we can start doing some more investigation.
Although the publisher link is active, it loops us back into the SJR system which provides us with no additional information. So I go back to the web site and see if their is anything about who these people are and their history. Having been around since 1970, one would think there must be something somewhere. And there is something....
Under the copyright form in the PDF we find an address in Oakland. When I see the 'Suite 205', I know this is most probably a mail forwarding service drop box (not a real office address).
Under the about link, I find the following:
Nothing there for sure. Once again, noting that this journal was placed in Scopus 51 years ago, this seems extremely odd. Also, I cannot find any names or editorial board members as well.
Even the 'editor in chief' is a no name email.
So now where do we head?
In another link we once again find words with no personal names.
If you carefully read this page, the English is decent and normal until the reach the 'Note:'. In this section the English becomes nearly incomprehensible, as if a non-native speaker added the NOTE later. hmmmmmmmm
So I take the page's advice and click on the following:
(Download a PDF of TEST's Statement of Editorial Purpose)
Wow! A name appears:
"Eve Mattingley-Hannigan" - Now we are getting somewhere! I am so excited. I guess this woman is in LA then. OK. Lets see what we can find.
At this web page, the above information is all that is on the home page (Gardens of Eve). How super strange for a woman who is editor of an a 50 year old plus engineering magazine!
Now, I am thinking do I go further down this rabbit hole or leave it alone and find another journal? Find another journal yes, end this search, no, as I am a curious kind of guy. Therefore, let's go for it and see what we can see. Sooooooo....
Now I am starting to think that Ms. Eve must be getting up in years (the journal was indexed in 1970!), there must be some public information somewhere. I therefore take her name and add 'obituary' to a Google search and multiple obituaries come up with her name in them (as a relative of the deceased person). This is not easy.
Then I find a PDF from an old TEST issue. The URL for the PDF is:
http://www.testmagazine.biz/
The old domain is gone...
Here is the new URL:
http://testmagzine.biz/index.php/testmagzine
Now you ask. What's the difference?
THE LETTER 'a' IS MISSING IN THE WORD MAGAZINE!!!!
HIJACKED!
Now you know why Scopus discontinued TEST in 2020 for 'ethics'!
End of story...
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