You can spot a predatory journal by checking its ISSN and indexing directly in Scopus Sources, the Web of Science Master Journal List and DOAJ rather than trusting its website, and by watching for promised fast acceptance, early payment requests and unofficial metrics. If you are a PhD scholar in India, you have almost certainly received emails inviting you to publish in a “Scopus-indexed”, “UGC-approved” or “high impact factor” journal, with review in a week and publication soon after. Some of these are low-quality journals. Others are hijacked websites that copy real, indexed journals and collect fees from scholars working to deadlines.
This guide gives you a practical checklist you can run in about fifteen minutes before submitting anywhere, explains how hijacked and clone journals work, and lists the unofficial metrics you may see on these sites. Because this can happen to careful people too, it also sets out what to do if you have already submitted or paid.
None of this requires a paid subscription. Every check below uses free, official tools, linked in the sources at the end. Last checked September 2026.
Predatory, hijacked and clone journals: what’s the difference?
People use these words loosely. The distinction matters, because each one fails a different check.
- Predatory journals are real in the sense that they exist under their own name, but they charge fees while providing little or no genuine peer review, editing or archiving. They may even have a legitimate ISSN.
- Hijacked journals are unauthorised websites that copy the title, ISSN and sometimes the look of a genuine, often indexed journal. The real journal is not involved, so a paper “published” there does not appear in the real journal or in Scopus under it.
- Clone journals is the term Indian scholars most often met through UGC-CARE: a website impersonating a genuine listed journal, frequently a print-only title with no website of its own. It is a form of hijacking. See our UGC-CARE guide for why this was so common.
There is also a grey zone: journals that were once legitimate and indexed but whose quality slipped, sometimes after a change of owner. Scopus and Web of Science periodically discontinue such titles, which is why checking indexing status, not just presence, matters.
How to check a journal’s indexing in five minutes
Do this first. It catches the majority of problems before you spend any time reading the journal’s website, which is written to present the journal favourably.
- Find the ISSN independently. Look it up on the ISSN Portal. Does the registered title, country and publisher match the website in front of you?
- Search Scopus Sources by ISSN. If the journal is there, check that coverage is current and there is no “discontinued” note.
- Search the Web of Science Master Journal List by ISSN, and note which index it is in (SCIE, SSCI, AHCI or ESCI).
- If it is open access, search DOAJ. Genuine open access journals are very often listed; a journal claiming open access and DOAJ membership that isn’t in DOAJ is misstating one or the other.
- Compare the website address with the one recorded in those databases. Different domain, same title and ISSN? Pause before going further; this is the pattern hijacked journals follow.
- Check the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker for the journal title.
The key idea is direction of travel: start at the database and follow its link to the journal, rather than starting at a website and relying on its claims about databases. A “Scopus indexed” badge on a journal website is not evidence on its own, since a logo is easy to copy. Our Scopus indexing guide walks through the Scopus Sources check screen by screen.
Signs to check in emails and on websites
No single sign proves a journal is predatory, and some small genuine journals have clumsy websites. But these signs cluster. If you see three or four together, it is best to choose another journal.
| What you see | Why it is worth checking |
|---|---|
| An unsolicited email praising your “esteemed” recent paper and inviting a submission within days | Legitimate editors do sometimes invite papers, but mass flattery addressed to “Dear Researcher” with a deadline is a high-volume approach. |
| Acceptance or publication promised within a fixed number of days | Real peer review depends on volunteer reviewers’ schedules, so legitimate journals set acceptance and publication dates only after review. |
| Payment requested before, or at the same time as, acceptance | Genuine article processing charges are invoiced after acceptance, by the publisher, with a clear fee policy on the website. |
| “Indexed in” a long list: Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Index Copernicus, “ISI”, DRJI, CiteFactor | Google Scholar and ResearchGate index almost anything; they are not quality filters. A long list of little-known indexes usually hides the absence of the ones that matter. |
| An “impact factor” that isn’t from Clarivate | Only Clarivate issues the Journal Impact Factor. “Global Impact Factor”, “Universal Impact Factor” and similar numbers come from unrelated organisations. |
| Very broad scope, such as engineering, management, medicine and humanities in one journal | Genuine journals have a defined field so that editors can find competent reviewers. |
| Editorial board with no verifiable affiliations, or names you can’t find elsewhere | Board members listed without their knowledge are a known pattern. Real editors list the journal on their own university pages. |
| Gmail, Yahoo or similar contact addresses; no physical address | Established publishers operate from their own domains and publish a real address. |
| Many issues a year packed with dozens of unrelated papers | A sudden jump in volume is one of the patterns that triggers Scopus re-evaluation. |
Read the journal, not the homepage
Open three recently published articles. Are they in the journal’s field? Are the references real and correctly formatted? Is the English edited? Do the dates make sense? “Received 2 March, accepted 5 March” leaves no real time for peer review. Many predatory journals are easiest to spot through what they have already published.
Official and unofficial metrics
Because Indian scholars are often asked about impact factors, some journals display numbers that resemble one. Here is how to tell the real ones apart.
Metrics that are real (and where they come from)
- Journal Impact Factor (JIF): issued only by Clarivate in Journal Citation Reports, for journals in the Web of Science Core Collection.
- CiteScore: issued by Elsevier from Scopus data, visible free on Scopus Sources.
- SJR and quartiles: calculated by SCImago from Scopus data, free on the SCImago Journal & Country Rank site.
Numbers that are not official metrics
- “Global Impact Factor”, “Universal Impact Factor”, “International Impact Factor” and similar. These are not Clarivate products; they are issued by unrelated organisations.
- “ISI indexed”. ISI was the old name of the company whose products became Clarivate’s. Several unrelated organisations now use the letters “ISI”.
- Index Copernicus Value (ICV). A score from a Polish commercial database. It is not an impact factor, is not recognised by Scopus or Clarivate, and is often displayed by predatory journals. An ICV does not indicate indexing.
- SJIF, “Scientific Journal Impact Factor”, “Cosmos Impact Factor”. Same category: neither Clarivate nor Scopus.
Any real metric can be checked at its source in under a minute. If the journal’s claimed number can’t be found there, treat the claim as unverified. Our metrics guide explains what each genuine number measures.
The Think. Check. Submit. checklist
Think. Check. Submit. is a long-running, cross-industry checklist backed by organisations including COPE, DOAJ and STM. It is worth reading in full; the questions most useful for Indian scholars are:
- Do you or your colleagues know the journal? Have you read articles in it?
- Is the journal name unique, and not easily confused with another journal? Can you cross-check it on the ISSN Portal?
- Can you easily identify and contact the publisher by phone, email and post?
- Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses? The checklist specifically says the journal should not promise acceptance or a very short review time.
- Is it clear what fees will be charged, what they are for and when?
- Is the publisher a member of COPE? If open access, is the journal in DOAJ?
The checklist’s own rule is to submit only if you can answer “yes” to most or all of the questions.
If you have already submitted or paid
This happens to careful people, often under deadline pressure. Act quickly and in writing.
If you have submitted but not signed anything
- Withdraw by email immediately. State clearly that you withdraw the manuscript (give the title and any manuscript ID), that you do not consent to its publication, and that you do not transfer any rights. Keep a copy.
- Do not sign a copyright transfer or licence agreement. This is the document they will later cite to refuse removal.
- Do not pay, even if told that withdrawal incurs a fee. There is no legitimate basis for charging to withdraw a paper that has not been through genuine review.
If you have paid or the paper is already online
- Request removal in writing, stating that you did not consent to publication in a non-indexed journal, or that the site misrepresented itself. A reply may not come, but the written record matters.
- Keep every email, invoice and payment record. If you paid through a bank or UPI, contact your bank promptly about a dispute. If the journal impersonated another, report it via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in).
- Tell the genuine journal if yours was a hijacked site (publishers often want evidence to pursue takedowns), and report it to the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker.
- Talk to your supervisor before resubmitting the work elsewhere. If the paper is visibly online, a new journal may treat it as prior publication. The recommended approach is to disclose the history in your cover letter; many editors will consider the paper once they understand what happened.
How to choose a journal safely in the first place
- Start from your own reference list. The journals that published the papers you cite most are usually the right audience for your work, and you already know they are real.
- Ask your supervisor and department which journals colleagues have published in recently, and which your university accepts for the PhD.
- Use official journal finders from established publishers, and verify the results on Scopus Sources or the Master Journal List.
- Plan for realistic timelines. Time pressure is the most common reason scholars end up with these journals. Knowing that genuine review usually takes months (see how long publication really takes) lets you plan early instead.
Sources
FAQ
Questions scholars ask
Is there an official list of predatory journals I can check?
There is no single official blacklist that is current and authoritative. Beall’s list was taken down in 2017 and copies online are out of date. It is more reliable to check positive lists such as Scopus Sources, the Master Journal List and DOAJ, and the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker for impersonators.
The journal is listed in Scopus. Can there still be a problem?
Yes, in two ways. The website you are using may be a hijacked copy of a genuine Scopus journal, or the journal may have been discontinued from Scopus. Check the coverage years and follow the website link from Scopus itself.
Is paying an article processing charge a sign of a predatory journal?
No. Many reputable open access journals charge APCs. The signs to check are fees that are unclear, requested before acceptance, paid to a personal account or an agent, or charged for “fast-track” acceptance.
An agent says they have a “tie-up” with a Scopus journal. Is that legitimate?
Acceptance at a legitimate journal depends on independent review, so an arrangement that affects acceptance would mean the review is not independent. We will check any journal for you at no cost. Just send us the name.
Can I get my money back from a predatory journal?
Sometimes, through your bank or payment provider if you act quickly, but often not from the journal itself. Keep all records, raise a dispute promptly, and report impersonation or fraud through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
