Infected.
The Dutch journal Amoeba: NJN-mededelingenblad has been hijacked. The hijackers have changed the title to Amoeba Journal, stealing and copying the original journal’s ISSN, publisher, and even its telephone number.
I cannot find any website for the original journal, which was a newsletter and has apparently ceased publication.
It was published by the Nederlandse Jeugdbond voor Natuurstudie (NJN), the Dutch Youth Federation for the Study of Nature. The journal is still included in the Thomson Reuters Master List:
This list does not guarantee that a journal is good.
Many researchers outside of Anglophone countries use the Thomson Reuters Master List as a quick check of journal legitimacy. Journal hijackers use the list as a source of ideas for which journals to hijack.
The hijacked Amoeba Journal makes some ridiculous claims. It says,
Amoeba is the leading open-access journal, providing a platform for publishing innovative and research articles. As an open access journal, articles in Amoeba will always be freely available online and readily accessible. This means that your work will be recognized and can be searched in Google Scholar.
I’ve included this case of journal hijacking on my list of hijacked journals. The list now includes over 80 cases of journal hijackings.
Journal hijackers create counterfeit websites for indexed journals, and then they spam for article submissions. They accept pretty much everything submitted, billing the authors for the open-access publishing fees.
I think most authors victimized by journal hijackers are based in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
A scan of the original newsletter’s cover.
Thanks to: Leo Wajiers for his help and advice and for translating the newsletter title and getting the above picture of the victim journal.
