A screenshot of part of the hijacked journal’s website.
A scholarly journal sponsored by a United Nations organization and published in Chile has been hijacked, with the hijackers creating a counterfeit website and widely soliciting manuscript submissions. However, unlike most journal hijacking cases, in this case, the apparent perpetrator’s name and location are easily found.
The journal is CEPAL Review (Revista CEPAL), published in Santiago, Chile by ECLAC, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, a UN agency.
The hijacked journal, which bears the same title of and tries to present itself as the authentic journal, is located here: http://www.cepalreview.org/ The hijacked journal uses the free Open Journal Systems software — a favorite of journal hijackers — for its publishing platform.
Generally, the domain-name registration data for hijacked journal websites is blinded. Rather surprisingly, the domain name data for this one is freely available:
Domain Name: CEPALREVIEW.ORG
Domain ID: D188245835-LROR
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Updated Date: 2016-07-09T03:45:57Z
Creation Date: 2016-05-09T12:28:42Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2017-05-09T12:28:42Z
Sponsoring Registrar: PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 303
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID: DI_42937315
Registrant Name: Mehmet Bahaeddin YORGUN
Registrant Organization: N/A
Registrant Street: Vali Mithatbey Mah. Hastahane Cad.
Registrant Street: Nedim Odabasi Tic. Mrk. A blok Kat 2 No 2
Registrant City: VAN
Registrant State/Province: MERKEZ
Registrant Postal Code: 65100
Registrant Country: TR
Registrant Phone: +90.05078722929
This registration data points to a Mr. Mehmet Bahaeddin Yorgun, from Van, a city in eastern Turkey also known as a center of international smuggling.
An image from the authentic journal’s website.
This hijacked journal is currently spamming, hoping to lure submissions from researchers needing a publication in an impact factor journal. The spam email (partial screenshot below) lists the journal’s editor as “Dr. Osvaldo Sunkle.” The correct spelling of his name is Osvaldo Sunkel.
Hijacked journals continue to be a problem, fooling researchers in many countries. I’ve noticed an increase in their spamming in the past month. Please help me sound the warning about them so that researchers avoid their traps.
I call on Mehmet Bahaeddin Yorgun to shut down this bogus website.
Part of the hijacked journal’s spam.
Hat tip: Dr. Marco van de Weert
Appendix: A recent spam email from the hijacked journal:
CALL FOR PAPER
Journal Citation Reports®, Thomson Reuters
IF: 0.133; 2014/2015SUBMISSIONS WELCOME FOR CEPAL REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE (DECEMBER 2016)
CEPAL Review journal is a peer reviewed multidisciplinary international journal publishing original and high-quality articles covering a wide range of topics in engineering, science and technology. Published papers in CEPAL Review will be indexed in very important Indexing & Abstracting databases such as Social Sciences Citation Index, SCOPUS, EBSCO, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory and etc. The journal welcomes author submission of original and significant contributions. Articles submitted should not have been previously published or be currently under consideration for publication any place else and should report original unpublished research results.
* Papers can be written in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
* All articles are sent for blind peer review, with a very fast and without delay review procedure (within approximately two week after the submission).
* Authors have to read through the author guidelines [1] carefully before beginning the submission process.
* Submissions are accepted through the online submission system [2] Or via e-mail: cepalreview@gmail.com.Learn more and read existing OnlineOpen papers in CEPAL Review [3]
TOPICS OF INTERESTS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
*Arts and Literature, Agricultural Sciences, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Medicine and Physics, Management and Economic, Humanities, Linguistics, Philosophy, All scientific fields.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
DR. OSVALADO SUNKLE
MANAGING EDITOR
