There are two different websites for the same journal. Which is correct and which is fake? Journal's Name:
International Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Learning
(ISSN: 2327-915X)
Website 1: https://www.thelearner-ijsmtl-cgrn.org/cgrn/index.php
Website 2: https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/cgrn/242/252
Please, confirm which is correct and which is fake?
Dear Pankaj Pandey The second link (https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/cgrn/242/252 ) is the legit version. There are a number of arguments for this:
-The Scopus indexing https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100258629 mentions “Common Ground Research Networks” as the publisher behind the journal and when you go to their website https://cgnetworks.org and click on journals https://cgnetworks.org/journals and then choose journal titles https://cgnetworks.org/journals/titles and click on the title (under the group title The Learner) you end up with https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/cgrn/242/252
-Though not always a guarantee the SCImago site for “International Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Learning” https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21100258629&tip=sid&clean=0 links to https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/cgrn/242/252 as well
-Though not that easy to find the real site mentions the publishing costs (either fee or APC) https://cgscholar.com/cg_support/en/docs/140 while the fake one only mentions exorbitant amounts for (claimed) membership https://www.thelearner-ijsmtl-cgrn.org/cgrn/call-for-papers.php PS. The real membership costs are more than reasonable https://thelearner.com/about/become-a-member
However, the strongest indications that the first link is fake are:
-Looking at the Scopus coverage content here https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100258629 and look at for example 2022 then there are only a few papers indexed in Scopus, while the fake site mentions 4-5 times more papers
-Looking at for example 2022 the fake site (https://www.thelearner-ijsmtl-cgrn.org/cgrn/archives.php?cid=2 ) mentions a Volume 30 issue 2 (while there is no issue 2 on the legit site)
The fake one is a highly professionally built hijacked version. Quite difficult to expose as fake but looking at the above indications I think it is fake.
Best regards.
PS. If you google the title then the ores.su link pop-ups. This is a red flag since I noticed that in almost all cases there are/were issues with that particular journal title (either hijacked, too easy acceptance of papers, peer review that can be manipulated, already discontinued titles etc.)
Dear Prof Keller
Scopus has replied to me that the journal with the first link is in scopus. While from google analysis it has found that second is correct. Scopus has never thought to add all the scopus listed journals should be with home page link. Due to Scopus irresponsiblity, authors may missed to submit their thesis. It reflects cheap work of scopus. you can see the reply of scopus without any authinticate verification.
Dear Pankaj Pandey ,
I think that your interpretation of the answer of Scopus is not entirely true. They respond with the message that the journal “International Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Learning” is indexed in Scopus, and this is true.
In your question was ‘hidden’ whether the homepage link you provided is the real one. I am sure that the Scopus employee didn’t interpretated the question in that respect and never looked at the link you provided in that way.
If you look at https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100258629 then you see that there is no link to the homepage. Such a link is normally always present. In my experience with these matters there are basically only two reasons why the link is absent:
-Scopus is unable to provide a reliable homepage link or noticed that there are multiple links and they did not received the final confirmation which one is legit
-Scopus noticed that there is something wrong with the journal title (for example papers are provided by another player and causes a suspicious increase in accepted/published papers). In other words, the journal is under evaluation
In this case I think that indeed (as indicated by the Scopus employee) this journal is not under evaluation, but they noticed that something is wrong with (one of) the homepage link(s) and another team is investigating this matter.
You are absolutely right that this way of operation is sloppy and that the ‘first line’ customer service employees are not aware of all the ins and outs is part of the problem. However, I think if you rephrase the question and would ask specifically to the legitimacy of the false link that the same employee would redirect your question to someone who is able to answer your question and most likely will provide you with the right answer.
But again, I agree that this way of working does not give the impression that these types of cases have a high priority within Scopus and therefor cause unnecessary high number of victims.
Best regards.
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