Journals like PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology publishes everything thrown at them regardless whether or not the papers respond to their aim & scope. I am sure there are many journals like this one, and they are not in discontinued list too. Is Scopus honestly not aware of the journals that they are indexing?
Dear Taufik Mohammad ,
Indeed, there seems a lot going wrong with the journal “PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/ Egyptology”. Scopus is ‘struggling’ with this journal https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100286805 also the coverage looks odd when you click on ‘Scopus content coverage (between 0-3 papers a year).
It looks to me like a ‘classical' example of a so-called hijacked journal. It is/used to be a legit and genuine journal (with a nowadays non-functional website www.PalArch.nl ). The ‘publisher’ behind used to be PalArch Foundation Spieregerweg 1 7991 NE DWINGELOO The Netherlands. According to: http://www.leatherandshoes.nl/the-palarch-foundation/ and I quote “The PalArch Foundation wanted to achieve its goals primarily (but not exclusively) by publishing open access, double blind peer reviewed, online scientific journals (PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology [PJVP; ISSN 1567-2158], PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology [PJAEE; ISSN 1567-214X] and PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Northwest Europe [PJANE; ISSN 1573-3939]), that differ from standard journals in its own approach of publishing scientific literature. In 2020 these three journals were transfered to the new owner Open Access Text Ltd.”
Open Access Text Ltd. (https://www.oatext.com/ ) is known as a suspect publisher. In https://www.scientificspam.net/?p=139 the excessive spamming is described. Not much good here either http://flakyj.blogspot.com/2017/12/immense-pleasure-from-open-access-text.html No surprise that this publisher is mentioned in the Beall’s list (https://beallslist.net/).
Anyway, as you indicated too much is wrong. Papers ‘published’ here have no relation what’s so ever with the scope of the journal. No decent contact info, no transparency about costs (what I found states 700 USD), no editorial board (info) etc. etc. Although Scopus seems to be ‘busy’ with the journal “PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/ Egyptology”. It is in general and unfortunately clear that Scopus is not doing a good job when it comes to hijacked journals, see also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Hijacked_journals_in_Scopus
https://www.researchgate.net/post/New_very_misleading_type_of_scam_Anyone_with_recent_examples
For predatory journals, Scopus is doing a (somewhat) better job:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_Scopus_doing_a_good_job_in_identifying_and_dealing_with_predatory_journals
Best regards.
PS. The most likely fake/hijacked website is: https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/index
Update July 2022: The Scopus link now mentions discontinued https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100286805
Dear Rob Keller,
Thank you very much for the insightful answers! This is actually my first time hearing about hijacked journals and wow, are they sneaky.
I do also think that Scopus needs to do a better job at identifying these journals. But, can we do something about it too? Maybe alert Scopus?
If you received a Letter of Acceptance from this journal do not pay the Article Processing Charges and send an Immediate Letter of Withdrawal.
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