October 2025
 

Concerns raised over takeover of legitimate journals by “journal snatchers”
 

A recent investigative report from Nature highlights how dozens of legitimate academic journals have been quietly acquired by newly formed companies and transformed into questionable outlets resembling predatory publishers. In a preprint published on Zenodo, researchers at the University of Granada identified at least 36 journals that sharply increased publication fees and shifted editorial practices after being sold—often without disclosing new ownership.

Many of the affected journals were previously owned by universities or established publishing houses such as Elsevier and Palgrave Macmillan, and had been indexed in databases like Scopus and Web of Science before being delisted. The researchers traced the acquisitions to a network of relatively new firms, and flagged concerns about misleading editorial practices, lack of transparency, and potential manipulation of academic credentials.

As part of its investigation, Nature contacted all 36 journals. Some journals declined to comment on their ownership or editorial oversight, and in two cases, researchers discovered they had been falsely listed as editors on journal websites. These findings, combined with opaque ownership structures and aggressive publishing practices, raise serious concerns about the integrity of the affected journals and their potential impact on research quality.