Hijacked medical journals rank first via search engine optimization and threaten academic integrity

The rise of questionable journals poses a significant threat to academic integrity, resulting in substantial waste of institutional and university resources. This commentary analysis focuses on six hijacked medical journals, a specific type of questionable publication. We utilized Semrush, an online Search Engine Optimization auditing platform, to analyse our data, which revealed that hijacked journals disseminate their content through search engines. Specifically, searches for certain medical keywords return hijacked medical journals’ content among the top 20 results. Evidence from both previous research and the current study suggests that hijacked journals leverage various channels for content dissemination, including artificial intelligence chatbots, citation databases, spam emails, and search engines. Raising awareness about this issue is crucial to mitigating the immediate harm caused by these journals. Furthermore, long-term solutions will necessitate advancements in technological development to combat this evolving problem effectively.