Abstract
PURPOSE: Hijacked journals are journals managed by cybercriminals that mimic the original journal and publish manuscripts without peer review, charging a fee to the author. Although there is literature on hijacked journals, there is a gap in the content of published papers in the hijacked journals. This study aims to analyze the content of published papers in hijacked journals to assess their alignment with various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). METHODS: About 21 medicine journals have been investigated and about 3300 published manuscripts in them analyzed in terms of SDGs using the text-based analyzing method. RESULTS: The findings indicated that published manuscripts fit in the categories of SDG 01, SDG 03, SDG 11, and SDG 16 where SDG-03 is most dominant. CONCLUSION: The awareness about the problem of hijacked journals is critical, especially for developing countries, to eliminate the negative effects of these journals. It is the first research that discusses the negative effect of hijacked journals by considering SDGs and sheds light on the phenomenon.