Which journals are heading for trouble — before the list says so
Delisting, hijacking and retraction waves leave tracks in the public record months before anyone acts: a sudden flood of articles, citations that come mostly from the journal itself, authorship that moves to a new country overnight, a website that no longer matches the ISSN record. The Radar reads those tracks from OpenAlex, Crossref, DOAJ, the ISSN Portal and Retraction Watch, applies fifteen written rules, and gives you a dated score with every rule and every source on the page.
Rising this week
| Journal | Risk | Moved | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2278-4357 · World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceut | 26 | +18 | Publication volume surge; Articles deposited without reference lists or abstracts |
| Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 0250-474X · Medknow | 19 | +3 | Articles deposited without reference lists or abstracts; Open-access journal not in DOAJ |
| International Education and Research Journal 2454-9916 · Koryfi Group of Media & Publications | 13 | +3 | Open-access journal not in DOAJ; Articles deposited without reference lists or abstracts |
| Revue d’élevage et de médecine vétérinaire des pays tropicaux 1951-6711 · French Agricultural Research Centre for | 3 | +3 | Scope spread thin across fields |
Recently scored
| Journal | Risk | Band | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Journal of Science and Applied Science Conference Series 2549-4627 | 13 | Low | 10 Nov 2026 |
| Indonesia Medicus Veterinus 2301-7848 | 26 | Guarded | 10 Nov 2026 |
| ELOQUENCE Journal of Foreign Language 2964-9277 | 5 | Low | 10 Nov 2026 |
| International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development 2348-4470 | 13 | Low | 10 Nov 2026 |
| Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology 0973-7510 | 3 | Low | 10 Nov 2026 |
| پژوهشهای اقتصادی 1735-6768 | 6 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
| Iranian South Medical Journal 1735-4374 | 32 | Guarded | 09 Nov 2026 |
| Caspian journal of environmental sciences 1735-3033 | 18 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
| Nīvār 1735-0565 | 8 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
| Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 1680-5593 | 13 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe Journal of Political Science 1119-4537 | 5 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
| FULafia International Journal of Business and Allied Studies 1116-5251 | 5 | Low | 09 Nov 2026 |
How the score is made
Fifteen signals, each a written rule with a threshold, each read from one public source. Points add up to a score out of 100: Low 0–19 · Guarded 20–39 · Elevated 40–64 · High 65+. Fewer than five measurable signals → "not enough data", never a low score the journal did not earn. Re-scored weekly for watched journals; a score moves only when the record moves.
Output has stopped up to 10
Citations mostly from itself up to 15
Citations concentrated in one other journal up to 10
Authorship shifted to a new country up to 10
Retracted articles up to 15
AI-writing signals in recent abstracts up to 12
Tortured phrases in recent abstracts up to 10
Scope spread thin across fields up to 8
Open-access journal not in DOAJ up to 5
No digital preservation on record up to 8
Articles deposited without reference lists or abstracts up to 8
Title or website differ from the ISSN record up to 12
Title shared with another journal up to 6
On a hijacked- or removed-journal list up to 40
What it is not
Not a blacklist, not a verdict on any article, not an impact factor. A high score says the public record shows patterns that have preceded trouble elsewhere; a committee reads the signals, then decides. The Journal Trust Rating (Journal Check) answers the other question — is the journal maintained to indexer standard today.
For institutions
Watch every journal your faculty publish in, get one mail the week a band rises, pull scores into your own systems by API, and judge publications against your own policy — the Research Integrity Desk does that.
GET https://scholar.smartscholars.in/radar.php?issn=2456-5660&format=json
