My PI and I were approached by a journal, asking us to write a review for them. We completed the review, sent the file via email to them, but quickly realized this is a predatory journal because they are not pubmed-indexed (but they lied to us at the beginning). We informed them 3 times that we withdrew our submission and would not pay any publication fees. We did not sign any paperwork or transfer copyright to them.
This review article was then submitted to a different journal and was accepted, and we signed copyright transfer for this journal. Today our team found out the predatory journal published our work anyway without our knowledge. These are the steps I have taken. If someone has similar experience, can you share with me what to do next?
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I sent an email to the journal and the editors-in-chief asking them to retract our work.
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I plan to contact legal counseling at my institution.
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My PI will contact the editor-in-chief of the legit journal to discuss the situation with them.
Since one of the editors-in-chief of the predatory is currently a faculty at a US institution, do you think I could potentially report this situation to said institution?
Comments
>Since one of the editors-in-chief of the predatory is currently a faculty at a US institution, do you think I could potentially report this situation to said institution?
Yes, absolutely. Everything else you’re doing is also reasonable, but yes, do this.
The listed editor-in-chief is very likely not the editor-in-chief. Email them directly using their university email and ask them. They may also be scammed here.
Ultimately, you haven’t don’t anything wrong, the journal stole your published work.