Sage Publishing Fraud Alert
by kathy tooch
Sage has received reports that scammers, who are impersonating Sage staff or editors, are targeting authors by soliciting journal articles and promising publication once a fee is paid. In most cases the scammers’ initial contact with the author is by email or via WhatsApp. Fraudulent emails sometimes include Sage journal names, logos and staff signatures and usually appear to be from the journal editor. Sometimes the emails are sent from an address that spoofs that of the journal editor or publisher domain. It is common for the emails to be accompanied by a PDF of a fake acceptance letter, which may include forged journal letterheads, editor signatures and seals in an attempt to appear legitimate. In some cases, the email may even provide a fake DOI for the article or a link to where the article is “published”. Fake acceptance emails may be accompanied, or followed, by an invoice for a submission fee or article processing charge (APC). In most cases we find the article was never submitted to the journal. We suspect these cases usually involve an illegitimate third party “submission service” that offers to submit the paper on behalf of the author but who actually has no relationship with Sage.
The following are suggestions to help authors avoid these scams:
1. Do not use unknown, illegitimate third-party “submission services”. Be aware that legitimate companies providing publication assistance services will never guarantee acceptance or publication of an article.
2. As a general rule, Sage will not initiate contact with authors by phone call, WhatsApp, or other social media platforms.
3. Always use the journal’s submission site, following the submission guidelines, to complete your article submission. Once the article has been submitted and account created, the author will receive log in details to view their submission via the journal’s submission website. Expect all communication relating to your submission, including acceptance letters, to be sent from the editor or editorial office email addresses listed on the journal’s submission guidelines through online manuscript submission systems, such as Sage Track.
4. Authors should not be invoiced any fees that are not clearly referenced in the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines. There should never be surprise fees related to a submission.
5. Authors should use extreme caution if they receive an email from a sagepub domain other than sagepub.com, sagepub.co.uk, or sagepub.in, as these are very likely not legitimate communications from Sage. Note that sagepub.ltd and sagepub.international are examples of two websites that are fraudulently posing to be Sage company websites.
6. Be aware that sender email addresses can be spoofed, and even where an email appears to be from one of the legitimate Sage domains listed above, it is possible that it is a spoof. Checking all of the other considerations in this list will help verify whether an email you receive is legitimate.
7. If authors have any questions about the authenticity of a journal communication they’ve received, they can contact Sage at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.
8. If communications to an author include a DOI or link to where their article is published, the author should check the provided DOI in the “Resolve a DOI Name” database to ensure it matches their article. Note that Sage’s current published articles are issued DOIs that begin with 10.1177.
9. Review these Think Check Submit articles for more helpful advice: https://thinkchecksubmit.org/ before submitting your paper to a journal you aren’t familiar with and https://thinkchecksubmit.org/2022/05/24/fake-acceptance-letters-and-emails
10. Check the “Hijacked Journal” checker on Retraction Watch: The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker – Retraction Watch.
If you believe that you have been the victim of a scam, you may wish to report the incident to your local law enforcement agency. If you have made payment to a scammer, please immediately contact your banking institution to report the fraud and ask them to reverse the payment. Then please report the matter to Sage at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.
