What is the best way to publicize the existence of a fraudulent journal? Earlier this year, I was anonymously informed of the existence of a fraudulent journal, Reactive Oxygen Species.  When I investigated, I found that the "Editorial Team" of "international experts" consisted of three rather unlikely names -- middle initial Z -- and on further investigation, I found that none had any internet presence whatsoever that was not connected to the journal: they were fictitious.  The Editorial Board had 280 members, though the journal had only published about 150 papers in its history. A large fraction were from minor institutions in underdeveloped countries.  In fact, I joined the Editorial Board myself simply by registering on the site.

It turned out that the journal had an "Honorary Editor".  Coincidentally, his name was on 20+ of the 150 published papers, and his wife's name was on another 20+.  He even co-authored papers with the fictitious editorial board members.

The journal is owned by a for-profit corporation registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State.  The address of record is the Honorary Editor's home address, and he files the annual reports.

I am aware that this scholar is the subject of an ethics investigation at his home institution.  However,   even if he is dismissed as I hope, he will be under no pressure to dismantle the journal.  The journal very clearly claims to be peer-reviewed, and there is the obvious danger that honest scholars may rely on the research.  There is also a danger that legitimate authors will continue to submit and publish papers to their own future embarrassment.

In addition, he (or someone) has recently removed the fictitious names and his own from the masthead, probably owing to the investigation (not COVID-19.)  He is now advertising for applications for Editorial Team positions.  It turns out that even the position of Honorary Editor still exists and is open to applicants.  There is some danger that a naive assistant professor somewhere will see an opportunity for advancement, when it is just the opposite.
It might seem fanciful to think that anyone would fall for this, but he and his wife have held NIH grants, and he holds adjunct appointments at four or five institutions.

So my question is: what should I do to let as many people as possible know not to rely on papers in this journal, not to submit papers, and not to involve themselves with the journal in any way?
Send it to one of the successors to Beall's list of predatory journals. Their websites: 


Cabell’s whitelist/blacklist: commercial, subscription required for access, but accepts listings
Stop Predatory Journals: open-access, crowdsourced via Github, successor to the now-defunct ScholarlyOA site
Beall's original list: now being maintained by an anonymous European postdoc