Is joinformation.org safe?
http://joinformation.org/
Checked on
How we checked
Coverage: partial · 5 of 6 applicable core capabilities
- Antivirus (67 of 96 engines answered) · saved result: did not fully complete
- Google Safe Browsing: completed
- page reading: completed
- page capture: completed
- domain records: completed
- web research: completed
SCIREA's journal portal sells fast publication: an author's test submission was accepted in 9 days with a 460 USD fee demand, and the publisher's mailboxes went unanswered for over five weeks.
joinformation.org is the storefront of SCIREA (Scientific Research Association), which advertises 'over 30+ peer-reviewed open access journals' and pushes authors toward 'Submit Your Article'. The site itself is technically clean — no Safe Browsing warning, no malicious engines, no abuse reports on the hosting IP — but the money here comes from authors paying article processing charges, and independent commentary plus a published author retraction statement describe near-instant acceptance, a fee demand that dropped from 460 to 99 USD, and contact mailboxes that did not answer. That is a publishing-conduct problem rather than a malware or card-fraud problem, which is why the score sits in the Moderate Risk band rather than lower.
Saved site captureCaptured safely during this scanSaved antivirus result from Mar 13, 2025: no detections across 67 enginesAt a glance
Saved with this scan; each value is explained in the sections below.
Domain age
4 years old
Registered Mar 4, 2022Expires Mar 4, 2027Certificate
Invalid
Expires Feb 26, 2027 (105d)Hosting
United States (US)
Alibaba Cloud - USPopularity
Not in the Cloudflare Radar top list
Antivirus
0/67
Saved antivirus result from Mar 13, 2025: no detections across 67 enginesSafe Browsing
Not flagged
Not flagged on major threat listsCommunity
No reviews yet
Checked
Nov 12, 2026
Where this site sits
- Dangerous1–20
- High Risk21–44
- Moderate Risk45–69
- Low Risk70–84
- Safe85–100
The score combines saved evidence strength and analysis quality. Coverage is reported separately.
Why 52/100
Moderate Risk covers scores 45–69. 5 findings pulled the score down; 3 pushed it up.
- Start70
- -6
- -6
- -6
- Score52
What pulled the score down
- ModerateOne customer complaint in public web research: "conduct meaningful peer review (evidenced by a test submission accepted in only 9 days with an initial APC demand of 460 USD, later reduced to 99 USD)"-6 pts
- ModerateThe site markets 'Rapid publication', 'Lifetime hosting', 'Free indexing service' and 'More citations' alongside 'hassle free, fast' peer review.-6 pts
- ModerateNo legal entity, registration number or postal address is disclosed on the reviewed pages; contact runs through scirea.org mailboxes.-6 pts
- MinorIndependent academic commentary describes SCIREA as showing predatory-publisher signs, including about 10,800 editors for roughly 39 journals.
- MinorThe saved TLS check did not validate and the scanned address was served over plain HTTP, including a Login entry point.
What pushed the score up
- SupportsSafe Browsing returned no threat warning and the hosting IP has an abuse score of 0/100 across zero reports.
- SupportsThe domain is about 4 years 8 months old.
- SupportsPhone number listed (10.54647).
Points come from the saved evidence ledger: it lowered the score from 70 to 52 and split those 18 points between the findings that show points; the others carry no points in the ledger.
01 · Investigation Brief
Investigation Brief
joinformation.org is the storefront of SCIREA (Scientific Research Association), which advertises 'over 30+ peer-reviewed open access journals' and pushes authors toward 'Submit Your Article'. The site itself is technically clean — no Safe Browsing warning, no malicious engines, no abuse reports on the hosting IP — but the money here comes from authors paying article processing charges, and independent commentary plus a published author retraction statement describe near-instant acceptance, a fee demand that dropped from 460 to 99 USD, and contact mailboxes that did not answer. That is a publishing-conduct problem rather than a malware or card-fraud problem, which is why the score sits in the Moderate Risk band rather than lower.
What authors are actually being sold
The pitch is speed and volume, not scholarship. The site's own 'Publish with us' list promises 'Rapid publication', 'Lifetime hosting', 'Free indexing service', 'Free promotion service' and 'More citations', and the hero copy reads 'hassle free, fast, peer-reviewed International Journals. Our editors are friend'.
Independent commentary reaches the same conclusion. A Cabells analysis notes that SCIREA lists roughly 10,800 editors for about 39 journals — around 277 per journal — and concludes that the signs together would alert most academics that they are looking at a predatory publisher's website. Other academic blogs record that the operation ran without a named editor-in-chief and once published no address, no names and no editors.
The most concrete account is an author's unilateral retraction statement: a test submission was accepted in only 9 days with an initial APC demand of 460 USD, later reduced to 99 USD, and the publisher failed to respond over more than five weeks through service@scirea.org, paper@scirea.org and the submission system. Those are the same mailboxes the site publishes as its contact channels.
Clean scanners, unclear operator
Nothing in the technical checks suggests malware, phishing or a blocklist hit: the browser threat feed returned no threat warning, the hosting IP carries an abuse confidence score of 0/100 across zero saved reports, and the domain is about 4 years 8 months old. Those results describe detections only and say nothing about how the publisher treats the authors who pay it.
The saved TLS check did not validate the connection and the scanned address was served over plain HTTP, so anything typed into the 'Login' area travels unencrypted. The site also discloses no legal entity, registration number or postal address on the pages reviewed; contact runs through scirea.org mailboxes rather than a joinformation.org address, and a phone number is listed.
Why the score is 52
02 · Security Evidence
Security evidence
Antivirus Engines
0/ 96
No detectionsSaved analysis from March 13, 2025 - stale
No detections across 67 engines that rated this URL
No antivirus engine that answered raised an adverse result; 29 had no rating for this URL. This is one signal, not a guarantee.
- Malicious
- 0
- Suspicious
- 0
- Total
- 96
- Clean67
- Undetected29
All 96 engine results
- 0xSI_f33d - Unrated
- Abusix - Clean
- Acronis - Clean
- ADMINUSLabs - Clean
- AILabs (MONITORAPP) - Clean
- AlienVault - Clean
- alphaMountain.ai - Clean
- AlphaSOC - Unrated
- Antiy-AVL - Clean
- ArcSight Threat Intelligence - Unrated
- Artists Against 419 - Clean
- AutoShun - Unrated
- Axur - Unrated
- benkow.cc - Clean
- Bfore.Ai PreCrime - Unrated
- BitDefender - Clean
- Bkav - Unrated
- BlockList - Clean
- Blueliv - Clean
- Certego - Clean
- Chong Lua Dao - Clean
- CINS Army - Clean
- Cluster25 - Unrated
- CMC Threat Intelligence - Clean
- CRDF - Clean
- Criminal IP - Clean
- CSIS Security Group - Unrated
- Cyan - Unrated
- Cyble - Clean
- CyRadar - Clean
- desenmascara.me - Clean
- DNS8 - Clean
- Dr.Web - Clean
- EmergingThreats - Clean
- Emsisoft - Clean
- Ermes - Unrated
- ESET - Clean
- ESTsecurity - Clean
- Feodo Tracker - Clean
- Forcepoint ThreatSeeker - Clean
- Fortinet - Clean
- Fortra - Unrated
- G-Data - Clean
- GCP Abuse Intelligence - Unrated
- Google Safe Browsing - Clean
- GreenSnow - Clean
- Gridinsoft - Unrated
- Heimdal Security - Clean
- Hunt.io Intelligence - Unrated
- IPsum - Clean
- Juniper Networks - Clean
- Kaspersky - Clean
- Lionic - Clean
- Lumu - Unrated
- Malwared - Clean
- MalwarePatrol - Clean
- malwares.com URL checker - Clean
- MalwareURL - Unrated
- Netcraft - Unrated
- OpenPhish - Clean
- PhishFort - Unrated
- Phishing Database - Clean
- Phishtank - Clean
- PREBYTES - Clean
- PrecisionSec - Unrated
- Quick Heal - Clean
- Quttera - Clean
- Rising - Clean
- SafeToOpen - Unrated
- Sangfor - Clean
- Sansec eComscan - Unrated
- Scantitan - Clean
- SCUMWARE.org - Clean
- Seclookup - Clean
- securolytics - Clean
- Snort IP sample list - Clean
- SOCRadar - Unrated
- Sophos - Clean
- Spam404 - Clean
- StopForumSpam - Clean
- Sucuri SiteCheck - Clean
- ThreatHive - Clean
- Threatsourcing - Clean
- Trustwave - Unrated
- Underworld - Unrated
- URLhaus - Clean
- URLQuery - Unrated
- Viettel Threat Intelligence - Clean
- VIPRE - Unrated
- ViriBack - Clean
- VX Vault - Clean
- Webroot - Clean
- Xcitium Verdict Cloud - Unrated
- Yandex Safebrowsing - Clean
- ZeroCERT - Clean
- ZeroFox - Unrated
How security vendors categorise this site
- BitDefenderadvice
- Forcepoint ThreatSeekereducational institutions
Each vendor’s own label for the site, saved with the antivirus result. Labels are separate from the engine verdicts above and can disagree with each other.
Security Scans
Checked against the browser threat feeds available to this scan — no hit.
What we observed
Visual context from the captured page
Header shows a 'SCIREA' logo with a caduceus-like emblem and navigation Home, Journals, Articles, Resources, Contact, plus orange 'Submit' and pink 'Login' buttons. Hero reads 'Get Published...' followed by 'in the best and most impressive, hassle free, fast, peer-reviewed International Journals. Our editors are friend, our support is timely and your articles are thoroughly reviewed to international standards.' Green 'Submit Your Article' button and outlined 'Browse our Journals' button are the primary calls to action. A row of journal cover tiles (Physics, Mathematics, Education, Electrical Engineering, Sociology, Chemistry, Materials, Economics) each captioned 'Science Research Association'. Left sidebar 'Publish with us' lists Open Access, Peer-reviewed, Rapid publication, Lifetime hosting. 'Recently Published Papers' section shows an Open Access article on private savings and macroeconomic stability in Pakistan by Muhammad Quaid with abstract text and PDF/DOI links.
What the captured page showed
6 observations- 01
Header shows a 'SCIREA' logo with a caduceus-like emblem and navigation Home, Journals, Articles, Resources, Contact, plus orange 'Submit' and pink 'Login' buttons.
- 02
Hero reads 'Get Published...' followed by 'in the best and most impressive, hassle free, fast, peer-reviewed International Journals. Our editors are friend, our support is timely and your articles are thoroughly reviewed to international standards.'
- 03
Green 'Submit Your Article' button and outlined 'Browse our Journals' button are the primary calls to action.
- 04
A row of journal cover tiles (Physics, Mathematics, Education, Electrical Engineering, Sociology, Chemistry, Materials, Economics) each captioned 'Science Research Association'.
- 05
Left sidebar 'Publish with us' lists Open Access, Peer-reviewed, Rapid publication, Lifetime hosting.
- 06
'Recently Published Papers' section shows an Open Access article on private savings and macroeconomic stability in Pakistan by Muhammad Quaid with abstract text and PDF/DOI links.
Browser behavior
What our isolated browser recorded while it loaded the page. Host names only: no full addresses are published.
- Pop-ups
- 0
- Download attempts
- 0
- Notification prompts
- 0
- Navigations
- 1
- Other hosts contacted
- 0
Where the page went
- First loadjoinformation.orgSame site
Hosts on our aggressive-advertising list
None contacted.
Test clicks
No test click was made on this page.
What the page says about itself
Quoted from the pages we read: the site's own words, not our findings.
- Page title
SCIREA | Publisher of Open Access Journals
Pages we read
- Main page/Read
- Contact page/contactRead
03 · Investigation Story
Investigation story
What the site claims
SCIREA | Publisher of Open Access Journals
What we observed
The page content was captured and checked alongside 67 antivirus results.
What independent research found
7 external findings were saved and compared with the page evidence.
What remains unverified
1 of the 6 applicable core capabilities did not complete, so those gaps remain visible in the coverage ledger.
What kind of site and risk is this?
Threat category
No threat category confirmed
Service and business model
Editorial
Observed behavior
Evidence behind this classification
- 01A public record in a published article reads: "It accomplishes this feat without a named editor-in-chief."
- 02A public record in a published article reads: "Its website once provided no address, no names, and no editors."
- Also 8 listed under Why 52/100 above
If this is a scam — what it means for you
The path an author takes
A researcher arriving from an unsolicited invitation clicks 'Submit Your Article' and enters a submission funnel with no visible price list on the captured pages. According to the retraction statement, the fee demand arrives after acceptance — 460 USD initially, then 99 USD — which is the point at which the author has already committed the manuscript.
If this is a scam, how it works
The evidence-backed path
Each stage below is preserved from the grounded analysis and linked to saved evidence.
When the author then tries to resolve problems, the published contact route is the scirea.org mailbox set, and the same statement reports no response over more than five weeks through those addresses and the submission system. The site also runs bulk email with an unsubscribe form, consistent with the mass-invitation pattern described in the independent commentary.
Do not pay an article processing charge to this publisher or submit a manuscript you care about. If you received an invitation, check the journal against a recognised index or a predatory-publisher list first, and treat the 9-day acceptance and the shifting fee as the decisive warning. The site is not distributing malware, but the publication service it sells is not one we would trust with a paper or a payment.
Web research findings
Independent findings for joinformation.org, including public complaints, named review sources, registration records, and look-alike-domain evidence.
- Figshare (author Ursula Bellut-Staeck)open
"Despite repeated requests over more than five weeks via all available channels (service@scirea.org, paper@scirea.org and the submission system), the publisher has completely failed to:"
- Figshare (author Ursula Bellut-Staeck)open
"conduct meaningful peer review (evidenced by a test submission accepted in only 9 days with an initial APC demand of 460 USD, later reduced to 99 USD)"
- The Source (Cabells)open
"despite claiming to publish 39 journals, SCIREA lists approximately 10,800 editors; that would be around 277 editors per journal"
- The Source (Cabells)open
"These signs taken together would likely be enough to alert most academics that they are probably looking at a predatory publisher’s website."
- Flaky Academic Journalsopen
"It accomplishes this feat without a named editor-in-chief."
- Savoy (academic blog)open
"Its website once provided no address, no names, and no editors."
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
04 · Domain & Infrastructure
Domain & infrastructure
The plumbing behind the site — who registered it, how it’s encrypted, where it’s hosted, and where it links out. A valid certificate or a calm server doesn’t mean the business is honest — scam sites pass these checks too.
Infrastructure map
- Domainjoinformation.org
- Redirects tojoinformation.org
- Hosted byAlibaba Cloud - US
- Referencesarticle.scirea.org · doi.org
Domain Timeline
- Mar 4, 2022Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 4 years old when this review was saved.
- Nov 12, 2026Saved security review — Rated Moderate Risk
The evidence in this saved scan is mixed or incomplete; the completed checks are detailed above.
Contact Verification
Saved contact details can help identify the operator. Their presence supports traceability; it does not prove the business is trustworthy.
- Phone number listed (10.54647).
Domain & Encryption
At the scan on Nov 12, 2026: 94% of the registration period had passed
At the scan on Nov 12, 2026: 73% of the validity period had passed
Certificate issued for scirea.org.
Payment providers the page loads
None seen among the outside domains we saved.
Read from the first 20 outside domains the page loads and the shop platform it uses; the web server and platform rows are under Hosting & Technology. A payment script on the page does not prove the shop accepts that method at checkout, or that you are protected.
Server Reputation
Referenced Domains
Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.
Grouped by what each domain is for. in page: named in the page’s HTML. contacted: the browser loaded it while rendering the page. ad list: on our aggressive-advertising list.
Other / unknown2
- article.scirea.orgin page
- doi.orgin page
05 · Evidence Ledger
Evidence ledger
- Antiviruspartial
- Browser threat feedcomplete
- Page contentcomplete
- Analysiscomplete
- Visual evidencecomplete
The conclusion is supported by the evidence saved with this report.
Technical threat
unknownMalware, phishing, credential theft and hostile infrastructure.
Operator / customer risk
suspiciousComplaints, withdrawals, business conduct and commercial traps.
Source coverage and freshness
Status shows whether usable evidence was saved; finding shows what that evidence observed.
| Source | Result | Completion | Finding | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antivirus | 0 of 96 engines flagged | Limited | No saved finding | stale fallback · analysed Mar 13, 2025 |
| Browser protection | No browser threat-list match | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Nov 12, 2026 |
| Page content | Page fetched · HTTP 200 | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Nov 12, 2026 |
| Visual evidence | 6 visible observations saved with the page capture | Completed | No adverse finding | this scan · Nov 12, 2026 |
| Independent research | 7 independent findings were saved | Completed | Adverse | this scan · Nov 12, 2026 |
- Antivirus
- Result0 of 96 engines flagged
- CompletionLimitedFindingNo saved finding
- Freshnessstale fallback · analysed Mar 13, 2025
- Browser protection
- ResultNo browser threat-list match
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Nov 12, 2026
- Page content
- ResultPage fetched · HTTP 200
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Nov 12, 2026
- Visual evidence
- Result6 visible observations saved with the page capture
- CompletionCompletedFindingNo adverse finding
- Freshnessthis scan · Nov 12, 2026
- Independent research
- Result7 independent findings were saved
- CompletionCompletedFindingAdverse
- Freshnessthis scan · Nov 12, 2026
07 · Safety FAQ
Safety FAQ
Answered from the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is joinformation.org a scam or is it safe?
Is joinformation.org safe to use?
Has joinformation.org been flagged by antivirus engines?
Is joinformation.org on any phishing or malware blacklists?
How old is the joinformation.org domain?
Does joinformation.org have a valid SSL certificate?
Where is joinformation.org hosted?
How often is the joinformation.org report updated?
08 · Final Verdict
Final verdict
SCIREA's journal portal sells fast publication: an author's test submission was accepted in 9 days with a 460 USD fee demand, and the publisher's mailboxes went unanswered for over five weeks.
joinformation.org is the storefront of SCIREA (Scientific Research Association), which advertises 'over 30+ peer-reviewed open access journals' and pushes authors toward 'Submit Your Article'. The site itself is technically clean — no Safe Browsing warning, no malicious engines, no abuse reports on the hosting IP — but the money here comes from authors paying article processing charges, and independent commentary plus a published author retraction statement describe near-instant acceptance, a fee demand that dropped from 460 to 99 USD, and contact mailboxes that did not answer. That is a publishing-conduct problem rather than a malware or card-fraud problem, which is why the score sits in the Moderate Risk band rather than lower.
09 · Community
Community
Are you the owner of joinformation.org?Verify and reply