DOI hijacking, explained

A quick refresher on DOIs

A DOI is a persistent identifier of an object. Resolve it through doi.org to reach the associated destination. It does not certify the accuracy of the text surrounding it in your bibliography. See the DOI Foundation’s explanation.

Mismatched vs. unresolved

• Unresolved: the DOI does not produce a usable destination. Check transcription and retry before drawing a conclusion.
• Mismatched: the DOI reaches a publication that differs from the reference. Compare the title, authors and publication details.

Use the resolver and registered metadata as evidence for those checks. Neither label tells you how the discrepancy arose.

Why it happens

Keep possible explanations open while you investigate: a pasted identifier, a transcription error or an assembled reference. Research on citation validity examines unreliable references, but it cannot identify the origin of the entry in front of you.

Why a working link is not enough

Ask both whether the DOI resolves and whether it identifies the work you intended to cite. Compare the DOI metadata with the title and author list. A title lookup on its own leaves the identifier comparison unfinished.

How to spot a mismatch yourself

Open the DOI and read the destination’s title and authors. If they differ, search for the cited title independently and establish which work you meant. Hallucite exposes identifier and metadata discrepancies for review, within its methodology limits. Follow the checking checklist before editing.