Criminal gangs fake science papers for money
Academics at Northwestern University, in Illinois, US, warned that scientific journals could soon become 'completely poisoned' by fake reports that damage public trust and are potentially medically harmful.
The problem is driven by illegal 'paper mills', largely based in Russia, China and India, which produce sham research and invite new and struggling academics to pay thousands of pounds to have their name listed as an author.
In many countries, the number of published papers and citations is critical for scientists to achieve promotion and win funding grants.
For the new study, researchers carried out a large-scale analysis of scientific journal data and discovered 'sophisticated global networks of individuals and entities, which systematically work together to undermine the integrity of academic publishing'.
They estimated that the number of fraudulent articles was doubling every 18 months, compared to legitimate articles, which were doubling every 15 years.
The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is 'outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications', academics found.
'Distressing to see others engage in fraud'
'This study is probably the most depressing project I've been involved with in my entire life,' said Luís Amaral, Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics.
'Since I was a kid, I was excited about science. It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others.
'If we do not create awareness around this problem, worse and worse behaviour will become normalised. At some point, it will be too late, and scientific literature will become completely poisoned.'
The problem has become so widespread that more than 10,000 scientific papers needed to be retracted by academic journals last year alone, with experts warning that many more go undetected.
The findings show that in some journals, certain editors were linked to a suspiciously high number of retracted articles, suggesting they were complicit in allowing them to be published.
Paper mills churn out large numbers of manuscripts, which they then sell to academics who want to quickly publish new work.
They often feature fabricated data, manipulated or even stolen images, plagiarised content and sometimes nonsensical or physically impossible claims, the researchers said.
Experts say that the papers are often used in bigger databases or meta-analyses, which could invalidate or slow down drug discoveries or medical breakthroughs.
'Launder a reputation'
Sometimes fraudsters hijack defunct journals, taking over the identity of a publication that is no longer operational to place articles, something that happened to the UK journal HIV Nursing.
After it fell out of use, an organisation bought the domain name and started publishing thousands of papers on subjects completely unrelated to nursing.
Dr Reese Richardson, a fellow in Amaral's laboratory, said: 'Paper mills operate by a variety of different models, so we have only just been able to scratch the surface of how they operate.
'But they sell basically anything that can be used to launder a reputation. They often sell authorship slots for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A person might pay more money for the first author position or less money for a fourth author position.
'People also can pay to get papers they have written automatically accepted in a journal through a sham peer-review process.'
The authors said that the findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needed to act before the public lost confidence in the scientific process.
'These networks are essentially criminal organisations, acting together to fake the process of science,' added Prof Amaral.
'Millions of dollars are involved in these processes.'
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Criminal gangs fake science papers for money
Fraudulent science papers produced by criminal gangs for money are starting to outpace legitimate studies, experts have warned. Academics at Northwestern University, in Illinois, US, warned that scientific journals could soon become 'completely poisoned' by fake reports that damage public trust and are potentially medically harmful. The problem is driven by illegal 'paper mills', largely based in Russia, China and India, which produce sham research and invite new and struggling academics to pay thousands of pounds to have their name listed as an author. In many countries, the number of published papers and citations is critical for scientists to achieve promotion and win funding grants. For the new study, researchers carried out a large-scale analysis of scientific journal data and discovered 'sophisticated global networks of individuals and entities, which systematically work together to undermine the integrity of academic publishing'. They estimated that the number of fraudulent articles was doubling every 18 months, compared to legitimate articles, which were doubling every 15 years. The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is 'outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications', academics found. 'Distressing to see others engage in fraud' 'This study is probably the most depressing project I've been involved with in my entire life,' said Luís Amaral, Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics. 'Since I was a kid, I was excited about science. It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others. 'If we do not create awareness around this problem, worse and worse behaviour will become normalised. At some point, it will be too late, and scientific literature will become completely poisoned.' The problem has become so widespread that more than 10,000 scientific papers needed to be retracted by academic journals last year alone, with experts warning that many more go undetected. The findings show that in some journals, certain editors were linked to a suspiciously high number of retracted articles, suggesting they were complicit in allowing them to be published. Paper mills churn out large numbers of manuscripts, which they then sell to academics who want to quickly publish new work. They often feature fabricated data, manipulated or even stolen images, plagiarised content and sometimes nonsensical or physically impossible claims, the researchers said. Experts say that the papers are often used in bigger databases or meta-analyses, which could invalidate or slow down drug discoveries or medical breakthroughs. 'Launder a reputation' Sometimes fraudsters hijack defunct journals, taking over the identity of a publication that is no longer operational to place articles, something that happened to the UK journal HIV Nursing. After it fell out of use, an organisation bought the domain name and started publishing thousands of papers on subjects completely unrelated to nursing. Dr Reese Richardson, a fellow in Amaral's laboratory, said: 'Paper mills operate by a variety of different models, so we have only just been able to scratch the surface of how they operate. 'But they sell basically anything that can be used to launder a reputation. They often sell authorship slots for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A person might pay more money for the first author position or less money for a fourth author position. 'People also can pay to get papers they have written automatically accepted in a journal through a sham peer-review process.' The authors said that the findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needed to act before the public lost confidence in the scientific process. 'These networks are essentially criminal organisations, acting together to fake the process of science,' added Prof Amaral. 'Millions of dollars are involved in these processes.'
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Study: Female pilots perform better under pressure than males
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
The history of racist science in British universities
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