Fake data, purchased publications – scientific literature is now fake on a large scale. Researchers have now uncovered well organized fraud networks.
In science, more and more are being cheated – mostly on a large scale, as a study reveals. Accordingly, the fraud of the scientific publication has already accepted “industrial dimensions”. This is written by the research team of the University of Illinois in the specialist magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers from the United States and Australia initially found that specialist articles are increasingly withdrawn because they turned out to be a falsification, were bought or other misconduct. They checked this based on large public databases.
It also showed that the same fake diagrams and pictures were often used in the different back articles. With the help of these fake diagrams, they came across some well-organized networks that have now produced fake science on an industrial style.
Number of the Fake publications increases exponentially
Table of Contents
- Number of the Fake publications increases exponentially
- Agencies convey the counterfeits
- Fake articles also end up in reputable Specialist magazines
- Publication pressure leads researchers for Fake publication
- Most fakes come from biomedicine
- Inserting the worldwide scientific literature
- Science has to control itself better
The alarming conclusion of the study: The number of fake publications increases almost ten times faster than that of the scientific publications as a whole.
This is possible because organized networks have specialized, says Bernhard Sabel from the University of Magdeburg. He has been researching for organized science fraud for a long time. This is already very well organized and automated, so that “with the smallest and the least effort and, of course, with the help of AI here at high speed and at low costs, fake publications are generated, which are then sold quite expensive”.
Agencies convey the counterfeits
Forcation agencies and their intermediaries bring the individual actors together. They first contact individual researchers and sometimes also to entire research groups that illegally pay for them to appear in publications as authors.
Then the agencies look for someone who writes the fake paper or guides a AI. So -called paper mills are usually commissioned for this. This is the name of organizations that invent scientific texts and finished specialist articles on any topics when ordering. Finally, the agencies of the agencies determine a specialist journal and suitable editors who ensure that the articles are also published.
Fake articles also end up in reputable Specialist magazines
Where a fake article is ultimately published, depends on the payment. It seems cheapest to publish in fake journals. These are pseudo-magazines that have a scientific name and are founded for the purpose of the publication of fake articles. However, they often fly up as a fake.
The second option is to publish in specialist journals that have a reputable name but have been set – for example the former journal “HIV Nursing”. You will be hijacked by buying your website domain. The name of the former specialist journal and thus the reputation are simply used.
Finally, the luxury variant is that scientists are bribed, which then evaluate the fake article positively and also accommodate in renowned real journals.
Publication pressure leads researchers for Fake publication
The business model works so well because the pressure on researchers grows to bring results as quickly as possible and publish a lot. In science, this is the currency to get funding for your own research and career. It is important to publish as many results as possible and be quoted frequently.
However, there is hardly any time in clinical operation, for example, Sabel from the University of Magdeburg describes. “If you can’t do that, then the temptation is there. To say: ‘Then I just transfer 20,000 euros to the Paper Mill. I can still share that, then nine authors just come up with the article, then it is also affordable.'”
Most fakes come from biomedicine
Bernhard Sabel published the book “Fake Mafia in Science” in 2024. He researched that a particularly large number of counterfeits come from the field of medical publications. However, this is not surprising because a third until half of all publications came from biomedicine.
Sabel warns that the counterfeits not only For biomedicine – i.e. for the care of people – hide certain risks, but also for industry. If, for example, incorrect materials are used due to incorrect information in the production of products or false experiments are planned.
Inserting the worldwide scientific literature
According to the research of the sabel, most fake publications come from China by far, closely followed by India. But no matter where the fake articles come from, they affect global science.
The study authors of the latest study from Illinois see the risk that the spare articles can “poison” the entire scientific literature. It is already difficult to outfite these counterfeits today. By using artificial intelligence, the entire fraud stitch turns faster and faster and at some point it may no longer be controlled. After all, the models of artificial intelligence would then continue to train with false facts and would continue to replicate them.
Science has to control itself better
In order to maintain the credibility of science business as a whole, science should better control itself, according to the recent study from Illinois. Bernhard Sabel from the University of Magdeburg proposes a kind of independent and superordinate authority that looks at compliance with the rules – a kind of TÜV for global science. This should also look more on the journal and search through the wild growth of the journal.
