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If you are not in the habit of reading academic journals, you may not have given much thought to whether their content is important. However, it is difficult to overstate the importance of academic articles. Indeed, they are used to inform decision-making about all sorts of important issues that affect our everyday lives.
Unfortunately, there is a growing problem in academia with the publication of fake academic studies. Particularly in the field of medicine, bad actors are managing to publish fake content and thereby undermine the research of real researchers doing very important work.
Curious? Check out this gallery to find out more.
When it comes to making important decisions about the medical industry, scientific literature is an invaluable resource.
Indeed, it is within the pages of scientific papers that experts introduce important new ideas and discuss potentially life-changing research.
Unfortunately, over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of fake scientific studies published in journals.
These so-called "paper mills" are hugely problematic, because they undermine the literature that many stakeholders rely on to make important decisions that affect human lives.
Paper mills can be very difficult to spot. And even when a fake paper is spotted, journals are often slow to retract it.
However, given the serious, real-life consequences of this slippery crime, the race is on to find a solution.
As previously mentioned, fake scientific papers are often very difficult to detect. This means it can be tricky to know the exact scale of the problem.
The earliest suspected fake paper was published in 2004, according to the Retraction Watch database.
The Retraction Watch database details retractions and is operated by The Center for Scientific Integrity, the non-profit parent company of Retraction Watch.
Since then, there have been various attempts to establish the scale of the problem, although none of the numbers are certain.
Despite being uncertain about total numbers, we can be fairly certain that the problem is getting worse. This trend is evident, for example, in data provided by major academic publisher Taylor & Francis.
According to Taylor & Francis’s director of Publishing Ethics and Integrity, in 2019, none of the ethics cases escalated to her team were about paper mills.
In 2023, however, fake papers accounted for almost half of the ethics cases that came across her desk.
In terms of which academic fields are being targeted, analysts’ data shows that fields related to cancer and medicine are the hardest hit.
Indeed, fake papers are slowing down progress in important research that has helped save millions of lives via medicine and therapies.
In July 2022, Australian scientist Jennifer Byrne testified in front of the US House of Representatives.
The House heard that nearly 6% of 12,000 cancer research papers screened have errors that could signal the involvement of a paper mill.
While the publication of fake papers clearly has very serious consequences at the industry level, it is important not to overlook the ramifications for individuals.
For example, Jennifer Byrne had to close her cancer research lab in 2017 because the topic of her research had started to become the target of paper mills.
She had been researching and writing about a certain set of genes for two decades before she had to close down.
So, what can be done to tackle the problem? On the one hand, stakeholders may be able to leverage technology to improve fake paper detection.
Indeed, some publishers have already begun to share data and technologies among themselves in an attempt to combat fraud.
Technology start-ups are also slowly starting to help. For example, Berlin-based scientific conference and communications company, Morresier, offers research integrity tools.
There are also specific paper-checking tools available, such as Signals by the company Research Signals and Papermill Alarm by Clear Skies.
However, it seems clear that fake papers will continue to be a problem for as long as there is a demand for them.
And as long as academic work is at the mercy of for-profit publishing, there will unfortunately continue to be a demand for fake papers.
In order to put an end to this problem, it may be necessary to stop paying publishers for accepting papers and treat them as public utilities that serve a greater good.
As it stands, publishers have a financial incentive to accept academic papers with the most attention-grabbing results, even if they suspect the odd one may be suspicious.
Given that there are more than 50,000 journals on the market, someone wishing to sell a fake paper will eventually find someone who wants to buy it.
Sources: (Live Science)
The impact of fake studies on scientific research
How paper mills are wreaking havoc in academic journals
LIFESTYLE Science
If you are not in the habit of reading academic journals, you may not have given much thought to whether their content is important. However, it is difficult to overstate the importance of academic articles. Indeed, they are used to inform decision-making about all sorts of important issues that affect our everyday lives.
Unfortunately, there is a growing problem in academia with the publication of fake academic studies. Particularly in the field of medicine, bad actors are managing to publish fake content and thereby undermine the research of real researchers doing very important work.
Curious? Check out this gallery to find out more.