I was reading a Nature article about industrialized cheating that some publishers are dealing with. Editors are engaged in dealing with 'Paper Mills'. Some research papers are being created not through genuine scientific research, but through the use of paper mills that churn out fake scientific manuscripts to order. In January 2021, Laura Fisher, executive director of RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) Advances journal retracted 68 papers from the journal and at least 15 more are still under investigation. All the papers came from Chinese hospitals, but this is not the only source of fake papers. The journal announced that it had been the victim of what it believed to be "the systemic production of falsified research". Research integrity sleuths have repeatedly warned that some scientists buy papers from 3rd party firms to help their careers. Back in my college days, it was common knowledge that you had to "publish or perish", so this is how some current scientists are getting promotions and/or pay increases. This has become a very wide spread problem. Since last January, a Nature analysis has found that journals have retracted at least 370 papers that have been publicly linked to paper mills. These were flagged in part because of their suspiciously similar features. This seems to be widespread through the scientific community.
It is a fascinating article worth reading. What impact on research and science in general, do you foresee going forward? There has already been some bogus gene data linked to cancer research.
It is a fascinating article worth reading. What impact on research and science in general, do you foresee going forward? There has already been some bogus gene data linked to cancer research.