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Time of India
2 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Fraudulent research is 'destroying trust in science'
Representative image Fraudulent scientific research is on the rise and is jeopardizing medical research, experts have warned. A new study has found that networks of bad actors work together to publish bogus research. The findings, published in the journal PNAS this week came from analyzing more than 5 million scientific articles published across 70,000 journals. "There are groups of editors conspiring to publish low-quality articles, at scale, escaping traditional peer review processes," said the study's lead author Reese Richardson, a social scientist at Northwestern University in the US. The research uncovered evidence of networks of scientific journal editors who frequently publish research that is flagged for integrity issues, and "brokers" who connect fraudulent authors to these editor networks. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like These Are The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo "This kind of fraud destroys trust in science . It biases systematic and meta-analysis, it delays treatment and delays new research," said Anna Abalkina, a social scientist at the Free University of Berlin, who was not involved in the study. Scientific fraud is a growing issue New scientific research is published as research papers in research journals. There are tens of thousands of different research journals, each publishing different themes of research, and with different levels of scientific impact. These journals are platforms for researchers to share their findings, theories and ideas with peers and the broader public. "Historically, the scientific [publication] enterprise has been an engine for progress. It's given us vaccines, antibiotics, the internet, sterile surgery … everything that makes life comfortable for us now," said Richardson. But sham research is on the rise — as many as one in seven research publications contain fake data, by some estimates. Artificial intelligence is also fueling this research misconduct. Fraudulent studies contain fabricated data, unverified results, plagiarized research or manipulated images. "You can map out networks of image duplication that are thousands of articles wide," Richardson said. Bogus research damages scientific integrity Fake or poor-quality research is typically caught by journal editors or peer reviewers, but experts warn it is increasingly making its way to publication by groups of bad actors working together. Several high-profile instances of scientific fraud have been uncovered. During the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulent research was used to make scientific and political judgments on the merits of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID infection. Experts linked the issue with "self-promotion journals" — where publication authors are often the editors of the very same journals in which they publish their studies. Even single fraudulent studies can cause lasting problems. For example, researchers found evidence of image manipulation in a landmark study about Alzheimer's disease. The paper was eventually retracted and the lead scientist resigned, but Abalkina said billions of dollars in research funding and years of research had already been invested from one bad study. "[It's] incredible what just one paper can do," Abalkina told DW. How to stamp out corruption in science? The study's senior author Luis Amaral of Northwestern University said it was "probably the most depressing project I've been involved with." "It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others. But if you believe that science is useful and important for humanity, then you have to fight for it," Amaral said. Scientific publishing groups are aware of the issue and are working to create new methods to identify and retract fraudulent research. One major publisher, Springer Nature, retracted 2,923 articles from its publications in 2024. But retracting papers means that bad science has already made it to publication. Experts like Abalkina and Richardson said the issues ultimately come from how scientific research is valued. Scientific jobs and funding are dependent on scientific publication. "Where you're faced with a [lack] of resources and yet you're pressured to put out [publications], you're left with two options really: You either buy into scientific fraud, or your leave science. This is a situation that tens of thousands of scientists are in," said Richardson. That's why the best solution to fight fraudulent publications, he said, is to ditch all quantitative metrics of research assessment like counting publications and citations.
DW
3 days ago
- Science
- DW
Fraudulent research is 'destroying trust in science' – DW – 08/10/2025
Organized networks are infiltrating the academic publishing system to promote fake science, say experts investigating research fraud. A new study highlights the major challenge for modern science. Fraudulent scientific research is on the rise and is jeopardizing medical research, experts have warned. A new study has found that networks of bad actors work together to publish bogus research. The findings, published in the journal this week, came from analyzing more than 5 million scientific articles published across 70,000 journals. "There are groups of editors conspiring to publish low-quality articles, at scale, escaping traditional peer review processes," said the study's lead author Reese Richardson, a social scientist at Northwestern University in the US. The research uncovered evidence of networks of scientific journal editors who frequently publish research that is flagged for integrity issues, and "brokers" who connect fraudulent authors to these editor networks. "This kind of fraud destroys trust in science. It biases systematic and meta-analysis, it delays treatment and delays new research," said Anna Abalkina, a social scientist at the Free University of Berlin, who was not involved in the study. New scientific research is published as research papers in research journals. There are tens of thousands of different research journals, each publishing different themes of research, and with different levels of scientific impact. These journals are platforms for researchers to share their findings, theories and ideas with peers and the broader public. "Historically, the scientific [publication] enterprise has been an engine for progress. It's given us vaccines, antibiotics, the internet, sterile surgery … everything that makes life comfortable for us now," said Richardson. But sham research is on the rise — as many as one in seven research publications contain fake data, by some estimates. Artificial intelligence is also fueling this research misconduct. Fraudulent studies contain fabricated data, unverified results, plagiarized research or manipulated images. "You can map out networks of image duplication that are thousands of articles wide," Richardson said. Fake or poor-quality research is typically caught by journal editors or peer reviewers, but experts warn it is increasingly making its way to publication by groups of bad actors working together. Several high-profile instances of scientific fraud have been uncovered. During the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulent research was used to make scientific and political judgments on the merits of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID infection. Experts linked the issue with "self-promotion journals" — where publication authors are often the editors of the very same journals in which they publish their studies. Even single fraudulent studies can cause lasting problems. For example, researchers found evidence of image manipulation in a landmark study about Alzheimer's disease. The paper was eventually retracted and the lead scientist resigned, but Abalkina said billions of dollars in research funding and years of research had already been invested from one bad study. "[It's] incredible what just one paper can do," Abalkina told DW. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The study's senior author Luis Amaral of Northwestern University said it was "probably the most depressing project I've been involved with." "It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others. But if you believe that science is useful and important for humanity, then you have to fight for it," Amaral said. Scientific publishing groups are aware of the issue and are working to create new methods to identify and retract fraudulent research. One major publisher, Springer Nature, retracted 2,923 articles from its publications in 2024. But retracting papers means that bad science has already made it to publication. Experts like Abalkina and Richardson said the issues ultimately come from how scientific research is valued. Scientific jobs and funding are dependent on scientific publication. "Where you're faced with a [lack] of resources and yet you're pressured to put out [publications], you're left with two options really: You either buy into scientific fraud, or your leave science. This is a situation that tens of thousands of scientists are in," said Richardson. That's why the best solution to fight fraudulent publications, he said, is to ditch all quantitative metrics of research assessment like counting publications and citations.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Science
- CBS News
Fake scientific publications are a serious and growing problem, Northwestern University researchers say
Published scientific research fuels the breakthroughs that shape our world — but what happens when that research is totally fake? Researchers at Northwestern University said the number of junk scientific publications is growing, and bad actors are profiting. "These people are ruining it for all of us," said Northwestern University researcher and professor of engineering science and applied math Luís Amaral. Amaral and fellow Northwestern researcher Reese Richardson said they have always known there were fake scientific studies floating around. But it wasn't until they started studying the issue — with the help of several helpful sleuths — that they discovered the problem was much bigger than anyone thought. They showed CBS News Chicago four research papers on four different types of cells — but the papers all "borrowed" the same set of images. "We did this analysis, and we found out something that was extraordinarily scary," said Amaral. "Essentially, the number of fraudulent papers is doubling every year and a half." Amaral and Richardson's study on the problem was published earlier this month. In a nutshell, the publication of fraudulent science is outpacing the publication of legitimate science. "Everywhere we looked, we were seeing indications that there was systematic fraud being produced," Richardson said. But why would anyone spend the time publishing fake research? Amaral and Richardson say there are two main reasons. The first is buying a reputation. "They do this out in the open," said Richardson. "It is not hard to find paper-mill advertisements at all." Amaral and Richardson showed CBS News Chicago hundreds of advertisements that have appeared online — asking for anywhere from $100 a publication to about $3,000 in exchange for authorship. The second reason for the fakes is to push for a certain point of view — for example, backing a dietary supplement for financial gain. "So there are lots of people with a point of view, and it has become very easy for them to make it appear like there are hundreds of experts, thousands of publications that are very highly cited about all of these," said Amaral. In a 2024 post on his blog, Richardson specifically cited an example of how a researcher with a financial interest in the turmeric industry was able to push fake research on the benefits of turmeric. Richardson wrote that Bharat Aggarwal, who worked at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston from 1989 to 2015, authored more than 120 articles about the compound curcumin in turmeric — claiming that it therapeutic potential for cancers, Alzheimer's disease, and most recently, COVID-19. At first, MD Anderson seemed to endorse Aggarwal's research, and the FAQ page on the cancer center's website even recommended that visitors buy curcumin wholesale from a company that paid Aggarwal as a speaker, Richardson wrote. But in 2012, MD Anderson Cancer Center launched a research fraud probe against Aggarwal, which led to the retraction of 30 articles — some of them about curcumin, Richardson wrote. Still, while Aggarwal retired from MD Anderson in 2015, he has gone on authoring articles and appearing at conferences, Richardson wrote. Curcumin does not work well as a treatment for any disease, Richardson wrote. But even though Aggarwal's research has been discredited, the volume of studies published on curcumin keeps growing — and they also often show signs of fraud, Richardson wrote. Amaral and Richardson say they're raising the red flag about the fakes now — at a time when the future of federal funding for some legitimate science is uncertain. "There is only greater competition, and a more scarce pool of resources, for scientists to use and do genuine science," said Richardson. "If actually, there is an entire stream of research that is actually making false claims… it puts all of our health at risk," added Amaral. The authors argue their findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needs to act before we all lose confidence in the scientific process.
