According to a new study from Northwestern University, organized scientific fraud is becoming a major issue. We’re talking about everything from fake research to people being paid to author papers and citations.
In this research, scientists combined extensive data analysis of published works with specific case studies to investigate the occurrence of fraud in science. While we usually hear about individuals committing misconduct, this study reveals that there are actually sophisticated networks around the globe working together to damage the credibility of academic publishing.
The scope of the problem is significant; fraudulent science is now being published faster than genuine scientific works. The researchers believe these findings are a wake-up call for the scientific community, urging immediate action to restore public trust in scientific endeavors.
The details of the study are found in a paper titled “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient and growing rapidly,” released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Luís A. N. Amaral, the senior author of the study from Northwestern, emphasized, “Science must do a better job of self-regulation to maintain its integrity.” He further stated, “If we don’t make people aware of this issue, worse behaviors will continue to slide by as the norm. Eventually, it may be too late, and scientific literature could be utterly damaged. While some are concerned that discussing the issue may seem like an attack on science, I genuinely believe we’re defending the integrity of science itself. It’s critical that we acknowledge the seriousness of this challenge and take proactive measures.”
In-Depth Analysis
When most think of scientific fraud, they picture reports of retracted papers, falsified data, or plagiarism—it’s typically framed around individual actions where someone cuts corners in a competitive landscape. However, Amaral and his team have uncovered a far-reaching underground network that operates out of the public eye.
Amaral stated, “These networks function like criminal organizations that coordinate efforts to fabricate the scientific process. The level of financial involvement is staggering.”
For their study, the team scrutinized vast datasets concerning retracted publications and editorial records along with instances of image duplication.
Most of their data originated from some of the leading aggregators of scientific literature, including Web of Science, Elsevier’s Scopus, PubMed, and OpenAlex, which sources data from various institutional repositories.
They also gathered lists of de-indexed journals—these are scientific journals that have been removed from databases due to poor quality or ethical violations—plus statistics on retracted articles, comments, and vast amounts of metadata related to journal publications.
The Business of Buying Reputation
Upon reviewing the data, the team identified organized efforts including something referred to as “paper mills,” which act like assembly lines to churn out a high volume of manuscripts that they sell in bulk to academics eager for quick publications.
Unfortunately, those papers are often of very poor quality—featuring false data, altered or stolen images, plagiarized sections, and occasionally even nonsensical propositions.
Amaral noted, “Increasingly, scientists find themselves enmeshed in these paper mills. These authors can purchase not only papers but also citations, allowing them to project a reputation they do not deserve.”
Richardson added, “Paper mills employ various business models, and our study only scratched the surface of how these operations run. They’re essentially offering anything that can help to launder someone’s scientific reputation.” These mills frequently sell authorship roles for hefty sums, sometimes varying by the order of authorship. Additionally, they can also guarantee faultless acceptance via sham peer-review processes.
Brokers and Collusion
The article uncovered numerous tactical methods that fraudulent networks are utilizing:
- Groups of researchers covertly collaborating to publish across numerous journals until caught, resulting in multiple retractions;
- Brokers working as middlemen enabling widespread dissemination of fake publications in compromised journals;
- Fraudulent activity saturated within specific vulnerable scientific subfields;
- Organized entities adeptly dodging quality controls that would lead to journal cessation.
Amaral stated, “Brokers are crucial, as they are responsible for knitting the network together. They locate authors who will commission papers and the journals that will publish them, not to mention enticing editors who will accept the submissions.”
Sometimes they opt to sidestep established journals entirely, targeting closed journals to take over their identities discreetly after the journals cease operation. Richardson shared a particular case: “The journal HIV Nursing ceased publication, and in its absence, someone assumed its domain name, producing a torrent of unrelated papers indexed in known databases like Scopus.”
Standing Up for Science
To fight against this rising tide of fraudulent behavior, Amaral and Richardson advocate for a comprehensive response strategy. This would feature improved editorial scrutiny, better detection methods for counterfeit research, a thorough understanding of the networks underpinning this fraud, and a total overhaul of the current incentive structures in science.
Amaral and Richardson are equally concerned about the potential implications of artificial intelligence entering this realm sooner than some might expect.
Richardson warned, “If we can’t tackle the fraud happening right now, we will be utterly unprepared to face the alterations generative AI might impose on scholarly publications in the future.”
Amaral concluded, reflecting on his long-standing passion for science, “Documenting this intricate issue has been one of the most disheartening projects I have ever participated in. While my passion for science remains strong, observing deceit is distressing. Fight for science because it’s essential for humanity’s progress.”
Further Reading: Entities behind large-scale scientific fraud are expanding quickly, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2420092122
Provided by Northwestern University
This article first appeared on Phys.org.
