The pressure to publish more and more research could have fueled researchers to push through with fake studies. What worsens things is that these fake papers are published in official journals.
Fake Scientific Research
According to Science Alert, a software program that can pinpoint fake studies suggests that many of these bypass peer review. The survey of this case is still on the preprint server medRxiv, but if it were indeed confirmed, this would indicate a serious and concerning matter.
The researchers behind this detection endeavor utilized artificial intelligence. They trained the AI to spot red flags, common indicators of fake studies passed to journals.
When the tool was found to have 90% accuracy in detecting red flags, it was used to examine around 5,000 medical and neuroscience studies published in 2020. Per Science Alert, the tool flagged 28% of these studies as plagiarized or made-up.
Science reports that Bernhard Sabel, a neuropsychologist behind this detection endeavor, estimates that 34% of neuroscience papers from 2020 are likely to be plagiarized or made up. In medicine, on the other hand, his estimates reach 24%. Both figures exceed the numbers from 2020 and greatly go beyond the 2% baseline that had been relayed in the publishers' group report in 2022.
Science Alert adds that if such figures were applied to the 1.3 published studies in 2020, over 300,000 papers might get flagged. While not every flagged research is truly fraudulent, the detection can aid in pinpointing suspicious papers that reviews should scrutinize with extra caution.
Interestingly, among every 100 flagged papers, 63 were found to be fake, while 37 were found to be genuine, Science Alert notes.
The tool also revealed that from 2010 to 2020, there was a 12% point increase in the rate of possible fake papers that some journals publish. China had the most potential fake papers, while Russia, Egypt, India, and Turkey were also noted to be significant contributors.
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Pressing Concern for the Scientific Community
Sabel and several other scientists have been dealing with the alarming rise of fake scientific research. However, the figures came as a shock to him; he found them hard to believe.
He and his colleagues attribute these fraudulent efforts to paper mills that bill ts academic support and service providers. However, they utilize AI for scaling and selling fake studies to researchers, per Science Alert.
Fake paper prices may range between US$1,000 and US$25,000. Though these studies are of poor quality, they are usually sufficient to pass the peer review stage and be published in renowned journals.
Publishers, on the other hand, have known that such a severe concern could negate their reputation. In fact, scientists have even tried tricking these publishers into accepting fake papers to highlight the issue.
Some paper mills even go as far as paying publishers to have their fake studies accepted. Science Alert notes that this kind of unsolicited email to a journal editor prompted these new study efforts.
The researchers argue that publishing fake scientific research could be the biggest scam in science. It may lead to financial waste, hamper the progress of medicine, and potentially threaten lives. The rise of generative AI, including ChatGPT, boosts the threat.
For this emerging technology to be countered and for science to maintain its reputation, the authors propose that the review system be more rigorous.
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