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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/03/the-situation-has-become-appalling-fake-scientific-papers-push-research-credibility-to-crisis-point>
"Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in
an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned.
Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising
academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is
sweeping laboratories and universities.
Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped
10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of
an iceberg of scientific fraud.
“The situation has become appalling,” said Professor Dorothy Bishop of Oxford
University. “The level of publishing of fraudulent papers is creating serious
problems for science. In many fields it is becoming difficult to build up a
cumulative approach to a subject, because we lack a solid foundation of
trustworthy findings. And it’s getting worse and worse.”
The startling rise in the publication of sham science papers has its roots in
China, where young doctors and scientists seeking promotion were required to
have published scientific papers. Shadow organisations – known as “paper mills”
– began to supply fabricated work for publication in journals there.
The practice has since spread to India, Iran, Russia, former Soviet Union
states and eastern Europe, with paper mills supplying fabricated studies to
more and more journals as increasing numbers of young scientists try to boost
their careers by claiming false research experience. In some cases, journal
editors have been bribed to accept articles, while paper mills have managed to
establish their own agents as guest editors who then allow reams of falsified
work to be published.
“Editors are not fulfilling their roles properly, and peer reviewers are not
doing their jobs. And some are being paid large sums of money,” said Professor
Alison Avenell of Aberdeen University. “It is deeply worrying.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
