Study probes fake research papers

Via Semafor

“Perhaps 5% of the entire biomedical research literature could consist of fake papers, a new study suggests, far worse than previously believed. Concerns are mounting that the integrity of academia is being harmed by so-called “paper mills” that churn out fake publications for under-pressure students or scientists, often with the help of AI. Researchers developed a system that compared known fakes with non-fakes to find signs of fraud. When applied to a much larger sample of papers, it red-flagged 16%. Statistical analysis suggests that many of these were false alarms, but even taking that into account, the authors estimate that about 100,000 fake papers are published annually, and that only about one in 19 is detected.”