Fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

[Retro]

General corruption in this world is now so bad that one can't even trust scientific research papers any more. So, how many do you think were uncovered last year? 10? 100? 1000? Try a staggering 10000! Apparently, this is the tip of the iceberg, too. And it's all done to make a buck. Wherever one looks nowadays, fraud is rampant.

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 situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg

www.theguardian.com

 

[Retro]

Compare the above article with this one from 2017 to see just how much this fraud has exploded.

'Fake research' comes under scrutiny

The scale of "fake research" in the UK appears to have been underestimated, a BBC investigation suggests.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tiffany]

Research is a real problem when there is so much out there on the internet that isn't true. I'm glad to hear someone is out there scouring the internet for these fraudulent papers.

 

[Mars]

This is really shocking, but sadly, not surprising, in our society, where morals and honesty seem to be laughed at; it's all about making a quick buck, and forget about morals.
I guess safest for us, non-scientists, when we turn to google for medical/scientific info, is to stick to trusted sources. I mean research backed by major universities and bona fide world authorities.
Any research done in China, Russia, Mongolia and co? Forget about it. I don't even go there for a quick look-see.

 

[Crims]

I read biochemistry papers occasionally, and that's terrible. It's impossible to remove without manual searching too because AI can't compare data to verify. I hope for a quick solve.

 

[Retro]

I guess safest for us, non-scientists, when we turn to google for medical/scientific info, is to stick to trusted sources. I mean research backed by major universities and bona fide world authorities.

I'll second this. Doesn't guarantee no problems, but it's the best chance of avoiding the fakes. Also, beware of something that's been published very recently, even from these organisations.