Article ‘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 (Feb 2024)

[Michael Harrop]

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.

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

Freakonomics podcasts on academic fraud. Discussing what motivates it and some suggestions for mitigating the problem:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-there-so-much-fraud-in-academia/
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/can-academic-fraud-be-stopped/