Martin Delahunty’s Post

🔍 Did you know? A recent study found that the retraction rate for European biomedical-science papers has quadrupled from 2000 to 2021 due to research misconduct like data manipulation and authorship fraud. 📚🔬 #ResearchMisconduct #BiomedicalScience #medicalstudents #researchers

Catching up post #SSP2024 - #Journalogy is a good place to start, more on retractions in the biomedical area, and link to Nature News article, thanks James Butcher Biomedical paper retractions have quadrupled in 20 years — why? The latest research, published on 4 May in Scientometrics, looked at more than 2,000 biomedical papers that had a corresponding author based at a European institution and were retracted between 2000 and mid-2021. The data included original articles, reviews, case reports and letters published in English, Spanish or Portuguese. They were listed in a database collated by the media organization Retraction Watch, which records why papers are retracted. The authors found that overall retraction rates quadrupled during the study period — from around 11 retractions per 100,000 papers in 2000 to almost 45 per 100,000 in 2020. Of all the retracted papers, nearly 67% were withdrawn due to misconduct and around 16% for honest errors. The remaining retractions did not give a reason. Nature (Holly Else) JB: You can read the article in Scientometrics here: Biomedical retractions due to misconduct in Europe: characterization and trends in the last 20 years. The big question, which is addressed at the end of the news story, is whether the increase in retractions is due to better detection, a greater willingness to issue retractions, or an increased rate of offending. The regional differences are worth noting: The study also identified the four European countries that had the highest number of retracted biomedical science papers: Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. Each had distinct ‘profiles’ of misconduct-related retractions. In the United Kingdom, for example, falsification was the top reason given for retractions in most years, but the proportion of papers withdrawn because of duplication fell between 2000 and 2020. Meanwhile, Spain and Italy both saw huge rises in the proportion of papers retracted because of duplication. https://lnkd.in/eSeX9SaW

😱 The situation has become appalling in the world of scientific research! 📚🔬 Tens of thousands of fake research papers are being published, jeopardizing medical advancements and academic integrity. Experts warn it's just the tip of the iceberg. #Research #academicwriting #researchpapers #researchers #scholars #publishing #medicalwriting Read more about it here👇 https://lnkd.in/dU6V5Nxi

Biomedical Paper Retractions Have Quadrupled in 20 Years: The retraction rate for European biomedical-science papers increased fourfold between 2000 and 2021, a study of thousands of retractions has found. Nature: Two-thirds of these papers were withdrawn for reasons relating to research misconduct, such as data and image manipulation or authorship fraud. These factors accounted for an increasing proportion of retractions over the roughly 20-year period, the analysis suggests. "Our findings indicate that research misconduct has become more prevalent in Europe over the last two decades," write the authors, led by Alberto RuanoâRavina, a public-health researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Other research-integrity specialists point out that retractions could be on the rise because researchers and publishers are getting better at investigating and identifying potential misconduct. There are more people working to spot errors and new digital tools to screen publications for suspicious text or data. Scholarly publishers have faced increased pressure to clear up the literature in recent years as sleuths have exposed cases of research fraud, identified when peer review has been compromised and uncovered the buying and selling of research articles. Last year saw a record 10,000 papers retracted. Although misconduct is a leading cause of retractions, it is not always responsible: some papers are retracted when authors discover honest errors in their work. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"Boost journals’ ability to assess publication integrity We think that COPE guidance should be redesigned to help journals to perform systematic, methodology-driven assessments of publication integrity, at all stages of the publication process. This ‘how to’ guidance should be drawn up with the help of academics specializing in such methodologies." https://lnkd.in/d3DuV23F

Biomedical Paper Retractions Have Quadrupled in 20 Years: The retraction rate for European biomedical-science papers increased fourfold between 2000 and 2021, a study of thousands of retractions has found. Nature: Two-thirds of these papers were withdrawn for reasons relating to research misconduct, such as data and image manipulation or authorship fraud. These factors accounted for an increasing proportion of retractions over the roughly 20-year period, the analysis suggests. "Our findings indicate that research misconduct has become more prevalent in Europe over the last two decades," write the authors, led by Alberto RuanoâRavina, a public-health researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Other research-integrity specialists point out that retractions could be on the rise because researchers and publishers are getting better at investigating and identifying potential misconduct. There are more people working to spot errors and new digital tools to screen publications for suspicious text or data. Scholarly publishers have faced increased pressure to clear up the literature in recent years as sleuths have exposed cases of research fraud, identified when peer review has been compromised and uncovered the buying and selling of research articles. Last year saw a record 10,000 papers retracted. Although misconduct is a leading cause of retractions, it is not always responsible: some papers are retracted when authors discover honest errors in their work. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The impact of fake knowledge spread by academics in the west and east due to the publish or perish culture assiduously developed over the years is very high. Starting from Phd and Post-Doctoral students of the concerned academic to peers getting misguided, waste of research funding and precious researcher time and mind-share, impact on public perceptions and policy are all examples of such impact. In some sense these are "hallucinations" of the Human-Generative-AI system, which too has near/far time/place impact

Study Reveals High Rate of Fake Scientific Papers A recent analysis, published on the Open Science Framework on September 24, 2024, suggests that one in seven scientific papers might be at least partially fake. James Heathers, a seasoned investigator in scientific integrity, derived this figure by averaging data from 12 different studies, encompassing around 75,000 papers, to estimate the prevalence of fraudulent research. Heathers’ meta-analysis spans various fields, including social sciences, medicine, and biology. Each of the 12 studies utilized online tools to detect signs of falsification in research papers. Gowri Gopalakrishna, an epidemiologist at Maastricht University, commented on the findings, noting that while the estimate isn’t entirely inaccurate, it could be somewhat misleading. Gopalakrishna co-authored a 2021 study revealing that 8% of surveyed researchers in the Netherlands admitted to data fabrication or falsification at least once between 2017 and 2020. #ScientificIntegrity #FakeResearch #AcademicFraud #ResearchEthics #ScienceNews https://lnkd.in/dAVN9f3u

Robust peer review ensures the quality and reliability of research. Josephine Adams, Editor-in-Chief of Physiological Reports, shares how open access journals like hers help authors reach wider audiences and foster collaboration. Explore more: https://ow.ly/ziJ450TypYs

Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening, 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 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 startling rise in the publication of sham science papers started in China, where young researchers seeking promotion are required to publish 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 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 falsified work to be published. #medicalwriters #research