Machine Heart Report
Editor: Dimension
Recently, an article on the front page of Nature exposed the notorious "paper factory" problem in the scientific research community, and analyzed how journals and publishers take measures in the face of paper fraud, and advocated vigorously cracking down on academic fraud worldwide.
In the scientific research community, falsification of academic papers has always been a topic of widespread attention, and this is true at home and abroad. There are also constant news about the fraud of academic papers. Every time it is revealed, it will trigger heated discussions among professionals in the circle and people who are outside the circle.
Some time ago, the official redefined "image misuse" in his reply to the suspected fraud of papers of many academicians and professors reported by netizens, which touched the sensitive nerves of industry insiders and netizens. Netizens joked that low emotional intelligence is faked, and high emotional intelligence pictures are misused.
In addition, according to relevant data statistics, in 2020, there were 1,932 English papers, 819 in China, and 374 in the United States. How did such serious academic fraud at home and abroad cause? Where is the root cause?
Recently, Nature published an article titled "Anti-Factory of Paper Factory for Manufacturing Pseudoscience", focusing on analyzing the widely-existing "paper mill" problems in academic circles at home and abroad, and specifically pointing out the chaos of academic paper fraud in the Chinese medical community.
"paper factory" is rampant, how journals and publishers cope with
In January 2020, a research-integrity analyst in California, Elisabeth Bik and several image analysts published a list of 412 published papers on the blog of Leonid Schneider, an independent German scientific journalist and a well-known academic anti-counterfeiting pioneer, and believed that these papers all came from the same paper factory.
Elisabeth Bik. Taken from: Gabriela Hasbun
Bik The basis for this view is that the western blot analysis in these papers has very regular intervals, tadpole-shaped, and does not appear stained like conventional experiments. It is obvious that these experimental pictures were copied and pasted directly or generated by computer.
In addition, a data statistics from Nature show that as of March 2021, more than 1,300 papers that may be from the paper factory have been collected. Among them, about 26% of the papers have been withdrawn or labeled as expression of concern (EOC), and the rest are also under investigation.
Nature Some articles listed may come from the paper factory screenshot. Source: https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-021-00733-5/18994812
Finally, Nature's statistics specifically mention the fraud of Chinese authors' papers. Since January 2020, 370 papers have been withdrawn, all authors from Chinese hospitals, and publishers and independent academic counterfeiters have claimed that these papers are from paper factories. Most of these papers have been published in the last three years. The publisher also labeled 45 other similar papers EOC.
Nature Data statistics ended March 18, 2021.
The journal also took action on these papers that may have fake behavior. For example, in February 2021, the Journal of Cell Biochemistry (JCB) stated that editors investigated 137 papers suspected of image violations in 2020 alone and withdrew 23 of them. Other journals and magazines have also taken similar investigation measures.
However, another phenomenon that needs to be noted is that publishers almost never explicitly state whether the paper is fake or comes from the paper factory in the paper withdrawal notice, because it is difficult to prove it.
When will the fraud of domestic doctors’ academic papers be closed?
Catriona Fennell, head of publishing service, the world’s largest scientific publisher, said that organized academic fraud in the publishing industry has always existed, not limited to China, and this is a global problem. In the investigation, Elsevier found that similar organized academic fraud existed in countries such as Iran and and Russia.
Catriona Fennell.
2021 In 2021, Elsevier said in a statement that journal editors check and block the publication of thousands of articles suspected of being from paper factories every year, although some papers can pass the review.
In the global tide of academic fraud, Chinese doctors’ paper fraud seems to be "continuous" again. In April 2017, Springer, one of the world's largest academic publishers, announced the withdrawal of 107 Chinese author papers published by Tumor Biology from 2012 to 2016, involving 524 doctors, many of whom worked in well-known Grade A hospitals.
CCTV News Channel specializes in tracking and reporting on this matter.
Such a large-scale withdrawal incident caused shock in China, and the Association for Science and Technology even summoned Springer Nature's president of Greater China. Afterwards, research institutions and Grade A hospitals involved were also exposed. The Ministry of Science and Technology and other departments have comprehensively investigated the scientific research projects, funds, etc. that the authors involved have undertaken or are applying for, and have suspended some scientific research projects that the authors involved have undertaken or are applying for.
This may be just a microcosm of the fraud of Chinese doctors’ papers. Today, with the increasing number of domestic doctors publishing papers, the impact of academic fraud on the Chinese scientific research community is devastating, and the credibility of Chinese scholars in research will be greatly reduced, and international insiders may no longer trust them or cite their papers.
In recent years, the number of papers published by Chinese doctors has increased significantly. Source: Nature
Faced with this current situation, the country has also begun to take a series of powerful measures to crack down on paper fraud and reshape the healthy academic atmosphere in the scientific research community. In March 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Education jointly formulated the "Strengthening Basic Research Work Plan" and pointed out that a new talent evaluation system should be established, with innovation quality and academic contribution as the core; at the same time, the papers will return to academic research and avoid the tendency to be based on papers, titles, academic qualifications, and awards. In August 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the most comprehensive regulations to combat scientific research misconduct so far, including curbing paper factories that write for others.
looks forward to the domestic scientific research community regaining a healthy, pure and honest academic environment.
Reference link:
http://zhishifenzi.com/depth/depth/9873.html
https://www.guancha.cn/TMT/2017_04_23_405000.shtml
