Nature: 'Papermill alarm software flags potentially fake papers'

1 October, 2022

This news must concern every producer and/or user, beneficiary of the implementation of research output, researcher, authors, publisher, policymaker, policy implementer, and so on:

"After months of investigation that identified networks of reviewers and editors manipulating the peer review process, Hindawi plans to retract 511 papers across 16 journals, Retraction Watch has learned.

"The retractions, which the publisher and its parent company, Wiley, will announce tomorrow in a blog post, will be issued in the next month, and more may come as its investigation continues. They are not yet making the list available.

"Hindawi’s research integrity team found several signs of manipulated peer reviews for the affected papers, including reviews that contained duplicated text, a few individuals who did a lot of reviews, reviewers who turned in their reviews extremely quickly, and misuse of databases that publishers use to vet potential reviewers."

So Read on;

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'NEWS Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02997-x

23 September 2022

‘Papermill alarm’ software flags potentially fake papers

The text-analysis tool could be used to help detect bogus research submitted to journals.

A software tool that analyses the titles and abstracts of scientific papers and detects text similar to that found in bogus articles is gaining interest from publishers.

The tool, called the Papermill Alarm, was developed by Adam Day, who is director of scholarly data-services company Clear Skies in London. Day says he ran all the titles listed in citation database PubMed through the system, and found that 1% of currently listed papers contain text very similar to that of articles produced by paper mills - commpanies or individuals that fabricate scientific manuscripts to order. The Papermill Alarm does not say definitively whether an article is fabricated, but flags those that are worthy of further investigation. [...]

There have so far been few estimates of the prevalence of articles from paper mills. A June report by the Committee on Publication Ethics in Eastleigh, UK, suggested that 2% of papers submitted to journals come from paper mills, and said that the problem “threatens to overwhelm the editorial processes of a significant number of journals”...

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Joseph Ana

Prof Joseph Ana

Lead Senior Fellow/ medical consultant.

Center for Clinical Governance Research &

Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS)

P: +234 (0) 8063600642

E: info@hri-global.org

8 Amaku Street, State Housing & 20 Eta Agbor Road,

Calabar, Nigeria.

www.hri-global.org

HIFA profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, he led the introduction of the Homegrown Quality Tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, in Nigeria (2004-2008). For sustainability, he established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. His main interest is in whole health sector and system strengthening in Lower, Low and Middle Income Countries (LLMICs). He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance programme, suitable for LLMICs, including the TOOLS for Implementation. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Nigeria Medical Association’s Award of Excellence on three consecutive occasions for the innovation. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance, of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He is member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). Email: info AT hri-global.org and jneana AT yahoo.co.uk