The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly

Science is characterized by collaboration and cooperation, but also by uncertainty, competition, and inequality. While there has always been some concern that these pressures may compel some to defect from the scientific research ethos-i.e., fail to make genuine contributions to the production of knowledge or to the training of an expert workforce-the focus has largely been on the actions of lone individuals. Recently, however, reports of coordinated scientific fraud activities have increased. Some suggest that the ease of communication provided by the internet and open-access publishing have created the conditions for the emergence of entities-paper mills (i.e., sellers of mass-produced low quality and…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 2410335, 1956338
• NU
  Northwestern University
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R00AG068544, T32GM008449, AI135964
• NH
  National Health and Medical Research Council

  Award: APP1184263