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Visualizing the prominence of suspicious medical research publications

By Brian Buntz | May 18, 2023

Genetic research and Biotech science Concept. Human Biology and pharmaceutical technology on laboratory background.

[ipopba/Adobe Stock]

A recent exposé in Science magazine concluded that “Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common.” The article quoted a preprint from the German neuropsychologist Bernhard Sabel, which estimated that in 2020, up to one-third of neuroscience papers and nearly a quarter of medicine papers were likely falsified or plagiarized, highlighting a concerning prevalence of suspicious medical research.. In 2022, Columbia’s Voices in Bioethics posted a comprehensive analysis underscoring the pervasiveness of misconduct in medical research, highlighting the intense “publish or perish” dynamic as a driving factor for the problem.

In a related story, we share a timeline highlighting prominent examples of fraudulent activities in scientific research since the 1960s.

Given the alarming rise in suspicious medical research, we parsed through and visualized the retraction data from Retractiondatabase.org, focusing on retractions related to ethical violations from 2000 to 2022 related to the category “Health Sciences. The data were international in scope.

Falsification and fabrication in data and images in health sciences

The first graphic below illustrates the significant increase in cases within the “Falsification/Fabrication of Data,” “Falsification/Fabrication of Image” and “Paper Mill” categories in the database. Paper mills operate covertly, generating and marketing fraudulent scientific papers. These operations target researchers seeking to enhance their list of publications.

Line chart showing increases in 'Falsification/Fabrication of Data', 'Falsification/Fabrication of Image', and 'Paper Mill' categories from 2000 to 2022.

Figure 1: Trends in data falsification, image fabrication and paper mill issues from 2000 to 2022

The first graphic illustrates the significant increase in cases within the “Falsification/Fabrication of Data,” “Falsification/Fabrication of Image,” and “Paper Mill” categories in the database. Paper mills operate covertly, generating and marketing fraudulent scientific papers. These operations target researchers seeking to enhance their list of publications. The following line chart reveals a swift escalation in papers marked as originating from paper mills in 2017, with a prompt decrease following this peak. Rates of falsified data and images are relatively stable by contrast, although reports of fabricated data dipped in 2020 and held steady in the next two years.

Ethical violations, false authorship and criminal proceedings in health sciences

Line chart displaying 'Ethical Violations by Author', 'False/Forged Authorship', and 'Criminal Proceedings' categories from 2000 to 2022.

Figure 2: Instances of ethical violations by authors, false or forged authorship, and criminal proceedings from 2000 to 2022.

The second visual focuses on “Ethical Violations by Author,” “False/Forged Authorship,” and “Criminal Proceedings.” Data here paint a more complex picture, with various types of violations peaking and waning at different times. The category related to ethical violations by author peaked in 2010, with 39 instances. The category has generally fallen after that with only 6 cases in 2022. Roughly coinciding with the drop, however, was a rise in reports of false or forged authorship, which peaked in 2017 with 46 reports before falling to 10 reports in 2020.

Plagiarism and other trends in suspicious medical research

The final visual emphasizes the trends of plagiarism-related challenges categorized as “Plagiarism of Article,” “Plagiarism of Data,” and “Plagiarism of Text” in the database. The line chart reflects varying degree of these plagiarism reports over the past two decades. In particular, reports of plagiarized articles have risen significantly, hitting their peak around 2015 and then falling precipitously thereafter.

In contrast, reports of plagiarism of data and text cases fluctuate. Reports of plagiarized articles, similar to plagiarized text, also spiked in 2015. Many of the categories dipped in 2020, which could be a result of a range of factors including increased scrutiny and awareness as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Line chart illustrating trends in 'Plagiarism of Article', 'Plagiarism of Data', and 'Plagiarism of Text' categories from 2000 to 2022.

Figure 3: Changes in article, data, and text plagiarism cases from 2000 to 2022.

The need for more scrutiny of suspicious medical research

Despite improvements in some areas, data falsification and related problems remain persistent problems in scientific publishing. While retractions are necessary to help protect the integrity of scientific research, the scientific community must also explore additional strategies for identifying and dealing with suspicious medical research. The culture of “publish or perish” must evolve to emphasize the quality of scientific research over the quantity, discouraging the production of suspicious medical research.


Filed Under: Data science, Neurological Disease, Regulatory affairs
Tagged With: Academic Integrity, Medical Publications, Paper Mills, Research Misconduct, Scientific Ethics
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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