The Studies Show Episode 82: Paper mills
Sep 2, 2025
Explore the dark world of paper mills that produce fraudulent research. These enterprises exploit scientists, flooding journals with fake studies. Learn about the alarming rise of retractions and the challenges of scientific integrity. Discover how financial pressures and the publish-or-perish mentality contribute to this crisis. Delve into the vital need for transparency and trust in research as the scientific community grapples with maintaining quality among increasing misconduct.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Paper Mills Are An Industry
- Paper mills are coordinated commercial operations that produce fake or plagiarized scientific papers for paying customers.
- They operate at scale and differ from isolated individual fraud by using networks and repeatable processes.
Reduce Trust By Increasing Transparency
- Increase transparency by sharing data and methods so readers need not trust claims blindly.
- Aim to minimize required trust by making research as reproducible and auditable as possible.
Mega-Journals Create Quality Gaps
- PLOS ONE's mega-journal model creates quality-control vulnerabilities because it publishes very large volumes across fields.
- A small fraction of editors accounted for a disproportionate share of retractions and PubPeer flags.