Fraudulent scientific research is on the rise and it is jeopardizing medical research, experts have warned.

A new study has found that networks of bad actors work together to publish bogus research. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, came from analyzing more than 5 million scientific articles published across 70,000 journals.

"There are groups of editors conspiring to publish low quality articles, at scale, escaping traditional peer review processes," said the study's lead author Reece Richardson, a social scientist at Northwestern University, US.

The research uncovered evidence of networks of scientific journal editors who frequently publish research that is flagged for integrity issues, and "brokers" who connect fraudulent authors to these editor networks.

"This kind of fraud destroys trust in science. It biases systematic and meta-analysis, it delays treatment and delays new research," said Anna Abalkina, a social scientist at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, who was not involved in the study.

Scientific fraud is growing issue

New scientific research is published as research papers in research journals. There are tens of thousands of different research journals, each publishing different themes of research, and with different levels of scientific impact.

These journals are platforms for researchers to share their findings, theories, and ideas with peers and the broader public. 

"Historically, the scientific [publication] enterprise has been an engine for progress. It's given us vaccines, antibiotics, the internet, sterile surgery … everything that makes life comfortable for us now," said Richardson. 

But sham research is on the rise — as many as one in seven research publications contain fake data, by some estimates. AI is also fueling this research misconduct.

Fraudulent studies contain fabricated data, unverified results, plagiarized research or manipulated images.

"You can map out networks of image duplication that are thousands of articles wide," Richardson said.

Bogus research damages scientific integrity

Fake or poor-quality research is typically caught by journal editors or peer reviewers, but experts warn it is increasingly making its way to publication by groups of bad actors working together.

There have been high profile instances of scientific fraud being uncovered.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulent research was used to make scientific and political judgements on the merits of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID infection. Experts linked the issue with ‘self-promotion journals' — where publication authors are often the editors of the very same journals they publish studies in.

Even single fraudulent studies can cause lasting problems. For example, researchers found evidence of image manipulation in a landmark study about Alzheimer's disease. The paper was eventually retracted and the lead scientist resigned, but Abalkina said billions of dollars in research funding and years of research had already been invested from one bad study.

"[It's] incredible what just one paper can do," Abalkina told DW.

How to stamp out corruption in science?

The study's senior author Luis Amaral of Northwestern University in Illinois, US, said it was "probably the most depressing project I've been involved with."

"It's distressing to see others engage in fraud and in misleading others. But if you believe that science is useful and important for humanity, then you have to fight for it," Amaral said.

Scientific publishing groups are aware of the issue and are working to create new methods to identify and retract fraudulent research. One major publisher, Springer Nature, retracted 2,923 articles from its publications in 2024.

But retracting papers means that bad science has already made it to publication. 

Experts like Abalkina and Richardson say the issues ultimately come from how scientific research is valued. Scientific jobs and funding are dependent on scientific publication. 

"Where you're faced with a [lack] of resources and yet you're pressured to put out [publications], you're left with two options really: You either buy into scientific fraud, or your leave science. This is a situation that tens of thousands of scientists are in," Richardson said.

That's why the best solution to fight fraudulent publications, Richardson said, is to ditch all quantitative metrics of research assessment like counting publications and citations. 

Edited by Fred Schwaller