Update. In response to this problem (previous post, this thread), some publishers are desk-rejecting papers based on open health datasets. The problem is not the quality of the data, but the absence of additional work to validate findings.

Two reports:

1. "Journals and publishers crack down on research from open health data sets," Science, Oct 8, 2025.
https://www.science.org/content/article/journals-and-publishers-crack-down-research-open-health-data-sets

2. "AI: Journals are automatically rejecting public health dataset papers to combat paper mills," BMJ, Oct 15, 2025.
https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2170
( #paywalled)

#AI #Data #Frontiers #Medicine #PaperMills #PLOS #OpenData

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

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420092122

"Our results reveal some of the strategies that enable the entities promoting scientific fraud to evade interventions. Our final analysis suggests that this ability to evade interventions is enabling the number of fraudulent publications to grow at a rate far outpacing that of legitimate science."

"Discussions with different stakeholders suggest that many currently perceive systematic fraudulent science as something that occurs only in the periphery of the “real” scientific enterprise, that is, outside OECD countries. Accumulating evidence shows that systematic production of low quality and fraudulent science can occur anywhere (84–89). Moreover, as we show in this study, large North American and European publishers and the editors they appoint provide credibility to these practices. The impact of these practices is likely to be felt much more immediately and strongly in countries with inchoate scientific enterprises but is in no way restricted to them."

#ScientificIntegrity
#PaperMills

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

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420092122

"Our results reveal some of the strategies that enable the entities promoting scientific fraud to evade interventions. Our final analysis suggests that this ability to evade interventions is enabling the number of fraudulent publications to grow at a rate far outpacing that of legitimate science."

"Discussions with different stakeholders suggest that many currently perceive systematic fraudulent science as something that occurs only in the periphery of the “real” scientific enterprise, that is, outside OECD countries. Accumulating evidence shows that systematic production of low quality and fraudulent science can occur anywhere (84–89). Moreover, as we show in this study, large North American and European publishers and the editors they appoint provide credibility to these practices. The impact of these practices is likely to be felt much more immediately and strongly in countries with inchoate scientific enterprises but is in no way restricted to them."

#ScientificIntegrity
#PaperMills

#AI tools seem to be generating a large swath of low-quality, formulaic biomedical articles drawn from #OpenAccess biomedical databases. For example, since the rise of #LLMs about three years ago, the number of new biomedical articles is about 5k larger than previous moving average would have predicted. The researchers who noticed this trend argue for the "adoption of controlled data-access mechanisms" -- that is, pulling back from #OpenData.

* Primary source (a preprint)
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.07.25331008v1

* Summary (in Nature)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02241-2

PS: The conclusion doesn't follow from the premises. This is like arguing that we should restrict clean air, clean air, and crowbars because criminals take advantage of them to commit crimes.

#Medicine #PaperMills#ScholComm

#AI tools seem to be generating a large swath of low-quality, formulaic biomedical articles drawn from #OpenAccess biomedical databases. For example, since the rise of #LLMs about three years ago, the number of new biomedical articles is about 5k larger than previous moving average would have predicted. The researchers who noticed this trend argue for the "adoption of controlled data-access mechanisms" -- that is, pulling back from #OpenData.

* Primary source (a preprint)
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.07.25331008v1

* Summary (in Nature)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02241-2

PS: The conclusion doesn't follow from the premises. This is like arguing that we should restrict clean air, clean air, and crowbars because criminals take advantage of them to commit crimes.

#Medicine #PaperMills#ScholComm

Boffins warn that #AI#papermills are swamping #science with garbage studies
The team from University of Surrey notes an "explosion of formulaic research articles," including inappropriate study designs and false discoveries, based on data cribbed from the #US#NHANES nationwide health database.
The study, published in PLOS Biology, a nonprofit publisher of open-access journals, found that many post-2021 papers used "a superficial and oversimplified approach to analysis."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/13/ai_junk_science_papers/

Boffins warn that #AI#papermills are swamping #science with garbage studies
The team from University of Surrey notes an "explosion of formulaic research articles," including inappropriate study designs and false discoveries, based on data cribbed from the #US#NHANES nationwide health database.
The study, published in PLOS Biology, a nonprofit publisher of open-access journals, found that many post-2021 papers used "a superficial and oversimplified approach to analysis."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/13/ai_junk_science_papers/