{"id":290339,"date":"2021-07-03T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-03T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/"},"modified":"2021-09-18T19:13:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T16:13:37","slug":"fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"#Fake science is getting faker \u2014 thanks, AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a387466c3575\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a387466c3575\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/#Camille_Nous\" >Camille No\u00fbs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/#Adding_authors_where_they_dont_belong\" >Adding authors where they don\u2019t belong<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/#Algorithms_are_producing_bad_articles\" >Algorithms are producing bad articles<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/#Act_against_fake_science\" >Act against fake science<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fake-science-is-getting-faker-thanks-ai\/#Beyond_science_fake_news_is_getting_faker\" >Beyond science: fake news is getting faker<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Fake <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> is getting faker \u2014 thanks, AI<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The practice of science involves trying to find things out about the world by using rigid logic and testing every assumption. Researchers then write up any important findings in papers and submit them for possible publication. After a peer-review process, in which other scientists check that the research is sound, journals publish papers for public consumption.<\/p>\n<p id=\"a5e0\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">You might therefore reasonably believe that published papers are quite reliable and meet high-quality standards. You might expect small mistakes that got overlooked during peer review, but no major blunders. It\u2019s science, after all!<\/p>\n<p id=\"0a37\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">You\u2019d be w<span id=\"rmm\">r<\/span>ong in expecting this, though. Real and good science does exist, but there\u2019s a worrying amount of bogus research out there, too. And in the last few years, it has increased in volume at lightning speed, as evidenced by the skyrocketing number of paper\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2018\/10\/what-massive-database-retracted-papers-reveals-about-science-publishing-s-death-penalty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">retractions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mj mk ml\">\n<p id=\"95ab\" class=\"kv kw mm kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\"><strong class=\"kx hf\">Fake science<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"b004\" class=\"kv kw mm kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">A number of practices currently threaten to undermine the legitimacy of scientific research. They include made-up authors, the addition of scientists who had nothing to do with a paper as a co-writer and even more nefarious practices like swamping journals with submissions from low-quality, AI-written junk.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"cb9e\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">This process is similar to a recall at the grocery store. If a previously sold product is bad or dangerous for some reason, the store might decide to recall it and ask all customers not to use it. Similarly, a journal can recall a published paper that, in hindsight, turned out to be bogus.<\/p>\n<p id=\"f63d\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Of course, sometimes papers get retracted because the authors made an honest mistake in their research. In more than half the cases, however, it\u2019s because of academic misconduct or fraud. Up until a decade ago, this sort of behavior was more or less limited to researchers falsifying experimental data or skewing results to favor their theory. The more sophisticated <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> has become, however, the more things have gotten a lot more complicated.<\/p>\n<p id=\"8bfa\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">One simple solution would be to just ignore bogus papers. The problem, though, is that they\u2019re often hard to identify. Also, once a paper is retracted from a publication, that tarnishes the entire journal a bit. Let this h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en often enough, and the public\u2019s confidence in science as a whole goes down. Therefore, the scientific community as a whole needs to take this problem seriously.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"4f4a\" class=\"nm nn he bf no np nq kz nr ns nt lc nu nv nw nx ny nz oa ob oc od oe of og oh ib\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Camille_Nous\"><\/span>Camille No\u00fbs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p id=\"3c0b\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id oi kz la ig oj lc ld le ok lg lh li ol lk ll lm om lo lp lq gx ib\">Some of the problem is analog. Camille No\u00fbs doesn\u2019t have much to do with AI, but it deserves a mention nevertheless. Born in March 2020, No\u00fbs has already co-authored more than 180 papers in fields as diverse as astrophysics, computer science and biology<\/p>\n<p id=\"d4cd\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">I\u2019m saying \u201cit\u201d because No\u00fbs is not a real person; rather, it\u2019s an artifact invented by French research advocacy group\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/rogueesr.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RogueESR<\/a>. It carries the gender-neutral French first name Camille and a conflation of the ancient Greek word \u201c\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2,\u201d meaning reason or cognition, and the French word \u201cnous,\u201d meaning \u201cus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"4b0a\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">No\u00fbs was created in response to a heavily criticized\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr\/pid39124\/loi-de-programmation-de-la-recherche-2021-2030.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new law<\/a>\u00a0(source in French) to reorganize academic research in France. Although the law\u2019s objective was to make research better, its critics\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/sciences\/article\/2020\/11\/20\/le-controverse-projet-de-loi-de-programmation-pour-la-recherche-definitivement-adopte-par-le-parlement_6060513_1650684.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">think<\/a>\u00a0that scientists\u2019 jobs will be unfairly precarious and dependent on external funding under its requirements. In particular, the funding a scientist gets must depend on their own previous achievements, although research is often a community effort.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5dc8\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">To make this concern visible, many researchers chose to add No\u00fbs as a co-author. The journals and peer reviewers who were in charge of checking those papers weren\u2019t always informed, however, that No\u00fbs isn\u2019t a real person.<\/p>\n<p id=\"e89f\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Although the research portion of all these papers so far seems legitimate, it\u2019s cause for concern that one can so easily add a co-author that doesn\u2019t even have an ID card. Although highlighting communal efforts with authors like No\u00fbs is an honorable goal, the idea that scientists can be invented out of thin air in this day and age is quite alarming.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359116 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-796x531.jpeg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1.jpeg 1500w\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Author provided<\/figcaption><figcaption><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i>Communal efforts need to be recognized, but at the moment we don\u2019t have a system for doing so.<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359116\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-796x531.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea1.jpeg 1500w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Adding_authors_where_they_dont_belong\"><\/span>Adding authors where they don\u2019t belong<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p id=\"afb0\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id oi kz la ig oj lc ld le ok lg lh li ol lk ll lm om lo lp lq gx ib\">Highlighting the flaws of the peer-review system and academia isn\u2019t the only place this problem manifests, though. Especially in\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/ai-research-paper-real-coauthor-not\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">papers about AI<\/a>, cases of fake co-authorship have been mounting. This deception includes the practice of adding a high-profile scientist as a co-author without their knowledge or consent. Another way to carry this out is by adding a fictitious co-author, kind of like Camille No\u00fbs, but with the goal of feigning international collaboration or broader scientific discourse.<\/p>\n<p id=\"cc98\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">In addition to giving the illusion of international collaboration, adding fake authors with respectable credentials may contribute to a paper\u2019s credibility. Many scientists will Google all authors\u2019 names before reading a paper or citing it in their work. But seeing a co-author from a prestigious institution may sway them to give a closer look at a paper, especially if it hasn\u2019t been peer-reviewed yet. The prestige of an institution can then function like a proxy for credibility until the peer-review, which can take many months, is completed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2a99\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">It\u2019s unclear how many fake authors have been added to date. For one thing, some scientists may choose to ignore the fact that their name is on a paper they didn\u2019t write, especially as the content of the papers in question often isn\u2019t terrible (though not great) and legal action can get too expensive and time consuming. Moreover, no standard method currently exists to verify a scientist\u2019s identity prior to publishing a paper. This gives fake authors a free pass.<\/p>\n<p id=\"3ed7\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">All these issues show the necessity of some type of ID-verification process. Nothing formal is currently in place, and that\u2019s a shame. In a day and age where every bank can verify your ID online and match it with the face on your webcam, science can\u2019t even protect its most valuable contributors from scammers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359117 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-796x531.jpeg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2.jpeg 1500w\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Author provided<\/figcaption><figcaption><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i>The path of a good old human mind is still better today than the best AI when it\u2019s about writing scientific papers.<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359117\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-796x531.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea2.jpeg 1500w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"6985\" class=\"nm nn he bf no np nq kz nr ns nt lc nu nv nw nx ny nz oa ob oc od oe of og oh ib\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Algorithms_are_producing_bad_articles\"><\/span>Algorithms are producing bad articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p id=\"feaf\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id oi kz la ig oj lc ld le ok lg lh li ol lk ll lm om lo lp lq gx ib\">In 1994, physicist Alan Sokal got the itch to write a bogus paper about some subject related to the humanities and submit it to a journal. It\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/physics.nyu.edu\/sokal\/weinberg.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">got accepted<\/a>, although no one, including the author himself, understood what he was saying. Not only is this ridiculous, but it also goes to show how lazy peer reviewers can get. In this case, they literally accepted what was essentially an article of gibberish.<\/p>\n<p id=\"d0a4\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Along similar lines, in 2005, a trio of computer science students decided to develop\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/pdos.csail.mit.edu\/archive\/scigen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SCIgen<\/a>\u00a0as a prank on the research world. This program churns out completely nonsensical papers complete with graphs, figures and citations, peppered with lots of buzzwords from computer science. One of their gibberish papers was accepted for a conference at the time. What\u2019s more, in 2013, 120 papers\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/publishers-withdraw-more-than-120-gibberish-papers-1.14763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">were retracted<\/a>\u00a0by various publishers after they found out that SCIgen had written them. In 2015, the site still got 600,000 page visits per year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"bf9d\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Unfortunately, though, fake papers aren\u2019t only generated as pranks. Entire companies make money writing gibberish papers and submitting them to predatory journals that hardly reject anything because they charge a fee for publishing. Such companies, also dubbed\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-021-00733-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">paper mills<\/a>, are getting more and more sophisticated in their methods. Although fraud detection is also getting better, experts have legitimate fears that these unscrupulous actors, having honed their craft targeting low-quality journals, may try to swamp real ones next. This could lead to an arms race between paper mills and journals that don\u2019t want to publish bogus work.<\/p>\n<p id=\"f91f\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Of course, there\u2019s another question on the horizon: How much longer will humans be the only ones writing research papers? Could it be that in 10 or 20 years, AI-powered algorithms are able to automatically sift through swaths of literature and put their conclusions in a new paper that reaches the highest standards of research? How are we going to give credit to these algorithms or their creators?<\/p>\n<p id=\"dc3d\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Today, though, we\u2019re dealing with a far sillier question: How can we identify papers that have been written by relatively unsophisticated algorithms and don\u2019t produce any sensible content? And how do we deal with them? Apart from volunteer efforts and forcing fraudulent authors to retract their papers, the scientific community has surprisingly few answers to that question.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359118 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-796x531.jpeg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3.jpeg 1500w\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Author provided<\/figcaption><figcaption><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i>Most journals desperately need to update our security systems for tracking down fake papers.<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1359118\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-796x531.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"796\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-796x531.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-280x187.jpeg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-405x270.jpeg 405w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3-202x135.jpeg 202w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Rhea3.jpeg 1500w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"9e61\" class=\"nm nn he bf no np nq kz nr ns nt lc nu nv nw nx ny nz oa ob oc od oe of og oh ib\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Act_against_fake_science\"><\/span>Act against fake science<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p id=\"4de8\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id oi kz la ig oj lc ld le ok lg lh li ol lk ll lm om lo lp lq gx ib\">Most journals with a good reputation to lose have, at least, a basic email verification process for researchers looking to submit a paper.\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/authors\/science-information-authors&amp;sa=D&amp;source=editors&amp;ust=1622068710398000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3FVMMp0PqnIatoO9MalHlk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a>, for example, is the verification system for the journal\u00a0<em class=\"mm\">Science<\/em>. Despite this, setting up a fake email address and going through the process with it is quite easy. This type of fraud still happens a lot, as illustrated by the\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sheer amount<\/a>\u00a0of papers that get retracted even from prestigious journals each year. So, we\u2019re in need of stronger systems.<\/p>\n<p id=\"9a7b\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">One good approach to verifying the identity of a scientist is\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/info.orcid.org\/what-is-orcid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ORCID<\/a>. Basically, through this system, every researcher can get a unique identifier, which is then automatically linked to their track record. Using ORCID throughout a journal\u2019s peer-review and publication processes would make it much harder to create a fake identity or use other researchers\u2019 credentials without their knowledge or consent. Although this is a very good initiative, no major journal has yet rendered identifiers from ORCID or elsewhere mandatory for all authors. That\u2019s a shame, in my opinion, and something that could be fixed pretty easily.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2c33\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Finally, AI might be itself useful in this struggle. Some journals are\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@aaronedell\/stopping-fake-research-papers-from-getting-published-using-machine-learning-c5805f79af2a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">deploying<\/a>\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/analyticsindiamag.com\/how-ai-is-tackling-fake-academic-research-that-is-plaguing-scientific-community\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">AI models<\/a>\u00a0to detect fake contributions. As of now, however, journals have been unable to agree on a common standard. As a consequence, journals that lack the resources or the expertise can\u2019t apply the same quality measures as higher-ranking publications.<\/p>\n<p id=\"b49f\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">This widens the perceived gap between high- and low-tier journals and is, to me, clear proof that journals across the board should get together and find a way to share resources for fraud detection. Of course, high-tier journals might profit from the lack of competition in the short term. In the long term, however, having more journals with low standards might reduce confidence in scientific publishing as a whole.<\/p>\n<p id=\"7ce3\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">It\u2019s not that researchers and science journals are sitting on their lazy asses instead of tracking down fraudulent authors, though. Individual publications are, in fact,\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-021-00733-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">doing a lot<\/a>to track down fake papers. But if some journals have the means and others don\u2019t, publications aren\u2019t operating on a level playing field. Plus, scammers will always be able to target some underfunded journals with their fake papers. Journals need to act collectively to find a way to track down paper mills and verify the identity of all their authors.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"d082\" class=\"nm nn he bf no np nq kz nr ns nt lc nu nv nw nx ny nz oa ob oc od oe of og oh ib\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Beyond_science_fake_news_is_getting_faker\"><\/span>Beyond science: fake news is getting faker<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p id=\"bcb8\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id oi kz la ig oj lc ld le ok lg lh li ol lk ll lm om lo lp lq gx ib\">If you think that fake content is a problem limited to science, you\u2019re mistaken. Only a few years back, during the height of the Trump era, \u201cfake <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\u201d was the buzzword of the season. The methods to generate content to sway public opinion have only gotten more sophisticated since then, and they\u2019re jarringly similar to those of fake science papers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"b243\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">For example,\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/7\/7\/21315861\/ai-generated-headshots-profile-pictures-fake-journalists-daily-beast-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fake journalists<\/a>\u00a0were the apparent authors of op-eds in various conservative outlets. Their headshots were generated with AI-algorithms. Their LinkedIn and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> accounts are entirely fake, and it\u2019s still unclear who\u2019s really behind these articles.<\/p>\n<p id=\"95f2\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">There are also several\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldgreynews.com\/add-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fake news<\/a>\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/breakyourownnews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">article<\/a>\u00a0<a class=\"cw mi\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fodey.com\/generators\/newspaper\/snippet.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">generators<\/a>\u00a0that make creating fake headlines easy. Although you might not be able to convince an experienced fact-checker with such content, you might be able to impress the average Facebook user with it enough to convince them to share the article.<\/p>\n<p id=\"3174\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">That\u2019s why I myself tend to trust only news and science from established sources, or content that I can cross-check enough to determine that it\u2019s true. I totally disregard other sources because I know that most of them range from \u201ca little bit wrong\u201d to \u201ctotally made-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"7dfc\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">I didn\u2019t have that attitude a few years back. Neither did the people around me. Trust in news has eroded dramatically, and I have no idea how we\u2019ll be able to restore it. Now, what\u2019s already been happening with news is happening with science. It\u2019s bad enough that it\u2019s difficult to find out the truth about what\u2019s happening in the world. But if the very foundations of human knowledge erode, that would be an even bigger disaster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"7304\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\">Although the debate around fake news has died down since the 2020 election, it\u2019s far from over. Since the tools for faking content are still getting more and more sophisticated, I believe the conversation will get more fuel in the years to come. Hopefully, by then, we\u2019ll have reached a consensus on how to fight against fake content \u2014 and fake research, too.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fe68\" class=\"kv kw he kx b id ky kz la ig lb lc ld le lf lg lh li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq gx ib\"><em>This article was written by\u00a0Rhea Moutafis\u00a0and was originally published on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Towards Data Science<\/a>\u00a0You can read it\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/were-facing-a-fake-science-crisis-and-ai-is-making-it-worse-2169a6449c94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/fake-science-faker-thanks-ai-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Fake science is getting faker \u2014 thanks, AI&#8221; The practice of science involves trying to find things out about the world by using rigid logic and testing every assumption. Researchers then write up any important findings in papers and submit them for possible publication. After a peer-review process, in which other scientists check that the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":290340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/SadAi1.jpg&signature=d882e5d82cd57a6e4ad62d19375df1ee","fifu_image_alt":"#Fake science is getting faker \u2014 thanks, AI","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}