False scientific articles: a new threat

Human activity would only have negligible influence on global warming. This is what an article published last spring in the American journal says last spring Science of Climate Change, Signed jointly by an artificial intelligence and a group of authors. What is not specified in the text is that it is based on previous studies, the results of which have been refuted by scientists. Only experts in the question can disentangle the true from the false.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, the world of research is faced with an alarming increase in falsified items. Not only do some authors use the machine to help them promote their ideology, but others simply buy their notoriety by signing articles that they have not written! It has never been easier for a researcher in search of publications to see his name in the summary of a prestigious review. Just pay the price. Some countries, such as China, amplify the phenomenon by offering compensation to those who manage to publish in international journals.

A juicy industry has thus been set up, whose researchers (real) are pending the magnitude. “Articles factories” have ramifications worldwide. Using theses or free access studies on the Internet, they practice the art of copy and paste as much as that of placing their own publishers in recognized journals, or even buying them, to ensure that they want to publish it. The false articles thus circulating in the scientific community are counted by the thousands.

When we know – safe source! – that 14 % of studies related to cancer were produced by publication factories, the danger of these practices is measured. In a world suspended from the voice of experts, it is urgent to restore research networks respecting a certain ethics and where humans keep the last word.