array:24 [ "pii" => "S2387020624003851" "issn" => "23870206" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcle.2024.02.018" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-09-27" "aid" => "6644" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U.. All rights reserved" "copyrightAnyo" => "2024" "documento" => "simple-article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "edi" "cita" => "Med Clin. 2024;163:291-3" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S0025775324002112" "issn" => "00257753" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcli.2024.02.029" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-09-27" "aid" => "6644" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U." "documento" => "simple-article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "edi" "cita" => "Med Clin. 2024;163:291-3" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "es" => array:10 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Editorial</span>" "titulo" => "Significado y trascendencia de los <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span> o fábricas de artículos" "tienePdf" => "es" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "es" "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "291" "paginaFinal" => "293" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "en" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "Meaning and relevance of paper mills" ] ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "es" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "es" => true ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "Marta Pulido" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Marta" "apellidos" => "Pulido" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "en" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S2387020624003851" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcle.2024.02.018" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2387020624003851?idApp=UINPBA00004N" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S0025775324002112?idApp=UINPBA00004N" "url" => "/00257753/0000016300000006/v1_202409180457/S0025775324002112/v1_202409180457/es/main.assets" ] ] "itemSiguiente" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S2387020624003930" "issn" => "23870206" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcle.2024.03.024" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-09-27" "aid" => "6675" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U." "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "rev" "cita" => "Med Clin. 2024;163:294-300" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "en" => array:13 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Review</span>" "titulo" => "Pheochromocytoma. Preoperative approach" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "tieneResumen" => array:2 [ 0 => "en" 1 => "es" ] "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "294" "paginaFinal" => "300" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "Feocromocitoma y su abordaje preoperatorio" ] ] "contieneResumen" => array:2 [ "en" => true "es" => true ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "resumenGrafico" => array:2 [ "original" => 0 "multimedia" => array:8 [ "identificador" => "fig0005" "etiqueta" => "Figure 1" "tipo" => "MULTIMEDIAFIGURA" "mostrarFloat" => true "mostrarDisplay" => false "figura" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "imagen" => "gr1.jpeg" "Alto" => 1219 "Ancho" => 2341 "Tamanyo" => 284547 ] ] "detalles" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "at0005" "detalle" => "Figure " "rol" => "short" ] ] "descripcion" => array:1 [ "en" => "<p id="spar0005" class="elsevierStyleSimplePara elsevierViewall">Molecular pathways involved in the development of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas.</p>" ] ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "Marta Araujo-Castro" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Marta" "apellidos" => "Araujo-Castro" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S0025775324002860" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcli.2024.03.025" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S0025775324002860?idApp=UINPBA00004N" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2387020624003930?idApp=UINPBA00004N" "url" => "/23870206/0000016300000006/v1_202409251214/S2387020624003930/v1_202409251214/en/main.assets" ] "itemAnterior" => array:18 [ "pii" => "S2387020624003991" "issn" => "23870206" "doi" => "10.1016/j.medcle.2024.04.014" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-09-27" "aid" => "6695" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U." "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "crp" "cita" => "Med Clin. 2024;163:286-90" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "en" => array:13 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Original article</span>" "titulo" => "Comparative imaging study of patients with persistent olfactory dysfunction due to mild COVID-19 using structural and functional MRI" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "tieneResumen" => array:2 [ 0 => "en" 1 => "es" ] "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "286" "paginaFinal" => "290" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "Estudio comparativo utilizando RM estructural y funcional de pacientes con disfunción olfatoria persistente por la infección leve por COVID-19" ] ] "contieneResumen" => array:2 [ "en" => true "es" => true ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "resumenGrafico" => array:2 [ "original" => 0 "multimedia" => array:7 [ "identificador" => "fig0005" "etiqueta" => "Fig. 1" "tipo" => "MULTIMEDIAFIGURA" "mostrarFloat" => true "mostrarDisplay" => false "figura" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "imagen" => "gr1.jpeg" "Alto" => 953 "Ancho" => 1475 "Tamanyo" => 131824 ] ] "descripcion" => array:1 [ "en" => "<p id="spar0045" class="elsevierStyleSimplePara elsevierViewall">fMRI patterns of brain activation. Control 2 is a 27-year-old woman with a normal olfactory test who, when stimulated with the scent of orange in the 3D T1 fMRI sequence, showed activation in the entorhinal, nasal areas and right orbitofrontal cortex in sagittal, coronal and axial planes (A–C) marked with a white arrow. Patient 4 is a 37-year-old woman with hyposmia for 575 days at the time of evaluation. When stimulated with the same scent of orange in the 3D T1 fMRI sequence, bilateral orbitofrontal activation was observed in sagittal, coronal and axial planes, but not entorhinal (D–F) limited by white arrows.</p>" ] ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "David Dylan García-Meléndez, Raquel Moreno Presa, Pilar Quintana Castro, Bárbara Serrano Calleja, Sara Rosenstone Calvo, María Isabel Morales-Casado" "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "David Dylan" "apellidos" => "García-Meléndez" ] 1 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Raquel Moreno" "apellidos" => "Presa" ] 2 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Pilar Quintana" "apellidos" => "Castro" ] 3 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Bárbara Serrano" "apellidos" => "Calleja" ] 4 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Sara Rosenstone" "apellidos" => "Calvo" ] 5 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "María Isabel" "apellidos" => "Morales-Casado" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2387020624003991?idApp=UINPBA00004N" "url" => "/23870206/0000016300000006/v1_202409251214/S2387020624003991/v1_202409251214/en/main.assets" ] "en" => array:12 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Editorial</span>" "titulo" => "Meaning and relevance of paper mills" "tieneTextoCompleto" => true "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "291" "paginaFinal" => "293" ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "autoresLista" => "Marta Pulido" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "nombre" => "Marta" "apellidos" => "Pulido" "email" => array:1 [ 0 => "mpulidomestre@gmail.com" ] "referencia" => array:4 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">a</span>" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">b</span>" "identificador" => "aff0010" ] 2 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">c</span>" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] 3 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">*</span>" "identificador" => "cor0005" ] ] ] ] "afiliaciones" => array:3 [ 0 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Editora médica independiente, Barcelona, Spain" "etiqueta" => "a" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Acreditada en Editing/Writing por la American Medical Writers Association" "etiqueta" => "b" "identificador" => "aff0010" ] 2 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Profesora de Comunicación Científica, Máster en Biomedicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain" "etiqueta" => "c" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] ] "correspondencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "cor0005" "etiqueta" => "⁎" "correspondencia" => "Corresponding author." ] ] ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "Significado y trascendencia de los <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span> o fábricas de artículos" ] ] "textoCompleto" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSections"><p id="par0005" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The “publish or perish” culture exerts considerable pressure on scientists, especially in biomedical research and teaching, as they are expected to publish as regularly as possible in order to advance their careers.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0005"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">1</span></a> In fact, this imperative has been extended to the need to publish in high-impact journals, understood as the highest possible impact factor and a position in the first quartile. From this perspective, the bibliometric indices of the <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Journal Citation Reports</span> (JCR®) have become a yardstick that directly links these indicators to the value and quality of scientific publications and, subsidiarily, one of the standards for assessing research and academic activity and productivity. A direct consequence of this assessment is the claim to authorship of scientific publications as the main achievement of credit and authority.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0010"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">2</span></a></p><p id="par0010" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Numerous studies have exposed the limitations and misuse of the impact factor.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0015"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">3–5</span></a> One misconception is that the impact of a journal equals the impact of the articles published in it, when in fact there may be two articles in the same issue, one of which may be cited many times and the other not at all. Constructing personal impact figures by adding up the impact factors of the journals in which a researcher has been an author is another common misconception that can be extended to research groups, services and centres.</p><p id="par0015" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The emphasis on the impact factor, the pressure to publish, and the prioritisation of article production as the ultimate goal of professional excellence and academic ranking have created a perfect storm for the emergence of misconduct, ethical violations and persistent fraud in scientific publications.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0030"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">6–8</span></a> In contrast to honest mistakes, misconduct in the world of scientific publication is a combination of inappropriate actions, ranging from plagiarism, fabrication and falsification as extreme forms of misconduct, to the production of redundant or duplicate articles, self-plagiarism, (salami slicing), data manipulation, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, or misappropriation of authorship as well as other actions that violate the qualities of rigour and integrity inherent in the conduct expected of a researcher.</p><p id="par0020" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">All of this is detrimental to the advancement of knowledge, discredits the professionals involved, distorts the real contribution of research studies and ultimately calls into question biomedical journals as guarantors of the authenticity and transmission of true scientific evidence. The ‘questionable practices’ phenomenon fits into a pattern brought about by a combination of several factors. These include the age of digitalisation, the process of globalisation, the dissemination of papers via the Internet, the requirements of accreditation and evaluation established by agencies, and the consolidation of the pay-to-publish paradigm resulting from the introduction of open access journals.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0045"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">9</span></a></p><p id="par0025" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The intention to provide open access to scientific publications is highly commendable and is supported by research funding bodies, but it can be difficult to distinguish the altruistic impulse to promote free reading and the dissemination of scientific knowledge from the economic interests linked to the commercial objectives of multinational publishers. The wide disparity in the publication fees or article processing charges (APC) to be paid after acceptance of the manuscript (between ;1,000 and more than ;6,000) is obvious and, although there are agreements with funding agencies (e.g. CRUE Spanish Universities and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [CSIC]), it is difficult not to envisage a legitimate aim of making money from <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">open access</span> publishing scientific journals.</p><p id="par0030" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The money-making objectives of predatory journals and their lack of quality assurance are deceptive practices that result in the dissemination of thousands of unprofitable and worthless articles.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0050"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">10</span></a> The following criteria can be used to identify predatory journals (and publishers):<ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0005"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0005"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">1</span><p id="par0035" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They have similar (or very similar) titles to prestigious academic journals.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0010"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">2</span><p id="par0040" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Their websites are of poor quality, with little information about the editorial process.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0015"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">3</span><p id="par0045" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They advertise false impact factors (the journals are not listed in the JCR database®).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0020"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">4</span><p id="par0050" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They mention that they are listed in prestigious directories or databases, which is not true.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0025"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">5</span><p id="par0055" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They claim to be part of real or imaginary scientific societies, which cannot be verified by consulting the official websites of these entities.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0030"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">6</span><p id="par0060" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They hide information about publication costs (APC).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0035"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">7</span><p id="par0065" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The guidelines for authors are general, not detailed or non-existent.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0040"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">8</span><p id="par0070" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They solicit articles from researchers through spam emails, promising almost immediate publication.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0045"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">9</span><p id="par0075" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The subject matter of the articles published varies greatly depending on who responds to the request.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0050"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">10</span><p id="par0080" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">They do not use the peer review system.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0055"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">11</span><p id="par0085" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Papers can be submitted by e-mail instead of using the standard platforms.</p></li></ul></p><p id="par0090" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Besides predatory journals, the threat to the credibility of scientific publications finds its greatest expression in ‘paper mills’, whose existence was first reported in the late 2010s. These are potentially illegal organisations that produce fake, manipulated and fabricated articles with copied or fabricated data, often using artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate legitimate and genuine research papers, whose business is to sell production/publication and authorship.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0055"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">11–13</span></a> In short, “buying authorship”. They advertise themselves as companies highly specialised in academic papers, with extensive experience in the preparation of scientific papers in any speciality, offering confidentiality and originality assurances. In addition, some of these organisations claim to have contacts with scientific journals that will ensure publication of the manuscript.</p><p id="par0095" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Although little is known about the modus operandi, production is carried out on a large scale and at low cost, using templates of text, tables and figures, which are modified and adapted on demand with plagiarised text, fabricated data and all sorts of images and graphs taken from stocks or extracted from published works for which no raw, unprocessed data exists.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0060"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">12</span></a> As a result, the appearance of the manuscripts produced follows a very similar pattern. Another feature is that, when the papers are ready, they are sent in batches of several units to different journals at the same time or to the same journal with little time difference, which has caused alarm among editors when they have noticed peaks in the receipt of almost identical papers.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0065"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">13,14</span></a> Experimental basic science, genetics and oncology studies appear to be the most popular subjects for paper mills, as it is difficult to verify the authenticity of human cell lines or complex analytical techniques used in cell and molecular biology, for example.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0070"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">14,15</span></a></p><p id="par0100" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Some of the characteristics described in manuscripts originating from paper mills include<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0075"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">15</span></a>: similar structure of titles and abstracts, clustering of manuscripts over a few days, rare author emails without institutional affiliation, generic hypotheses, plagiarised or recycled text and manipulated figures, but above all the absence of research data and the reluctance to provide them when requested by the journal.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0075"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">15</span></a></p><p id="par0105" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The enormous activity of paper mills also leads to the retraction of published studies. Based on information available in Retraction Watch (<a href="https://retractionwaste.com">https://retractionwaste.com</a>), a database containing the world's largest number of retracted articles, an analysis of 325 retracted papers produced by paper mills showed that most of them came from China, were published in 31 journals (average impact factor 3.1) and generated a total of 3,708 citations, highlighting the extraordinary scale of the problem.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0080"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">16</span></a> Another study using the same database, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Retraction Watch</span>, analysed 1,182 retracted articles from 1 January 2004 to 26 June 2022 produced by <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span>.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0085"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">17</span></a> The results showed that almost all authors (96.8%) were from Chinese institutions, more than half of the articles were signed by 4-6 authors, and most were published in the second quartile according to JCR®, with “Pharmacology and Pharmacy” being the most common category. Specifically, in a 2021 analysis, retracted items from <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span> accounted for 21.8% of total retractions. On the other hand, the <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences</span>, the <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Journal of Cellular Biochemistry</span> and the <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">International Journal of Electrical Engineering and Education</span> were the 3 journals that accumulated respectively 14%, 11.3% and 10.3% of the total number of retractions, but none of them were predatory. The average number of citations received by retracted articles was 11, with a maximum of 131, indicating that some papers produced by <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span> are highly cited to the detriment of perpetuating misleading references.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0085"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">17</span></a></p><p id="par0110" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Paper mills can also produce fake expert reviews by interfering with the peer review process. In an interesting study analysing the reviews of 66,815 articles published in 19 SAGE journals using special software to detect similarity in text sequences, duplicate comments were found in the reviews of 972 (1.5%) articles, with 77 (7.9%) suspected to be from paper mills.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0090"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">18</span></a></p><p id="par0115" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The creation and publication of fraudulent articles has enormous consequences for the integrity of science. The generation of hypotheses and the development of studies based on false information is a sterile scientific waste and economic expenditure to the detriment of necessary and fruitful research. The detrimental effects of <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">paper mills</span> extend to citation chains, literature databases, the work of reviewers and editors, the prestige of institutions and the credibility of scientific journals. Paper mills have become a serious concern, affecting the quality of scientific production and requiring almost detective work to identify them.</p><p id="par0120" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The Committee on Publication Ethics<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0095"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">19</span></a> has called for action to address the problem of paper mills by all stakeholders throughout the publication process, by encouraging institutions and funding agencies to change their policies so as not to incentivise researchers to use services that facilitate rapid publication, to continue to screen manuscripts on receipt by the journal according to helpful guidelines, to analyse retraction processes, and to conduct a training exercise for authors, reviewers and editors to raise awareness and help identify the problem.</p><p id="par0125" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">If there is any suspicion that an article might have been fabricated by paper mills, it is imperative to ask the authors to provide the complete raw data of the research in order to verify the authenticity of the results, especially those used to produce the figures. Some suggested guidelines for editors, which can be extended to other professionals, include assessing the following issues:<ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0010"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0060"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0130" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Authors’ e-mail address: is it an institutional address?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0065"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0135" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Centres and institutions: do they look genuine?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0070"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0140" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Does the theme of the paper or the authors’ focus coincide with the theme of the journal?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0075"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0145" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Are the title and the abstract too generic?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0080"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0150" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Plagiarism detection using specific programs. Paper mills manuscripts show a mosaic style of plagiarism in which no complete paragraph overlaps are detected.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0085"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0155" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Authors’ track record: have they published work in the same line of research?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0090"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0160" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Is the overall quality of the submission poor (figures or sentences that do not make sense, missing ethical details, fields not filled in on the submission platform).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0095"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0165" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Irregularities in the supplementary material (generic cover letter not suitable for the journal, forms with handwritten signatures of multiple authors on different dates).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0100"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0170" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The trend of submissions (repeat submissions when the first manuscript is in the peer review process).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0105"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0175" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Are the reviewers suggested by the authors experts in the scientific field of the study?</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0110"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0180" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Quality and length of the review (short and generic reviews).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0115"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0185" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Speed in the peer review process (same day or within a few days).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0120"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0190" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Authorship or reference changes in proofs of printing.</p></li></ul></p><p id="par0195" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Paper mills will continue to fabricate fraudulent articles and misrepresent science unless there is a change of course that diminishes the role of scientific publications as the supreme reference for academic and professional recognition. Personally, I think this change of course is highly unlikely, so “the problem is here to stay”.</p><span id="sec0005" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0005">Ethical considerations</span><p id="par0200" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">This work does not involve the use of human beings.</p></span><span id="sec0010" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0010">Funding</span><p id="par0205" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The author declares that she has not received any funding for the editorial.</p></span><span id="sec0015" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0015">Conflict of interest</span><p id="par0210" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.</p></span></span>" "textoCompletoSecciones" => array:1 [ "secciones" => array:4 [ 0 => array:2 [ "identificador" => "sec0005" "titulo" => "Ethical considerations" ] 1 => array:2 [ "identificador" => "sec0010" "titulo" => "Funding" ] 2 => array:2 [ "identificador" => "sec0015" "titulo" => "Conflict of interest" ] 3 => array:1 [ "titulo" => "References" ] ] ] "pdfFichero" => "main.pdf" "tienePdf" => true "bibliografia" => array:2 [ "titulo" => "References" "seccion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "identificador" => "bibs0005" "bibliografiaReferencia" => array:19 [ 0 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0005" "etiqueta" => "1" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Publish or Perish mantra in the medical field: a systematic review of the reasons, consequences and remedies" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:5 [ 0 => "S.Y. Guraya" 1 => "R.I. Norman" 2 => "K.I. Khoshhal" 3 => "S.S. Guraya" 4 => "A. Forgione" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.12669/pjms.326.10490" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Pak J Med Sci" "fecha" => "2016" "volumen" => "32" "paginaInicial" => "1562" "paginaFinal" => "1567" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28083065" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 1 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0010" "etiqueta" => "2" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Reflexiones sobre la autoría de las publicaciones científicas" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "M. Pulido Mestre" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "Libro" => array:3 [ "fecha" => "2018" "editorial" => "Educiones Gráficas Rey, S.L." "editorialLocalizacion" => "Barcelona" ] ] ] ] ] ] 2 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0015" "etiqueta" => "3" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Journal impact factor: widely used, misused and abused" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "DG Katritsis" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.15420/aer.2019.8.3" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Arrhythm Electrophysiol Rev" "fecha" => "2019" "volumen" => "8" "paginaInicial" => "153" "paginaFinal" => "155" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31463051" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 3 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0020" "etiqueta" => "4" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Impact factors: uses and abuses" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => "J. Neuberger" 1 => "C. Counsell" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1097/00042737-200203000-00001" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol" "fecha" => "2002" "volumen" => "14" "paginaInicial" => "209" "paginaFinal" => "211" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11953682" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 4 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0025" "etiqueta" => "5" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Bibliometric indices of scientific journals: time to overcome the obsession and think beyond the impact factor" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "CK Ranjan" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1016/j.mjafi.2017.03.008" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Med J Armed Forces India" "fecha" => "2017" "volumen" => "73" "paginaInicial" => "175" "paginaFinal" => "177" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28924319" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 5 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0030" "etiqueta" => "6" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Misconduct in biomedical research: a meta-analysis and systematic review" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => "R. Phogat" 1 => "B.C. Manjunath" 2 => "B. Sabbarwal" 3 => "A. Bhatnagar" 4 => "Reena" 5 => "D. Anand" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.4103/jispcd.JISPCD_220_22" "Revista" => array:5 [ "tituloSerie" => "J Int Soc Prev Community Dent" "fecha" => "2023" "volumen" => "13" "paginaInicial" => "185" "paginaFinal" => "193" ] ] ] ] ] ] 6 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0035" "etiqueta" => "7" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Research misconduct: a neglected plague" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:4 [ 0 => "M.A. Deshmukh" 1 => "A.S. Dodamani" 2 => "M.R. Khairnar" 3 => "R.G. Naik" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.4103/0019-557X.200255" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Indian J Public Health" "fecha" => "2017" "volumen" => "61" "paginaInicial" => "33" "paginaFinal" => "36" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28218160" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 7 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0040" "etiqueta" => "8" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Research misconduct and data fraud in clinical trials: prevalence and causal factors" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "SL George" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1007/s10147-015-0887-3" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Int J Clin Oncol" "fecha" => "2016" "volumen" => "21" "paginaInicial" => "15" "paginaFinal" => "21" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26289019" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 8 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0045" "etiqueta" => "9" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "The continued movement for open access to peer-reviewed literature" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "TJ Liesegang" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1016/j.ajo.2013.04.033" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Am J Ophthalmol" "fecha" => "2013" "volumen" => "156" "paginaInicial" => "423" "paginaFinal" => "432" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23769198" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 9 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0050" "etiqueta" => "10" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Predatory journals: what they are and how to avoid them" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => "SA Elmore" 1 => "EH Weston" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1177/0192623320920209" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Toxicol Pathol" "fecha" => "2020" "volumen" => "48" "paginaInicial" => "607" "paginaFinal" => "610" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32319351" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 10 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0055" "etiqueta" => "11" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "The continuing challenge of paper-mills to publishing in the biological sciences" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => "R. Hackett" 1 => "S. Kelly" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1242/bio.059428" "Revista" => array:3 [ "tituloSerie" => "Biol Open" "fecha" => "2022" "volumen" => "11" ] ] ] ] ] ] 11 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0060" "etiqueta" => "12" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "The raw truth about paper mills" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "J. Christopher" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1002/1873-3468.14143" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "FEBS Lett" "fecha" => "2021" "volumen" => "595" "paginaInicial" => "1751" "paginaFinal" => "1757" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34180058" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 12 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0065" "etiqueta" => "13" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Systematic fabrication of scientific images revealed" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => "J. Christopher" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1002/1873-3468.13201" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "FEBS Lett" "fecha" => "2018" "volumen" => "592" "paginaInicial" => "3027" "paginaFinal" => "3029" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30047985" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 13 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0070" "etiqueta" => "14" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Digital magic, or the dark arts of the 21st century-how can journals and peer reviewers detect manuscripts and publications from paper mills?" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:2 [ 0 => "J.A. Byrne" 1 => "J. Christopher" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1002/1873-3468.13747" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "FEBS Lett" "fecha" => "2020" "volumen" => "594" "paginaInicial" => "583" "paginaFinal" => "589" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32067229" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 14 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0075" "etiqueta" => "15" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Fake data, paper mills, and their authors: The International Journal of Cancer reacts to this threat to scientific integrity" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => "S. Heck" 1 => "F. Bianchini" 2 => "N.Y. Souren" 3 => "C. Wilhelm" 4 => "Y. Ohl" 5 => "C. Plass" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1002/ijc.33604" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Int J Cancer" "fecha" => "2021" "volumen" => "149" "paginaInicial" => "492" "paginaFinal" => "493" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33905542" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 15 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0080" "etiqueta" => "16" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Threats to scholarly research integrity arising from paper mills: a rapid scoping review" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:3 [ 0 => "I. Pérez-Neri" 1 => "C. Pineda" 2 => "H. Sandoval" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1007/s10067-022-06198-9" "Revista" => array:6 [ "tituloSerie" => "Clin Rheumatol" "fecha" => "2022" "volumen" => "41" "paginaInicial" => "2241" "paginaFinal" => "2248" "link" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "url" => "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35524149" "web" => "Medline" ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 16 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0085" "etiqueta" => "17" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "contribucion" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Retracted papers originating from paper mills: cross sectional study" "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etal" => false "autores" => array:6 [ 0 => "C. Candal-Pedreira" 1 => "J.S. Ross" 2 => "A. Ruano-Ravina" 3 => "D.S. Egilman" 4 => "E. Fernández" 5 => "M. Pérez-Ríos" ] ] ] ] ] "host" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "doi" => "10.1136/bmj-2022-071517" "Revista" => array:3 [ "tituloSerie" => "BMJ" "fecha" => "2022" "volumen" => "379" ] ] ] ] ] ] 17 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0090" "etiqueta" => "18" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "referenciaCompleta" => "Day A. Searching for misconduct and paper mills in peer review comments. 9th International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication. [Accessed 11 February 2024] Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://peerreviewcongress.org/abstract/searching-for-misconduct-and-paper-mills-in-peer-review-comments/">https://peerreviewcongress.org/abstract/searching-for-misconduct-and-paper-mills-in-peer-review-comments/</a>." ] ] ] 18 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "bib0095" "etiqueta" => "19" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:1 [ "referenciaCompleta" => "COPE & STM. Paper Mills - Research report from COPE & STM - English. https://doi.org/10.24318/jtbG8IHL©2022 Committee on Publication Ethics (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Version 1: June 2022 [Accessed 11 February 2024] Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/paper-mills-cope-stm-research-report.pdf">https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/paper-mills-cope-stm-research-report.pdf</a>." ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "url" => "/23870206/0000016300000006/v1_202409251214/S2387020624003851/v1_202409251214/en/main.assets" "Apartado" => array:4 [ "identificador" => "46797" "tipo" => "SECCION" "en" => array:2 [ "titulo" => "Editorial article" "idiomaDefecto" => true ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" ] "PDF" => "https://static.elsevier.es/multimedia/23870206/0000016300000006/v1_202409251214/S2387020624003851/v1_202409251214/en/main.pdf?idApp=UINPBA00004N&text.app=https://www.elsevier.es/" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2387020624003851?idApp=UINPBA00004N" ]
Journal Information
Vol. 163. Issue 6.
Pages 291-293 (September 2024)
Share
Download PDF
More article options
Vol. 163. Issue 6.
Pages 291-293 (September 2024)
Editorial
Meaning and relevance of paper mills
Significado y trascendencia de los paper mills o fábricas de artículos
Article information
These are the options to access the full texts of the publication Medicina Clínica (English Edition)
Subscriber
Subscribe
Purchase
Contact
Phone for subscriptions and reporting of errors
From Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (GMT + 1) except for the months of July and August which will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Calls from Spain
932 415 960
Calls from outside Spain
+34 932 415 960
E-mail