Academic Fraud: A Growing Threat to Scientific Integrity

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warns of systematic scientific fraud, a pervasive and organized threat to research worldwide. The study reveals a breakdown of actors, methods, and scale behind industrialized academic misconduct, including paper mills, brokerage firms, compliant editors, and unscrupulous journals. The authors use game theory to frame their analysis, likening science to a public goods game where progress is driven by collaboration and mutual investment. They warn that the incentives and opportunities to defect have grown with the size and complexity of science, leading to a rise in coordinated scientific fraud activities.