Nature 18 January 2023
An international team of researchers (Germany, UK) have uncovered hundreds of online advertisements that offer the chance to buy authorship on research papers to be published in reputable journals. Publishers and journals are investigating the claims and have retracted dozens of articles over suspicions that people have paid to be named as authors, despite not participating in the research. In July 2022, the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning retracted 30 papers linked to adverts on International Publisher. In May 2022, Springer Nature retracted a paper for the first time over suspicions that some of the authorships were paid-for, after investigating a tip-off from Abalkina. It has since retracted 11 papers in a further 5 journals over similar concerns. According to the researchers the market for authorships has developed because, in many countries, researchers are still evaluated for promotion based on the number of papers they publish. More investigations are under way. Integrity specialists warn that the problem is growing and say that other retractions are likely to follow…read more.