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- The increasing trend of artificially boosting citation metrics is an illegitimate, yet lucrative business.<\/li>\n
- Several research teams are striving to identify and prevent these fraudulent practices, but the methods used are becoming alarmingly sophisticated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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<\/p>\nFraudulent publication tactics, from fake data<\/a> to paper mills<\/a>, pose a significant threat to the integrity of academic research. Now, increasing rates of citation manipulation<\/a> are the latest trend to spark concerns among researchers. In a recent Nature News<\/em><\/a> article<\/a>, Dalmeet Singh Chawla looks at the scale of the threat and efforts to expose unscrupulous practices.<\/p>\n
Spot the red flags<\/strong><\/p>\n
Computer scientist Yasir Zaki is among those at the forefront of investigations. As he explained to Singh Chawla, there are some key warning signs to look out for if citation manipulation is suspected:<\/p>\n
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- a steep rise in citations shortly after publication<\/li>\n
- citations deriving from limited sources<\/li>\n
- a sudden, large increase in citations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The scale of the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n
While in the past, citation manipulation was a more \u2018low-tech\u2019 practice, with \u2018citation rings<\/a>\u2019 citing each other\u2019s work, we are presented with a very different picture today. Zaki\u2019s team ran an undercover operation exposing a black market industry that sells citations via paper mills. Further work by the group found that fake preprints were a key method used to artificially bolster citation counts. In another demonstration of how easy \u2018citation gaming\u2019 has become in the digital age, a different group were able to list papers on Google Scholar that had been \u2018authored\u2019 by a cat and then cite these in fake papers they posted on ResearchGate.<\/p>\n
Solutions in sight? <\/strong><\/p>\n
While the scale of this industry is sobering, Singh Chawla shone a light on efforts to tackle the issue:<\/p>\n
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