Northwestern University reports at Phys.org on a disturbing study of organized networks for science fraud:

From fabricated research to paid authorships and citations, organized scientific fraud is on the rise, according to a new Northwestern University study.

By combining large-scale data analysis of scientific literature with case studies, the researchers led a deep investigation into scientific fraud. Although concerns around scientific misconduct typically focus on lone individuals, the Northwestern study instead uncovered sophisticated global networks of individuals and entities, which systematically work together to undermine the integrity of academic publishing.

The problem is so widespread that the publication of fraudulent science is outpacing the growth rate of legitimate scientific publications. The authors argue these findings should serve as a wake-up call to the scientific community, which needs to act before the public loses confidence in the scientific process.

“Organized scientific fraud is growing at an alarming rate, study uncovers,” August 4, 2025

The researchers are careful to point out that most information on the topic focuses on lone bad actors or bad papers; their concern, by contrast, is large networks:

“So, we have only just been able to scratch the surface of how they operate. But they sell basically anything that can be used to launder a reputation. They often sell authorship slots for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A person might pay more money for the first author position or less money for a fourth author position. People can also pay to get papers they have written automatically accepted in a journal through a sham peer-review process.” Study uncovers,”

A new tactic is buying the domain name of a defunct journal and publishing under that name: “These actors surreptitiously assume the journal’s identity, lending credibility to its fraudulent publications, despite the actual publication being defunct.”

From the open-access paper:

Some publishers report that up to 1 in 7 of their submissions are of probable “paper mill provenance”. Agents for paper mills have also recently been reported to attempt to bribe journal editors and to “hijack” the entire editorial processes at some journals.

Studies of repeating public goods games teach us that, under some conditions, player contributions tend to decay over time and that contributions decrease substantially as the number of defectors increases. [citations removed] R.A.K. Richardson, S.S. Hong, J.A. Byrne, T. Stoeger, & L.A.N. Amaral, The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and “growing rapidly,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (32) e2420092122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2420092122 (2025).

Essentially, they are saying that fraud increases substantially in systems where it is tolerated. Commentator John Sexton quips that the growth of science fraud may now be keeping up with Moore’s Law, on the rapid doubling of technology growth.

To ponder: What if, in the age of AI, science publishers simply cannot control fraud any more? A new dark age for science may not need a repressive government; it only needs a situation where stakeholders cannot enforce standards.