PPS – Problematic Paper Screener

🌐 Stable URL: https://www.irit.fr/~Guillaume.Cabanac/problematic-paper-screener

🕵️ This website shows reports the daily screening of papers (partly) generated with:: ► Tortured phrases 🔥; ► SCIgen; ► Mathgen; ... and other issues such as Citejacked papers.

⚗️ Harvesting data from these APIs:: ► Crossref, now including the Retraction Watch Database; ► Dimensions, see our webinar and the associated blog post; ► PubMed; ► PubPeer

🧑‍🏫 PPS in a nutshell: problem tackled and method used ⸻ 🎥 video in English or in French.

👨‍💻 Problematic papers are reported on PubPeer, see the tortured phrases collection and more.

📄 Cabanac, G., Labbé, C., & Magazinov, A. (2022). The ‘Problematic Paper Screener’ automatically selects suspect publications for post-publication (re)assessment.
Presented at WCRI 2022: 7th World Conference on Research Integrity. arXiv preprint. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.04895
▷ Featured in the Nature's 10 list of 2021 that ‘explores key developments in science this year.’

Modern plagiarists are making use of software and perhaps even emerging AI technologies to draft articles—and they’re getting away with it. https://t.co/fBThIjRwnt
— Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@BulletinAtomic) January 13, 2022

I spoke to @gcabanac about his work uncovering fabricated papers containing "tortured phrases" -- weirdly paraphrased versions of scientific terms (like "underground creepy crawly state" for "ant colony") -- for this year's Nature's 10. https://t.co/orRmF0XtXw
— Diana Kwon (@DianaMKwon) December 15, 2021

Hundreds of junk-science papers have been retracted from reputable journals after fraudsters used ‘special issues’ to manipulate the publication process. And the problem is growing. https://t.co/FSKKvfV2ez
— nature (@Nature) November 9, 2021

Why say 'colossal information' instead of big data? Or 'counterfeit consciousness' instead of artificial intelligence? These tortured phases in research articles could be evidence of a new and disturbing fabrication trend. https://t.co/TO6U0qckig
— nature (@Nature) August 8, 2021

Hundreds of nonsensical computer-generated articles, spotted years after the problem was first seen, could lead to a wave of retractions. https://t.co/u89i4315oT
— nature (@Nature) May 27, 2021

#CNRSnews 📰 | This researcher tracks “tortured” expressions in scientific publications to identify those that are unreliable. The software program that he co-developed for this purpose earned him a spot in the 2021 Top 10 selected by @Nature ⤵https://t.co/lqDEqcItU8
— CNRS 🌍 (@CNRS) March 9, 2022

Just out @arxiv: “Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science. Evidence of critical issues affecting established journals” w/ Labbé & Magazinov https://t.co/eh0YNO5T8v Probable systematic manipulation of the publication process of Microprocessors in Microsystems pic.twitter.com/vrVQUi3TNn
— Guillaume Cabanac (@gcabanac) July 15, 2021

Just out: “Prevalence of nonsensical algorithmically generated papers in the scientific literature” w/ Cyril Labbé in @JASIST https://t.co/N4wVqI8JHF. We report cases of SCIgen-generated publications. 😵 Companion website https://t.co/fSmzEq49x9 + thread: https://t.co/he2nEkzTpC pic.twitter.com/67x3XIuvFc
— Guillaume Cabanac (@gcabanac) May 26, 2021

The Problematic Paper Screener is featured in @ScienceMagazine today ☺️, as we travel to #WCRI2024 in Athens 🇬🇷 w/ @alexcla99 https://t.co/JzaeUDbhGV HT @cathleenogrady
— Guillaume Cabanac ⟨here and elsewhere⟩ (@gcabanac) June 1, 2024

🗞️ Just out: ‘The papers that most heavily cite retracted studies’ by @MiryamNaddaf @Richvn https://t.co/893LUO6w0X, a companion paper to my Comment: ‘Chain retraction: how to stop bad science propagating through the literature’ https://t.co/GERFzrZMzj feat. PPS Feet of Clay.
— Guillaume Cabanac ⟨here and elsewhere⟩ (@gcabanac) August 28, 2024

Problematic Paper Screener

Last updated

Info

Number of problematic papers

Number of annulled articles

Reference

Key highlights

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Nature's 10

Nature bullshit

ArXiv Nature

JASIST Nature

Journal CNRS

arXiv Tortured

JASIST

Science

Nature