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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 2h

Thank you! More projects to come!

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 2h

Thanks!

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 5h

I’m honored to be named one of Tagesspiegel’s “100 Researchers of Berlin” for 2025, featured in today’s category “Swimming against the current.” Grateful to be recognized alongside inspiring researchers who challenge convention and push boundaries

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 4d

There’s a striking pattern among the top journals targeted by an Indian paper mill. All have sharply increased their publication number in recent years.
Is this growth driven by publisher goals, a surge in submissions due to AI, or both?
#papermills

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 8d

I found a watermark of an Indian paper mill, which helped me identify 100+ papers over the weekend. So far, 490 papers have been detected. Most authors are from India, China, and Saudi Arabia. Only 4 papers have been retracted. Papers are full of fake data, yet they still get published. #papermills

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 9d

Yes!

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 10d

It's likely a paper from a paper mill. It uses chatgpt to produce papers, I guess. 2 columns spotted! There is also smth else.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 10d

How many and what kind of mistakes can you spot in this table?

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 12d

Exactly! it was the end of the table. no other universities mentioned!

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 12d

that was the end of the table in the paper.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 12d

yes. arithmetically correct. mean = (max + min)/2. sd=max - mean.

Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 12d

the problem is that the papers are smth like this.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 13d

I’m looking at a specific paper mill in India. So far, I have detected 339 papers, 105 of which were published in 2025. Only the biggest publishers are being targeted. Only two papers have been retracted.
This is the dashboard of a paper mill.
lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/36...
#papermills

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 13d

I guess the data were made uo

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 13d

Catch of the day. Do you find anything wrong here?

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 17d

This is a great article on paper mills by Lea Wolz (in German). It provides a general overview of paper mills and their impact on science. It gives examples of how fake papers penetrate Cochrane reviews and bias recommendations. Highly recommended!
www.quarks.de/gesellschaft...
#papermills

Fake-Studien: Dubiose Firmen unterwandern die Wissenschaft

Die Zahl an Fake-Studien von dubiosen Firmen steigt rasant. Wie groß ist das Problem – und kann dieser wissenschaftliche Müll Patienten schaden? Wissenschaftler warnen vor den Folgen.

www.quarks.de

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 19d

Today I find myself in an unusual territory. I will give a talk at the legendary International Mathematical Union in Berlin! I'm very grateful to Prof.Agricola for the invitation to discuss the problem of paper mills.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 21d

Why is this happening? The problem of paper mills has existed for over a decade, and AI tools now amplify their potential to generate fake papers.
#papermills

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 21d

A similar situation is observed in many other disciplines. For example, in psychology, the number of papers using terms like “moderating/mediating effect of” has increased significantly over the past several years.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 21d

The first response came from the journal Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, which banned unsolicited papers using the FAERS database. See details in Retraction Watch post. retractionwatch.com/2025/09/16/e...

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

lnkd.in

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 21d

Journals have seen an n-fold increase in submissions of such papers. (see, for example, a paper by Suchak et al., 2025, journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...)

Explosion of formulaic research articles, including inappropriate study designs and false discoveries, based on the NHANES US national health database

The combination of AI and national health databases offers opportunities, but may also be exploited by unethical agents. This study shows that there has been an explosion of formulaic research article...

journals.plos.org

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · 21d

This is another wake-up call about what is happening with scientific literature, which is being flooded by template papers produced by paper mills. One example is the use of open-access databases like FAERS or NHANES, combined with analyses that rely on biased or incorrect methodologies.

Exclusive: Journal bans drug safety database papers as they flood the literature

celafon/iStockPhoto Starting around 2023, a curious trend took hold in papers on drug safety monitoring. The number of articles published on an individual drug and its link to specific adverse even…

retractionwatch.com

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · Sep 2

Editor-in-Chief is responsible for retractions.

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · Sep 2

Paper mills discover new dimensions. A Ukrainian one paved the way for sleuthing and published a misconduct report about the vice minister of education. An Indian one offers nursing jobs in Germany.
#papermills

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · Sep 2

Flying to Peer Review Congress 2025! Together with Svetlana Kleiner, I’ll be giving a podium presentation: “Patterns of Paper Mill Papers and Retraction Challenges.” Thrilled to be on-site for the first time!
#PRC25

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