Chuck Darwin<p>Egregious examples of <a href="https://c.im/tags/artificial" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>artificial</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/intelligence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>intelligence</span></a> that have recently made their way into <a href="https://c.im/tags/scientific" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>scientific</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/journals" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>journals</span></a>, shine a light on the wave of 💥AI-generated text and images washing over the academic publishing industry.💥</p><p>Several experts who track down problems in studies told AFP that the rise of AI has turbocharged the existing problems in the multi-billion-dollar sector.</p><p>All the experts emphasized that AI programs such as ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for writing or translating papers—if thoroughly checked and disclosed.</p><p>But that was not the case for recent cases that somehow snuck past peer review, such as:<br>🔹An infographic of a rat with a preposterously large penis. <br>🔹Another showing human legs with way too many bones. <br>🔹An introduction that starts: "Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic".</p><p>It is not always so easy to spot the use of AI. <br>-- But one clue is that ChatGPT tends to favor certain words.</p><p>Andrew Gray, a librarian at University College London, trawled through millions of papers searching for the overuse of words such as <a href="https://c.im/tags/meticulous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>meticulous</span></a>, <a href="https://c.im/tags/intricate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>intricate</span></a> or <a href="https://c.im/tags/commendable" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>commendable</span></a>.</p><p>He determined that at least <br>💥60,000 papers involved the use of AI in 2023<br>—over one percent of the annual total.</p><p>"For 2024 we are going to see very significantly increased numbers," Gray told AFP.</p><p>Meanwhile, more than <br>⭐️13,000 papers were <a href="https://c.im/tags/retracted" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>retracted</span></a> last year, by far the most in history, according to the US-based group Retraction Watch.</p><p>AI has allowed the bad actors in scientific publishing and academia to "industrialize the overflow" of "<a href="https://c.im/tags/junk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>junk</span></a>" papers, Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky told AFP.</p><p>Such bad actors include what are known as <a href="https://c.im/tags/paper" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>paper</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/mills" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mills</span></a>.</p><p>These "scammers" <br>♦️sell authorship to researchers, pumping out vast amounts of very poor quality, plagiarized or fake papers, said Elisabeth Bik, a Dutch researcher who detects scientific image manipulation.</p><p>Two percent of all studies are thought to be published by paper mills, <br>but the rate is "exploding" as AI opens the floodgates, Bik told AFP.</p><p>This problem was highlighted when academic publishing giant Wiley purchased troubled publisher Hindawi in 2021.</p><p>Since then, the US firm has retracted more than 11,300 papers related to special issues of Hindawi, a Wiley spokesperson told AFP.</p><p>Wiley has now introduced a "paper mill detection service" to detect AI misuse—which itself is powered by AI.</p><p><a href="https://phys.org/news/2024-08-junk-ai-scientific-publishing.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">phys.org/news/2024-08-junk-ai-</span><span class="invisible">scientific-publishing.html</span></a></p>