As fraudulent behavior becomes more sophisticated, publishers confront a rising tide of fake articles, forged authorship, fabricated images, and coordinated efforts to manipulate the peer review process. This activity is an industry-wide phenomenon that affects all publishers and has become the most common cause for article retractions. UNITED2ACT is a group of international participants working collaboratively to address the collective challenge of paper mills in scholarly publishing. Frontiers has joined the initiative as a co-signatory to the United2Act Consensus Statement, alongside the Center for Open Science, Clarivate, Elsevier, European Research Council, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley, among others.
"This is a much-needed initiative, and we look forward to working with colleagues in publishing and research to find innovative and practical solutions to combat paper mills and to put an end to this fraudulent activity. Collaboration among stakeholders will be the key to effective action.
Education and awareness: To create new educational tools and resources, and to promote education and awareness activities to make researchers, journal editors, reviewers, journals, and publishers aware of the problem of paper mills.
Research paper mills: To work with interested parties to facilitate and organize research to be carried out on paper mills, with particular attention to regional and subject specific aspects.
"As the public learns more about this issue, the ASPCA is being called to respond to more blood sports investigations than ever before," said Tim Rickey, senior director of ASPCA Field Investigations and Response. "Terry's background will be a vital resource in training law enforcement to combat this cruel form of animal abuse."
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