COPE position statement
The publishing world is faced with a large and problematic pollution of the publication record with false and inaccurate research, risking public trust in research, introducing dangers to public health and medicine, and undermining the research process. Many of these papers originate from third party commercial agencies offering services to authors (“paper mills”) for the creation of fake or manipulated data and articles.
All stakeholders believe that the issue of paper mills is a serious threat to the integrity of the scholarly record. COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) is working to support editors, journals, publishers, universities and research institutes in addressing the issue of paper mills and considers this a high priority for all stakeholders involved in research and publication integrity. COPE supports the United2Act consensus statement on action against paper mills and will be taking part in its action plan. We urge the research community to take immediate action at every level of the publishing process to identify and halt these fraudulent activities. We encourage members to continue the discussion around this through COPE and the STM Integrity Hub.
Related resources
- Addressing concerns about systematic manipulation of the publication process COPE guidance 2023
- Publication misconduct and fraud day: Keynote Publication Integrity Week 2023
- Paper mills research report COPE & STM, 2022
- How to recognise potential manipulation of the peer review process COPE infographic
- Retraction guidelines COPE guidelines
Page history
First published: 19 January 2024