Scientific Misconduct, Paper Mills, and Social Media with Elisabeth Bik

Insights Xchange: Conversations Shaping Academic Research

Nikesh Gosalia and Elisabeth Bik continue their conversation on scientific misconduct, starting with the role played by research institutions in combating research misconduct. Elisabeth talks about the organized crime of research fraud: paper mills, which are companies that produce fake research papers and sell their authorship position to researchers. She also discusses the downsides of being a scientific integrity volunteer, such as legal threats, personal attacks, and even death threats, and how she deals with these issues. Elisabeth shares her thoughts on the double-edged sword of social media: it can be a powerful tool to expose scientific misconduct, but it is also a potent medium for spreading misinformation, and she mentions her concerns about the lack of moderation on some platforms, such as Twitter. In line with this, she discusses her strategy for vetting the trustworthiness of sources. Finally, Elisabeth talks about what motivates her to keep going in her battle against scientific fraud and shares her advice for listeners interested in becoming science misconduct volunteers.

Dr Elisabeth Bik is a science integrity consultant and microbiologist. With a PhD in microbiology, she has worked in academic publishing as a science editor and director of science. Featured across multiple mainstream media outlets, Elisabeth received the 2021 John Maddox Prize for her work on exposing threats to research integrity. She can be reached on Twitter.

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