AI picks out fake science

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Textual analysis tool flags manuscripts that may have come from paper mills

A machine learning algorithm that can flag papers that may have come from paper mills could help publishers fight fake scientific studies.

Paper mills may be the biggest organised fraud perpetrated on scientific journals ever. While there have been instances of individual researchers manipulating images or simply inventing data, paper mills serve up professional fakery on an industrial scale. Buyers can purchase a paper, or authorship of one, on any topic based on entirely made-up results.