Citation and extracts below.
CITATION: Lumbard H, Routledge D (2025) Open science and transparency are our strongest tools in the fight against fraudulent publishing activities. PLoS Med 22(9): e1004774. (Editorial) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004774 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1...
Systematic fraud threatens the integrity of science, with paper and review mills distorting the evidence base in medicine and global health. Data transparency — once seen mainly as a driver of discovery — must now be recognized as a frontline defense against misconduct. Only through open data and coordinated action can we safeguard trust in research and its impact on health.
Scientific progress depends on trust that research findings are robust, reproducible, and honestly reported. In recent years, this trust has been increasingly threatened by the rise of systematic research fraud, including paper mills, review mills, and other coordinated attempts to manipulate the scholarly record. In this context, data transparency must be reframed not only as a scientific virtue, but as a frontline defense against research misconduct...
Paper mills — services that produce and sell fraudulent manuscripts — often operate at scale and target journals across disciplines, including those in clinical and global health fields. These papers may present fabricated data, recycled content, and/or attempt to manipulate peer review processes...
Transparency is not a panacea, but it is a powerful tool. By making data more open and research processes more visible, we strengthen the foundations of trustworthy, evidence-based science. In doing so, we safeguard the integrity of clinical and global health research and uphold our shared responsibility to the people and communities that research ultimately aims to serve.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org