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Audit Finds 4,000 Non-Existent Citations Across Millions of Biomedical Papers
An audit of millions of biomedical papers identified more than 4,000 citations to non-existent research that appeared across nearly 3,000 academic papers. Lead author Maxim Topaz said none of the errors have been corrected or retracted, even as the rate of such fake references has grown 12-fold over the last three years.
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An audit of millions of biomedical papers found more than 4,000 citations to non-existent research, according to an article published in The Lancet. The fabricated citations appeared among millions of biomedical papers and spanned nearly 3,000 academic papers, CBS News reported.
Maxim Topaz, an associate professor at the Columbia School of Nursing and the study's lead author, said such mistakes can undermine clinical guidelines that health care professionals rely on to provide care.
"When those fake references are making it into the literature, they will end up in those guidelines, and that's how doctors decide how to provide care for you," Topaz told CBS News. " None of the mistakes identified in the audit have been corrected or retracted. The rate of fake references showing up in published medical literature has grown 12-fold over the last three years, Topaz said.
Topaz has been studying AI for the past 15 years. His own experience prompted the deeper investigation after an AI app inserted a fake citation into one of his scientific papers. The fabricated reference slipped through several layers of peer review before being caught by an editor.
Fabricated citations arise when an author asserts a statement of fact and asks AI for a citation. AI tools sometimes cite a real author while inventing research and attributing it to that person.
Other times, citations were completely fabricated, Topaz said. " Topaz described the findings as "just the tip of the iceberg," suggesting research across other fields could face similar problems with fabricated citations.
