Science Fraud! 60 Papers Retracted From Obscure Journal

A reputable scientific journal has voluntarily retracted 60 papers linked to a single researcher in Taiwan. SAGE Publishers has released a statement describing a 14-month investigation that was launched prior to the retractions.

According to SAGE investigators, a "peer review ring" has been fabricating identities and reviews for scientific papers since 2010, falsely verifying and approving scientific work that may have otherwise been called into question.

These reviews also helped expedite the publication processes of the 60 articles that have since been retracted from the Journal of Vibration and Control.

For those unfamiliar with the peer-review process, you can think of it much like a jury. A lead researcher's peers - other experts in that field - are invited to assess the validity of a paper, determining if it is good enough to be shown to the scientific community at large.

As more and more journals move from print to the digital world, the peer-review process has become mostly an online experience. However, without the proper safeguards, the process can be "perverted" during this vulnerable transition.

According to the SAGE investigation, Peter Chen at the National Pingtung University of Education (NPUE) in Taiwan is the center of this fraudulent ring, and has been tied to 130 email accounts for fake and assumed identities used to write glowing reviews for scientific papers.

A spokesperson for SAGE told Retraction Watch's Cat Ferguson that the publishing company previously contacted these emails following initial suspicion of foul play.

"All authors and reviewers were given time to respond and we did not receive [valid] verification from any of the 130 email addresses contacted... The authors were contacted once again in May 2014 to inform them that their paper/s would be retracted in the July 2014 issue."

The journal's former editor, Ali F. Nayfeh, had first suspected something was off just last year, and an in-depth investigation was subsequently launched. NPUE agreed to aid SAGE in the investigation, and in that time, Chen resigned from his position at the university.

It is important to note that the Journal of Vibration and Control is a relatively unknown and niche journal. Nature World News assures its reader that no compromised study from the journal has been cited in our articles.

However, this debacle does raise questions about other small-time, peer-reviewed journals. Could others have been similarly compromised?

"Although attempts to mislead the academic community are extremely rare, there will occasionally be fraudulent and unethical individuals seeking to abuse the system," the SAGE spokesperson said, adding that SAGE publications and other journals using similar systems will be looking for ways to "reinforce the review process."

** CORRECTION ** A previous version of this article named Cat Ferguson as a SAGE spokesperson. This has since been corrected.