Transparency in research: An analysis of ChatGPT usage acknowledgment by authors across disciplines and geographies

This investigation systematically reviews the recognition of generative AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, in scholarly literature. Utilizing 1,226 publications from the Dimensions database, ranging from November 2022 to July 2023, the research scrutinizes temporal trends and distribution across disciplines and regions. U.S.-based authors lead in acknowledgments, with notable contributions from China and India. Predominantly, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, as well as Information and Computing Sciences, are engaging with these AI tools. Publications like "The Lancet Digital Health" and platforms such as "bioRxiv" are recurrent venues for such acknowledgments, highlighting AI's growing impact on research dissemination. The analysis is confined to the Dimensions database, thus potentially overlooking other sources and grey literature. Additionally, the study abstains from examining the acknowledgments' quality or ethical considerations. Findings are beneficial for stakeholders, providing a basis for policy and scholarly discourse on ethical AI use in academia. This study represents the inaugural comprehensive empirical assessment of AI acknowledgment patterns in academic contexts, addressing a previously unexplored aspect of scholarly communication.

Threats to scholarly research integrity arising from paper mills: a rapid scoping review

"Paper mills" are unethical outsourcing agencies proficient in fabricating fraudulent manuscripts submitted to scholarly journals. In earlier years, the activity of such companies involved plagiarism, but their processes have gained complexity, involving the fabrication of images and fake results. The objective of this study is to examine the main features of retracted paper mills' articles registered in the Retraction Watch database, from inception to the present, analyzing the number of articles per year, their number of citations, and their authorship network. Eligibility criteria for inclusion: retracted articles in any language due to paper mill activity. Retraction letters, notes, and notices, for exclusion. We collected the associated citations and the journals' impact factors of the retracted papers from Web of Science (Clarivate) and performed a data network analysis using VOSviewer software. This scoping review complies with PRISMA 2020 statement and main extensions. After a thorough analysis of the data, we identified 325 retracted articles due to suspected operations published in 31 journals (with a mean impact factor of 3.1). These retractions have produced 3708 citations. Nearly all retracted papers have come from China. Journal's impact factor lower than 7, life sciences journals, cancer, and molecular biology topics were common among retracted studies. The rapid increase of retractions is highly challenging. Paper mills damage scientific research integrity, exacerbating fraud, plagiarism, fake images, and simulated results. Rheumatologists should be fully aware of this growing phenomenon.

Plagiarism, Fake Peer-Review, and Duplication: Predominant Reasons Underlying Retractions of Iran-Affiliated Scientific Papers

Retractions of scientific papers published by some Iran-affiliated scientists in the preceding decade have attracted much attention and publicity; however, the reasons for these retractions have not been documented. We searched the Retraction Watch Database to enumerate the retracted Iran-affiliated papers from December 2001 to December 2019 and aimed to outline the predominant reasons for retractions. The reasons included fake peer-review, authorship dispute, fabricated data, plagiarism, conflict of interest, erroneous data, and duplication. The Fisher's exact test was used to investigate the associations between retractions and their underlying reasons. We selected P < 0.05 to indicate the statistically significant differences. We found 697 retracted papers. Duplication (27%), plagiarism (26%), and fake peer-review (21%) were the most frequent reasons for retractions. Our study highlights the importance of urgent intervention to prevent the misconduct and questionable research practices that lead to retractions in Iran. Continually educating the scientists and postgraduate students about the ethics and norms of scientific publishing is an important measure to ensure publication of reliable, worthy, and impactful papers.

Survey on attitude of dental professionals about plagiarism in Maharashtra, India

Purpose:

Plagiarism is a type of research misconduct that consists of copying other's work or ideas without giving them proper credit. The rise of plagiarism cases has become a serious concern in the scientific world. Hence, a cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess the attitude among dental faculty members and postgraduate (PG) students toward plagiarism. Objectives were to compare the attitudes of dental faculty members and PG students toward plagiarism and to analyze the association of attitude toward plagiarism (ATP) with age, gender, and number of publications of the participants.

Materials and Methods:

ATP was measured using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of two sections; first section consisting of demographic details of the participants and second section consisting of the ATP questionnaire measuring positive attitude, negative attitude, and subjective norms. Ninety faculty members and 126 PG students from four dental institutions participated in the study. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and linear regression analysis.

Results:

PG students showed more positive attitude and less negative ATP as compared to faculty members. Positive ATP decreased with increase in age (β = −0.147; P = 0.008), number of publications (β = −0.195; P = 0.001), and from males to females (β = −1.209; P = 0.044) whereas negative ATP increased with age (β =0.093; P = 0.001).

Conclusion:

The study showed negligence of PG students toward plagiarism which calls for improvement in awareness regarding plagiarism and research education.

Ethics in Publishing: Complexity Science and Human Factors Offer Insights to Develop a Just Culture

While ethics in publishing has been increasingly debated, there seems to be a lack of a theoretical framework for making sense of existing rules of behavior as well as for designing, managing and enforcing such rules. This letter argues that systems-oriented disciplines, such as complexity science and human factors, offer insights into new ways of dealing with ethics in publishing. Some examples of insights are presented. Also, a call is made for empirical studies that unveil the context and details of both retracted papers and the process of writing and publishing academic papers. This is expected to shed light on the complexity of the publication system as well as to support the development of a just culture, in which all participants are accountable.