Organised Crime Against the Academic Peer Review System

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Cases

Organised Crime Against the Academic Peer Review System

What is this about?

This case describes an instance of fake peer review by a company that was hired by the authors of the paper to submit the paper. They suggested two high profile reviewers upon submission, which turned out to be fake. After the discovery of this practice, the paper was retracted from the journal.

Why is this important?

Fake peer-reviewing allows researchers to circumvent the scientific journal review system that is in place to ensure the quality of the publication. Serious consequences may follow if this quality control step is skipped. For instance, the meta-analysis, in this case, claims the opposite of the widely considered beliefs about the treatment in question. If clinicians base their treatments based on such a meta-analysis, substantial harm to patients could be done. Therefore, it is important to recognize certain red flags for fake peer reviews in the peer review system.

For whom is this important?

EditorsPeer reviewers

Other information

When

• 2016

Where

• England

Virtues & Values

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Responsibility

Good Practices & Misconduct

• Publication ethics

Research Area

• LS 07.03 - Pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, drug discovery and design, drug therapy